The pitch: charming old-world European wine bar. And it lives up to the promise – with the exception of a pink neon sign on one wall that reads: "Sometimes you wine, sometimes you booze".

But, hey, it wouldn't be a Matteo Bruno venue without it.

The restaurateur – whose other neon-ified venues include Meatball & Wine Bar (Flinders Lane and Richmond), and Hawaiian restaurant Hana – has, with help from Techne Architects, turned the Chapel Street Meatball & Wine Bar into Ines.

Named after Bruno's grandmother, the dimly lit, velvet-curtained, Sinatra-playing bar offers Italian snacks, cocktails and a cracking wine list curated by sommelier Raffaele Mastrovincenzo (formerly of Ides and Kappo).

Pop in for a glass of Tom Shobbrook syrah, a bottle of Pieropan soave, or heck, make it a magnum of Pol Roger. Meatballs are still on the menu (although now they're called polpette), along with bites such as fried and stuffed olives, oysters and eggplant chips, and more substantial dishes like bistecca with roast potatoes. Blackboards behind the bar advertise the daily crostini specials.

There's sweet stuff, too, like a chocolate tiramisu and a couple of sticky wines to wash it down. And if you're so inclined, you can buy a whole bottle of spirits to store behind the bar and drink as you please over subsequent visits.

Open Tue-Sat 5pm-late.

150 Chapel Street, Windsor, 03 9521 4465, ineswinebar.com.au