Hi
Last weekend I had an corkage experience I wanted to share. I have some questions around the restaurant / server etiquette that I experienced.
My friend turned 50 and my wife and I took the birthday boy and his wife out to dinner. We went to Barcino in San Francisco.
I had two special bottles that I wanted to open for the dinner a Champagne and a 2008 Burgundy.
I made reservations a few weeks in advance, and a week before I emailed the restaurant telling them that I would be there to celebrate my friends birthday and wanted to ask them what their corkage policy was. I never heard back from them, a day before I emailed again and no reply. I called them the day of and spoke with the manager and he said it was ok and that corkage was $30 per bottle. I told him I thought that it was steep but would continue with my plan.
I transported the two bottles in a plain black fabric wine tote.
After we got seated I took the two bottles out of the tote and put them on the table so it was clear and obvious what I was doing.
Our waiter walked up and the first thing he said without saying hello was “Corkage is $30 a bottle”, I replied, yes. He asked if he should open the Champagne yes but I would like a water / ice bucket as the bottle was at room temp. I also asked him to open the bottle of Burgundy. So he immediately opened the sparkling and went to pour it. I stopped him and said I wanted it in a water/ice bucket. He said oh yeah, like he forgot. My plan was to have the unopened bottle placed in the ice water bath for 10 or so minutes then to gently tip the bottle upside down to distribute the temperature before opening.
He then took the open bottle to the service station and put it in an ice bucket. About 15 minutes later he brought it back to the table.
When he poured the Burgundy a few drops went on my menu. It wasn’t a big deal to me and I made a comment like it was a small tight table which it was.
A few minutes later a different waiter appeared and the new waiter said they had a waiter shift. Our waiter was still there working the other side of the restaurant (which was small).
At the end of the night when we left I walked by the first waiter and he looked away avoiding eye contact.
So the few things I thought were odd were, he went to pour the sparkling a minute or two after I asked for the ice bucket, having my bottle sit out of site at the waiter/ server station in the ice bucket, and then the waiters swap.
The food was excellent, the restaurant was nice, not super fancy or high end.
Did I do anything wrong?