There are wine bars, and then there is The Refinery. Tucked inside one of Ho Chi Minh City’s most storied heritage buildings on Hai Ba Trung Street, The Refinery has spent over twenty years doing something rare in a city that never stops reinventing itself — staying exactly as good as it has always been, while quietly becoming one of the most beloved institutions in Saigon’s dining and nightlife landscape. If you are searching for the definitive wine bar in Ho Chi Minh City, your search ends here.
A Two-Decade Legacy Built on Wine, Food, and Music
The Refinery opened in a city that was still finding its footing as a global dining destination. Back then, a serious, thoughtfully curated wine program was almost unheard of in Saigon. The team behind The Refinery made a deliberate choice: they would champion great wine, serve honest French-inspired cuisine, and pair it all with music that made the experience feel alive.
Two decades later, that commitment has not wavered. What began as a bold proposition has become a cornerstone of expat culture and an essential stop for any discerning visitor to Ho Chi Minh City. The Refinery is not just a wine bar — it is a rare venue that has earned the word iconic through years of consistent excellence rather than hype.
The Wine Program: Breadth, Depth, and Real Passion
Wine at The Refinery is treated as a serious endeavour. The cellar spans Old World and New World selections, with particular strength in French appellations — a natural fit given the kitchen’s Gallic sensibility. Whether you arrive wanting a textbook Burgundy, an expressive natural wine, or something crisp and easy for a warm Saigon evening on the terrace, the list delivers.
The team here knows the product intimately. Service is knowledgeable without being intimidating, and the by-the-glass selection means you can explore freely without committing to a full bottle — though once you start, that is often exactly where you end up.
→ Browse the full wine list here: WINE LIST
Wine Thursdays: The Weekly Event That Has Become a Saigon Institution
Every Thursday evening, The Refinery transforms into something even more electric. Wine Thursdays is the weekly event that has drawn Saigon’s creative, expat, and hospitality communities through the doors for years — a deliberate collision of great wine, curated sounds, and the kind of crowd that knows how to enjoy both.
What to Expect at Wine Thursdays
The format is deceptively simple. Wine is the anchor — special pours, sometimes guest labels, always the depth of The Refinery’s cellar behind it. But what elevates Wine Thursdays above a standard happy hour is the music. Resident and guest DJs take up position and set the tone for the evening, moving from warm, atmospheric grooves early in the night toward something that makes the room move as the hours progress.
It is social in the truest sense. Wine Thursdays draws regulars who have been coming for years alongside newcomers discovering The Refinery for the first time. The vibe is effortless — lively but never brash, confident but always welcoming.
The DJs: Sound as Seriously as the Wine
Music at The Refinery is not an afterthought. The DJ programme at Wine Thursdays features artists who understand what it means to score an evening — reading the room, building a mood, and knowing exactly when to push the energy forward. Past and resident selectors have brought everything from deep house and melodic techno to disco-tinged grooves and sophisticated electronic music that suits the space perfectly.
For those who cannot make it in person every week, The Refinery’s weekly live DJ sets are archived and available on YouTube — a growing library of Saigon’s best musical nights, ready to soundtrack your week.
French Cuisine That Earns Its Place on the Table
The food at The Refinery has always been as considered as the wine list. The kitchen leans into French bistro traditions without being rigid about them — expect classics done with care: charcuterie boards that pair naturally with a glass of Côtes du Rhône, hearty mains with proper sauce work, and lighter options that respect the heat of a Saigon evening.
The cuisine is a genuine complement to the wine programme, not a secondary consideration. Dishes are designed to be shared, to be lingered over, and to give you a reason to order another bottle. That interplay between kitchen and cellar is one of the things that has kept guests returning for two decades.
The Venue: Heritage Walls, Living Energy
The physical space of The Refinery carries its own weight. Housed in a renovated colonial-era building, the venue balances old Saigon character with the energy of a contemporary bar. Exposed brick, warm lighting, and a layout that accommodates both intimate tables and larger gatherings make it versatile in a way that few venues in Ho Chi Minh City can match.
The terrace is among the most coveted seats in District 1 on a Thursday evening. There is something about the combination of warm air, a good glass of wine, and the sound drifting out from inside that captures what makes Saigon such a compelling city to inhabit or visit.
Why The Refinery Is a Must-Visit Wine Bar in Ho Chi Minh City
Saigon’s hospitality scene is genuinely competitive. New restaurants and bars open every week, each vying for attention in a city that has an enormous appetite for what is new. Against that backdrop, The Refinery’s two-decade run is not just impressive — it is instructive. Longevity at this level is earned through clarity of vision, consistency of execution, and a genuine love for the experience being offered.
For visitors to Ho Chi Minh City, The Refinery is the kind of place that belongs on the itinerary alongside the city’s most essential cultural experiences — because, in its own way, that is exactly what it has become. For residents, it is the kind of weekly anchor that Saigon’s social life is quietly built around.
Whether you come for the wine list, for Wine Thursdays and its resident DJs, for a French-inflected dinner, or simply to sit on the terrace and watch the city move around you, The Refinery will meet you there.
Plan Your Visit
The Refinery 74 Hai Ba Trung, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Wine Thursdays: Every Thursday evening — doors open from early evening, DJs from [INSERT TIME]
Reservations recommended for Wine Thursdays.
The Refinery — Ho Chi Minh City’s most enduring wine bar, and still its best.
