Neopolitan

And suddenly I'm reminded of the time we had another birthday dinner with my partner's brother and wife who live at Lake Tahoe. We went to the restaurant at the Hyatt on the north shore (Eagle's Nest?) and Dick took a bottle of 1997 Silver Oak Napa Cabernet -- a treasure! When he presented it to our server for serving, she said "oh, I don't think you'll want to do your own wine, we charge $15 for corkage". Duh! Talk about lack of training!

samschack

Sorry---SRQ is acutally the airport designation for Sarasota.
Flemings is owned by the "Outback" steakhouse people but you would never know they are part of the same company.
No Bloomin' onions on the menu anywhere to be found.
We also have a Ruth's Chris here and much prefer Flemings, although I would put it in the same category.

DB

Huh, whaddaya know?

This explains why the restaurant guy gave me such a dirty look when I said I'd give him a couple bucks to unscrew my bottle of Boone's Farm.

They said BYOB!!! #-o

khoffmann

The whole BYOB idea is really nothing to scoff at. I LOVE finding a great BYOB place and brining a good bottle of wine and not have to pay the 100%+ restaurant mark up!!

We live in Chicago and love hearing about a great BYOB place (usually it is just temporary as these establishments are waiting for thier liquor licesnce—which is pretty hard to get here—, but some keep it that way and we are ever greatful!!)

As long as they have a great menu, I'll bring my wine/beer anytime!

BostonGal

BYOB is such a great concept, I only wish Boston had them.

You save so much money because you get to bring your own wine (or whatever tickles your fancy)- so you purchase it at a much lower price AND you're guaranteed to like it.

I've only been to BYOB places in Maine and Jersey, and both places proved to be a great time.

marilynl

I do, however, get irked when restaurants that are BYOB charge relatively high corkage fees--I'm thinking of a mediocre place in my neighborhood that charges unwary groups $4/pp to open their bottles...now that I think of it, their food is overpriced, too.

annetti

"There is something wrong with taking a standard bottle of wine to a restaurant that sells wine just to save money."

I don't agree; there are many of us out there who find it ridiculously expensive to pay $7-8 for a glass of wine, get served half a glass and then pay at least 25% tax and service on it.A bottle of wine in a restaurant can be exhorbitant, often 3 times the mark up. I've seen
$5 bottles from TJs go for $25. If the restaurants don't want to offer corkage, they don't have to, but I'm not going to forgo a wonderful way to save money and eat out, too.
WWhen I bring an inexpensive bottle of wine from Trader Joe's and pay a $10 or $15 corkage fee, I've made the meal more enjoyable for myself and my guests, plus it's more affordable. Sure, it's nice to bring a special bottle of wine, but for those of us with limited budgets,and not snobbish, and that don't want big CC bills,it is a comfortable way to go. We've done it here frequently in California, and everyone has been extremely pleasant about it.

By the way, it's extremely popular in
Australia, too. We loved paying a dollar or two per person, sometimes free, to have a bottle of wine while eating in an inexpensive restaurant.

diann

I live in PHL suburbs and simply love BYOBS. In fact we scoff now when we pay $10.00 for a HALF FILLED glass and then is not the same quality we would have brought on our own. They are the best! There is one in the city we go to off of South street and it is always packed. They are quite popular!

joan

Annetti, I disagree with your logic. Where do you draw the line?
I have had customers who bring a 2 liter bottle of Coke into my restaurant and ask for four glasses of ice. I am not making this up.

Granted, they are paper cups, on picnic tables, with average dinner tab about $10...but still!!!!!! This is beyond cheap. I say order tap water if you can't afford the beverage prices - whether alcoholic or not.

annetti

I grew up in Phila. and remember the days when everything was closed on Sun and people went to NJ to celebrate New Year's Eve so they could have a drink after midnight. California's liquor laws seemed so lax after the one or two years I dealt with PA State owned liquor stores. It was amazing to see wine sold in the local supermarket here in CA. One good thing that has come out of the strict liquor laws in PA are the BYOB places. It gives one more of a choice when dining out. We were introduced to BYOB idea here in California by some friends 7-8 yrs ago and have felt it's a great way to enjoy yourself and save some money. Never, have we been less than courteously treated, regardless of the quality of wine we have brought to a restaurant. If it's a new place for us, we always call beforehand and check out the corkage policy, perhaps that has saved us grief. Only once have we been told that corkage fee would not be honored if the establishment sold the wine that we brought. So for that poster who thought they would be embarrassed to bring their own wine, let it be known that here in Southern California, it is not an unusual thing to do.

