Aren’t markups lower in much of Europe compared to the US?
Well, I do this as often as possible, but not to save money, rather to have something really mature to drink …
Here in Austria it is quite rare to find well matured bottles on restaurant lists, and still fare more rare aged French wines.
I have some adresses where I know I can bring one or more bottles with me, I pay my corkage, I bring the whites chilled, the reds either double decanted or I bring my own decanter with me … usually no problems. The more you prepare yourself the less problems … and of course I let the service know exactly in advance what I like …
This. Only this.
Even some of the finer restaurants in America only have young wine.
I looked at their wine list online. It has 16 bottles on it. All available BTG also. Not necessarily fair to expect top notch wine service from a server who may or may not be trained or required by the restaurant to do so.
George
This
I tend to only do corkage at places I know or places I know people. I never expect a deal on corkage for sharing, and I never question their corkage fee…because the answer could just as easily be “we don’t offer corkage for outside wines.” I always add tip above the bill based on service, starting at $20 a bottle, and number of bottles, let staff know we can pour after confirming sound, and am not a PIA re. stems, and offer to share my wines, so I’d like to think stand looks forward to seeing us. Always smile when staff thanks us for generous shares and tip and asks to let them know when we will be in next. On first visits, I have asked if they have any policy of buy a bottle off the list and corkage is waived as it’s a pretty prevalent theme in WA.
Corkage is a privilege not a right, you are bringing items into someone else’s business.
To the OP, I don’t think you did anything wrong on the surface, maybe the comment of $30 seeming high, but that’s nitpicking.
- To drink mature wine instead of overpriced young wine.
Alan, true but there are so few restaurants that have aged examples on wine lists that it’s more of a unicorn hunt to find those establishments, really doesn’t exist in WA for instance. How many are in CA?
Making respecting the establishment and the ability to do corkage that much more important, and not treating it as an opportunity to save money, I would guess restaurants look forward to seeing you and Jerry walk in for example, just a guess.
I know we’ve dissected the idea of corkage MANY times on this board. But this post made me think about the trope about bringing in your own food into a restaurant. What if we swapped out BYOF for BYOB.
- I know what I like to eat.
- I don’t like ordering unfamiliar dishes off a menu.
- I have a ton of leftovers in my refrigerator, and they to need to be consumed in a timely manner.
- To save money
What if we flipped the dynamic? It does seem odd …
For example, you walk into a winery/tasting room that has invested in a kitchen/staff to prepare small artisanal dishes as a convenience for guests that are drinking wine. You decide to bring in a chile verde burrito and take a seat at the tasting bar. After all, who wants to pay 3x for a dish that you can easily get at a food truck down the street. And you don’t want to take any chances – they might serve their dishes too cold, better to handle it yourself. And they might use really pedestrian ingredients.
Maybe you should pay a foil-wrapper fee?! But you get to unwrap it … don’t want the servers to mess it up. But if you give them a bite, they just might waive the fee! Or better yet, leave the third of the burrito you don’t eat for the servers to enjoy later. Might be better to call beforehand though to see if it’s cool.![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Me too. It’s completely unreasonable to expect corkage to be waived for offering a taste or two.
If all the establishment does is open the package of premade food it bought from a wholesaler and slap the contents on a plate, then I don’t see a reason not to ask to bring your own food, though I wouldn’t object to being charged a reasonable fee for occupying a seat.
Just looking at their website, I think the only thing you did wrong was to expect great wine service from a restaurant like that. It looks like a fun tapas place that focuses on their food first, and their mixed drinks second. If I were to go to that restaurant with wine, I would have brought the champagne cold, and I even would have brought my own glasses. I would have opened my own wine and instructed the staff to leave me alone with said wine. I would not have left anything up to the staff in regards to the wine.
Not to pile on, but about the fee, I agree $30 corkage is fair depending on the quality of the restaurant. There are some restaurants that could be considered steep, but I’ve paid up to $75 and would pay more depending on the list and what I brought. I personally would not bring a room temperature champagne for corkage but that’s because I would not expect the restaurant to get it properly cooled in time for me to appreciate it. If I was bringing a “warm” bottle I might arrive a bit early and ask them to chill it in advance of our being seated.
This said, the change of waiters seems to be a snub at the diner considering they moved him to another station.
It seems strange to substitute BYO food for BYO wine because food and wine are different. I don’t buy the comparison. You can’t get good, aged wine of your choice in the vast majority of restaurants. Regardless of price.
I like Alan Weinberg’s list of reasons to BYO. I have no problem paying corkage fees.
were you aware of the corkage prior?
agree—that’s why I added it to the BYOB list. We always give server and somm a chance to taste. Funny how often they demur.
I agree that $30 is a fair corkage, particularly in SF. As for tipping, there are long threads around here with all the points of view. I always tip on at least the corkage, and most likely more than that to make up for not having purchased any alcohol. OTOH, $30 corkage is about what two BTG wines would be, so it’s not that much different to the restaurant of staff if you just tip on that.
Back to the OP, most servers would understand and respond to your ice bucket request quickly, and allow the wine to chill for at least a few minutes, depending on its starting temp. If tables are crowded, without a lot of room, it’s not unreasonable to keep the bucket at a wine/servers station out of the way, though in most cases they will bring it to your table.
Waived corkage: it’ always nice to offer your server a taste, if they are allowed. One should NEVER expect corkage to be waived just for sharing your wine with staff or other guests. That’s up to the restaurant, and it’s a nice surprise, but always a bonus. I do find that being a good guest, especially on a special occasion like bday or anniversary, often results in gratis corkage, but I’m never expecting it.
The only mistake you made was in the choice of restaurants, but you had no idea as to how unprofessional the wine service is. It appears the servers are not well trained which reflects on management/ ownership.
Re the $30 corkage, I actually think that is reasonable especially in any “decent” restaurant in San Francisco.
You did not remark about the stemware and I’m wondering what the quality was and whether is was appropriate for the wines you took although it is a mute point if they are not set up to do decent wine service.
In a loopy way, this thread reminds me of the Chicken Sammich scene in “Five Easy Pieces.”
One possibility is to bring one bottle and pay the corkage on it. And order one bottle of the list. This is what my old restaurant owner did, whenever he took me out.