Avondale Wine & Cheese is the kind of spot you go to with your girlfriends and leave with a plan to come back. It's an independently owned wine and tapas bar tucked onto Savannah Highway in West Ashley, and the vibe is cozy and laid-back rather than polished - more candlelit corner than fine dining room. Everything revolves around the charcuterie: build-your-own boards of local cheeses and cured meats, tapas if you're hungrier, and a wine list that goes deep enough that even someone who "isn't really a wine drinker" walks out pleasantly surprised. The staff will pair things for you without making you feel small, which is exactly what you want from a cheese counter.
The food is the better half of the evening. The drunken goat cheese is the dish people order twice, the baked brie with berry compote has repeat customers, and the bacon-wrapped blue cheese dates are the one thing to never skip. It's cheap enough to be an excuse for a girls' night out and good enough to be a date night - wine by the glass, a few boards shared in the middle, dessert at the end.