Palm Court Grill & Bar

The room is genuinely beautiful — an elegant hotel grill with river views that practically beg you to order a bottle. Then you open the list and realize you're paying for the view as much as the wine. Kendall-Jackson and Kim Crawford at these prices feel like a bad joke with a nice backdrop.

Eighty labels sounds promising until you realize it's largely California grocery-store staples and a handful of New Zealand crowd-pleasers, with Washington State representation that should be the obvious strength of any Spokane wine list but reads more like an afterthought. There's no real depth here — no small producers, no interesting sub-appellations, nothing that would make a wine-curious diner lean forward in their chair. The Pacific Northwest sits right outside the door, with incredible Walla Walla Syrahs and Columbia Valley Cabernets waiting to be championed, and Palm Court mostly ignores them in favor of brands you can grab at Safeway. It's a 80-bottle list that drinks like a 20-bottle list.

Ten options by the glass in the $9–$16 range, which is fair enough on its face — until you consider that the wines themselves are mass-market bottles that retail for $12–$18. The rotation appears static rather than seasonal, and there's no sign of anyone curating these pours with any real intention. If you're drinking by the glass here, stick to the lower end of the price range and keep expectations modest.