The Wine Studio

Wow! Great dining experience. Come as you are and be welcomed to a unique combination of high end food and exceptional service.

Chef Lee’s tasting only menu restaurant is well worth finding in Old Louisville. The atmosphere is cozy and dark and invites you to linger longer. The food is everything we’d hoped, creative and delicious. The Manhattan cocktail was a nice fun surprise presented with a liquid smoke bubble to pop! Visit and visit often.

Waitstaff excellent. Food was very good but for the price I should have been wowed by at least one course. Also wine pairing was expensive for what you received. Ended up being about $30 a glass

Visiting Louisville for the first time from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, we were so looking forward to dinner at 610 Magnolia. We’ve been fans of Chef Lee from afar. However, given its reputation and price point, we were majorly disappointed, not just by the food but the by overall experience. It was good, mind you, but seemed somewhat tired, uninspired and occasionally sloppy. At the start, the energetic and affable server commented on the high price of some wines on the list, steering us away from them, which we felt was odd. The amuse bouche was yummy. And the next course (can’t recall what it was) was unmemorable. The pasta course, especially, seemed particularly ill-planned. The two or three stuffed pastas were difficult to find/taste under a cup or so of artichoke pesto that overwhelmed. The bland himachi and sticky rice course reminded me to visit Pinku, our local Japanese street-food restaurant, where I can get a fresher, tastier, more subtle version. Finally, the lamb chops were somehow made tasteless and, as much as I dragged them through the accompanying jus (which seemed hastily plated and missed the final wipe around the edges), I could not get the flavors. Perhaps it lacked salt. We ended with a tasty two-cheese plate with typical jam, Marcona almonds and raisins that, again, was not elevated beyond what one would get in any number of restaurants (including at Malcolm Yards, a new food hall we’re frequenting), not an offering from a James Beard award winner. As the server quipped, cheese plates are sort of like opening up the refrigerator and tossing what you have on a board. He’s right; that’s what we do at home. But this is 610 Magnolia. Another reviewer below noted that Lee no longer lives in KY; perhaps that is what is going on. The genial but somehow disengaged staff seemed to serve dishes they had done many times before, not inviting us into this establishment for a special experience. Don’t get me wrong: we’re not those diners who need precious presentation. Quite the opposite: we delight in and respect artists who simply love to cook and create, love to serve, and love to see guests happy—at any price point. But given the expectations for the level of this dining experience? Wanting. And surprising.

Dined here in early July. The food is to die for (especially a curry-style dish on the menu when we visited), the service is excellent (and not too hurried), and the ambiance is charming. The bread is also out of this world. The wine pairings also nicely complement the food, and the desserts are definitely worth having (especially the drunken banana cake). It is one of the nicest special occasion restaurants in Louisville. One caveat of interest to certain diners is the restaurants lax policy on pets. When we dined there, another table came in with a small dog. It wasn't a service or support dog because the diners kept passing it around the table, and even that table's server petted it. The dog's presence didn't bother us (it was well-behaved and quiet), but I could see some diners not enjoying dinner with a dog at the next table.