Covid and corkage

For those of you who have ventured out to restaurants, have you noticed any change in bringing in your own bottles? Just wondering if there are restaurants not allowing, or it’s biz as usual?

We took a bunch of bottles to The Winery restaurant in Newport Beach last week, and they were cool about it in a normal way. Good stemware, wine service, decanters, ice buckets, all of that.

That’s my only data point, though. Earlier in the process, we’d had a reservation for that same dinner at Morton’s, and they were going to be okay about it too.

I did go out one other time to a restaurant where I would normally bring a bottle (the Cannery in Newport). I actually figured I’d order off the menu to help out with the tough times for the restaurants. Luckily, the wine list, which is fairly good though mainstream, was quite reasonable. Lots of wines in the ballpark of 150% or 175% of retail - definitely less than I would expected to see, especially at that kind of restaurant. It’s an upscale, waterfront, American seafood/steak type restaurant, combo of locals and tourists (in normal times), the kind of place you’d normally expect to see 200%-300% of retail on everything. Seeing wines like Lewis Alec’s Blend for $86 or Shafer Chardonnay for $66 (going from memory) was a pleasant surprise. Not screaming bargains, but much more fair than you’d expect at a place like that.

I was wondering if they had previously been that way, or lowered their prices due to the shutdown, and if the latter, whether that pricing was going to continue going forward. No idea.

We celebrated restaurants opening in Central Oregon by splurging on a nice dinner. I’m not sure if it was just their policy or Oregon mandate but they were not allowing people to bring their own bottles. We ended up with cocktails and a glass of wine opposed to a bottle because their prices were still very steep.

I’d like to bring bottles to a couple upcoming restaurant reservations but my wife insists we order off the menu to help out the restaurants. I get it, so I won’t argue, but I’ll probably stick to ordering BTG.

Aren’t you helping out by going to the restaurant ordering food and tipping?

Went to Soba in Pittsburgh tonight which is part of a larger restaurant group which has one of the best byob policies in the city at $15 a bottle. Showed up very excited to try a Bedrock Riesling and Unfortunately they told me they could not open it. Ordered by the glass but the food was on point tonight so I could not complain !

We took a bottle to Fort Oak (stellar food if you’re in San Diego) and brought a bottle and there were zero issues.

In Napa at least, the main difference is they will open the bottle but you are responsible for pouring to limit multiple contacts.

That’s great, I prefer that anyway.

We dined out this evening, brought a bottle and bought some bubbles off the list. Table next to us brought two bottles. Business as usual.

i thought it would be an issue, but the restaurants I talked to were all okay with it. At this point, they just want people dining!

Are you in Bend?
I lived in Bend (and Prineville) years ago and never had a problem bringing wine.

If we had reservations and showed up with a bottle in hand, and we’re informed “Sorry we cannot open your bottle” because they may be afraid of their own shadow with regard to the virus, I would respectfully tell them “Sorry we cannot keep our reservation” and go elsewhere.

All good here in our usual/regular spots. Super warm greeting, could not be more accommodating. And with capacity somewhat limited service and attention is spoiling us. Only change on our part is greatly increase tipping and bring unopened bottles for gifting to staff.

I haven’t had any issues at places that normally allow corkage … same policies and fees as before (though honestly I’d have no problems if they increased their fees temporarily because they were forcibly closed for 2-3 months and make very little off most food). I also don’t have a problem with restaurants not accepting BYOB wine for now if they’re capacity limited. Most smaller restaurants make most of their money on apps, desserts (which we don’t get) and alcohol. I think it’s a little bit silly not to just increase the corkage fee if necessary (to, say, the average margin on mid-priced bottle of wine off their list), but many business owners have had the fear of failure for the past few months … not going to give them too much crap about it no matter what.

And if they’re going to insist that I bring my own corkscrew and pour my own wine due to Covid, I’d have no problem with that (though, again, it’s silly).

Fort Oak is a great spot. If you haven’t checked out their steakhouse, Rare Society on Park Blvd, put it on the list. Great food and cool vibe…

I’ve never had a problem with Big Burrito Group, but haven’t dined at Soba. You should have asked for a manager. It could be they want to get the check average up.

I didn’t have any problems in Seattle when we were out to eat on Wednesday night.

Well it was illegal here in New Mexico before and still is. Also, we would like to give restaurants all the support we can. If that means buying an expensive bottle, so be it. They need the income.

i started another thread about my concern for this when covid first started up. Happy to say i have a res on friday and they are welcoming us and our weird wine hobby back with open arms!