lizziea06

I consider a BYOB to be a restaurant that doesn't provide any alcohol but allows you to consume your own. I love them too, and think they are a great way to save money. I agree with Neopolitan and Joan about bringing in your own cheap bottle to a restaurant that's not expressly BYOB. That just seems tacky. Restaurants have a hard enough time staying in business.

annetti

Joan,I am not talking about coca cola, I am talking about wine. However, if a restaurant does not want to have a corkage fee to allow someone to bring in some wine, that's their policy and I would honor it. Restaurants have the right to establish their policy, decide what's profitable for them, and then I decide where I want to spend my money.

annetti

Also, Joan, another thought. It's not like I am drinking the wine for free. We generally pay $10-$15, even $25 corkage fee for the privledge of drinking our own wine. The restaurant can't be loosing that much money or they would not do it. I am not asking for free glasses with ice.

Neopolitan

I realize we all have different levels of what we'd do or not do. I personally wouldn't take a bottle of wine that is standard on the restaurant's own wine list just to save money any more than I'd take my own dessert and ask them to bring a plate. After all I can buy a whole pie at a bakery for little more than the restaurant will charge for a single slice. So why should I pay their markup when I can bring my own?

Regardless of what others think, I still think such actions are tacky. If you don't like what is on the restaurant's wine list or menu and don't want to pay their prices for those offerings, then in my humble opinion you should go somewhere else, not bring your own version of what they sell.

Malesherbes

Joan--that's ludicrous! My jaw would have dropped open if anyone had asked me that. I hope you didn't do it. What next? People bringing their own sleeping bags to hotels and asking that the bed and linen service to be taken off the tab? LOL

I consider the marked up cost of wine just part of the cost of a nice evening away from home and don't give it another thought. I'd personally be embarrassed bringing an ordinary bottle of wine to any restaurant that served wine, seriously! Yes it'd be nice to have my own bottle of better wine at a fraction of the cost of their lesser one, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

joan

I still disagree with you (and hey I grew up in Philly too! ). Your first post mentioned that you buy inexpensive bottles at Trader Joe's, to save money when dining out. When you do this at restaurants THAT SERVE WINE I think that is cheap cheap cheap.

If you had a "special" bottle, on the other hand, I have no problem with it. Or if you like wine a cut above Gallo and that's all they sell, ok too. But just doing this to save the money, hey why not bring your own dessert too...all you need is a plate and a fork right? And the restaurant is still making a profit on your dinner right? (never mind that they have to buy and wash and serve those glasses and plates...)

joan

Oops - I was busy doing spellcheck when Malesherbes and Neopolitan were posting...interesting that we all had the same line of thought though.

And yes, Malesherbes, of course I "let them". They're so sneaky about it anyway...and I'm making such a big profit on that dinner I can afford it.

Malesherbes

You enabler you! LOL Next they'll be knocking on our door with their sleeping bags!!

Seamus

A local restaurant manager once explained to me that public health laws forbade them from allowing any food to be served that had not been prepared by the restaurant or a source with which it contracted. The rationale is that the restaurant is legally responsible and liable for the safety of the food served on premises. Despite this, I have on a few occasions had a cake delivered to a restaurant for a special event and there was not a problem, though at least one place did tack on a per-person charge for cutting and serving - a fair deal, IMHO. I would presume that with a sealed bottle of wine the rules are a bit different.

Joan - do you serve the same brand that these apparent skinflints bring with them? Some people are firmly on one side or the other in the Coke/Pepsi debate.

joan

Seamus, we serve Coke.

Ah, the stories I could tell! That is a crock, that story about a restaurant not allowing outside food due to health reasons. It maybe "policy", but it ain't a law. I'd bet a $10 bottle of Gallo on it!

Did I mention the one about the family that brings their own burger buns? That's right, we happen to sell Grouper and other fish either by the sandwich or the pound. Of course the sandwich costs more, ounce for ounce. So they order the pound. Yep, I couldn't believe my eyes. And they actually left the half eaten bag of buns on the table for me to clean up. I may be an Enabler, but hey I'm rich rich rich what does it matter!