"This wine shop in Santa Monica has rebranded with the addition of “Oyster Bar” to its name. There’s still wine, charcuterie, and a cozy little patio, but now you can have all that with seafood towers, crudo, tartare, and boquerones. Oysters are also now available on their happy hour menu, too (all day Sunday and Monday, and 4-6pm the rest of the week). We recently visited Esters Wine Shop & Oyster Bar and added it to the Best Wine Bars." - cathy park
"When half the group wants a quiet dinner, and the other half wants a bar, meet in the middle and get to the front patio at Esters. Yes, it’s a wine bar, but there’s also a pretty substantial food menu that will keep everyone happy. You could order a charcuterie platter and a salad to share, but you could also order a grilled cheese and feel much happier about your life choices." - jess basser sanders, amy clark, brant cox
"If you’ve ever been to a wedding shower and wished there were a lot fewer people and way better wine, then your next brunch should be at Esters. There are parents in nice outfits eating bagels and smoked fish, and a general feeling that everyone’s here to drink great champagne without letting things get out of hand. Order the nut butter and berry toast, along with the brunch burger, and eat them on one of Santa Monica’s most underrated patios." - brett keating
"This bottle shop-wine bar hybrid has great daily happy hour specials (including all-day happy hour on Sunday and Monday) with $10 glasses, charcuterie spreads with seasonal jams and fancy honey, and freshly shucked oysters for $3.50 a mollusk. And once the evening rolls around, Esters lights candles to give the space a romantic and on-the-quieter-side feel, in case you want to explore the extensive bottle list and split a seafood tower with a date." - brant cox, sylvio martins
"It’s been a good 40 minutes since you’ve seen your two teenage sons, and at this point, you don’t care. Go wait out their eventual phone call with a glass of wine, charcuterie, and freshly shucked oysters at Esters. The casual bottle shop-wine bar hybrid on 7th St. is best known for its great happy hour specials (all day on Sundays and Mondays), but the extensive wine list and raw bar options make Esters worth the pit-stop whenever you’re in the area. The $95 grand plateau comes with two delicious crudos and a dozen plump Canadian oysters, which you can enjoy on the front patio before scolding two 14-year-olds for buying a Juul." - brant cox