Texas BYOB Let Down :(

Kicking myself in the rear for not having the intuition to see about Texas liquor laws and bringing in a bottle to a restaurant.

Went to Papa’s Bros. Steak House in Dallas. Brought a bottle of 2014 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cab in the suitcase and took it with me to the restaurant. The server gave us the shpiel on their restaurant, quality of meats and their specials. Upon asking if he could decant the wine he apologetically said its against Texas Law to open the bottle that isn’t purchased from the restaurant. I immediately looked on their list and saw they had the same bottle for sale. He said he’d get the wine director over to talk with me.

The director politely declined being able to open the bottle. I asked if I could give them the bottle of Chappellet and they could pull their own bottle out of their stock and charge me say $50 as a “service”. That way I’d be paying for a bottle out of their stock and they’d have mine to replace it with. They again politely declined.

As disappointed as I was, I will say the ribeye I ordered was THE BEST ribeye I’ve ever eaten. A+ stuff. Went well with the Shiner Bock beer I ordered instead. Note to self, check state liquor laws before stashing wine in your suitcase and assuming you can bring a bottle to pop open at a restaurant. newhere

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Certain restaurants allow corkage for sure (I did it a few weeks ago in Dallas), but unfortunately most of the “fancy” steakhouses will make you buy from their inflated price lists. Pappas is the best in town though…

Ok, I hate to be harsh, but forget state law, who carries a bottle of wine to a restaurant without checking on corkage?
And most restaurants , even in states where corkage legal, don’t allow corkage for wines on their list. I’m kind of surprised at idea of lugging a recent release Cab in a suitcase to open at steakhouse, which usually have long lists of recent release Cabs.
Sorry it was a bad experience for you, but I think this isn’t just state liquor laws.

Yup. Mine was $220 cost. The same bottle on the list was $500. I get it. The Shiner Bock only slightly took the bad taste out my mouth. The ribeye was ridiculously good though. 1200 degree broiler with the perfect amount of salt. Crispy on the outside and butter in the middle.

Yeah Gabe, sorry about the experience but I think Dale has a point. Steakhouses that I’ve been to almost always have recently released CA Cabs. I would definitely have called first.

I even got screwed bringing a 1973 Spanish wine once. We called ahead and the somm said we could open anything they didn’t have and we assured him that he wouldn’t have any of our wines as they were all older and European. First we pulled out was the 73 from Spain and guess what? He had it. He got such a kick out of our expressions that he didn’t charge us and let us open it anyway. He only had two bottles and had never tasted it. Ended up hanging with us and sharing our other stuff, which he didn’t have.

Yep, we have some archaic laws here. It is illegal for a restaurant to open it if they have a liquor license. If they don’t, then it is completely fine. The TABC is merciless, so I am not surprised they wouldn’t do a bottle swap.

Not harsh at all. Again, I’m kicking myself in the rear. They said it was Texas State law that they’d be breaching, not me bringing in the same bottle they have on the list. I believed them, but who knows. On a similar note, I’ve brought wines to restaurants for years and never had anyone deny opening a bottle that was a different vintage from the same producer and wine on their list. Learning lesson for sure…

In California urban areas, I’d say 95% of good restaurants allow corkage. And most for what I’d consider reasonable, non-punitive fees.

Setting aside Gabe’s specific situation, I’ve found buying wine off lists in Texas to be a disappointing experience. Most don’t allow you bring wine, but then their lists are both poor and very heavily marked up (even by the standards of restaurant markups).

It’s likely that if you live in those places and learn about and seek out the best wine lists, they’re out there to some degree, but my experiences have not been encouraging.

Gabe, I think you handled your description of your experience with utter class and kindness of heart.

I wish you’d had a better time of it, but your graciousness shined through.

Texas liquor laws are weird (and generally terrible). A restaurant can be BYO if it has a beer/wine-only license, or if it has no alcohol license at all. If a restaurant serves hard alcohol, BYO is prohibited. It’s mildly infuriating.

I’ve heard restaurateurs claim that, if they don’t allow people to BYOB, then they’ll be able to build much better wine lists and offer better pricing. But my experiences in Texas suggest the opposite, which is what I would have expected. Less competition = worse pricing and quality for the consumer.

Texas is definitely not a “wine friendly” state.

This is correct. No point in even asking if they have a full bar.

Open carry in a public establishment is only for dangerous things.

This restaurant has one of the best Burgundy lists in Texas, by the way.

Man. I just want to see this A+ ribeye.

[rofl.gif]

Love that!

“Bring you gun, not your bottle.”

That is a great story! [cheers.gif]

I feel for the OP but I can’t imagine rolling into a restaurant (especially one with a list like Pappas Bros) without checking in on things. That goes double if I was travelling with the bottle…

Texas IS horrible for BYOB and Houston is near the bottom. We’re down to one restaurant near the city where the food is decent (pizza aside). Now Florida has its sh1t together. Love visiting my sister and visiting top notch steakhouses byob…except for Bern’s (it would be a sin).

Pappas is notorious for 4-5x markup. The problem is…their steaks ARE that delicious. Definitely a conundrum