Had dinner at Purple (downtown) last night. No corkage on the first bottle. No need to buy one off their list, which by the way is 108 pages long.
We brought a Bedrock Carlisle Vineyard. I noticed that they had a Bedrock Old Vines on their list.
The food was excellent, the service very good, they decanted my wine (which I did not ask for), and the waiter was funny and bright. A very nice dinner at a very reasonable price. One of my favorite restaurants whenever I am in Seattle.
Not to mention the giganto wine tower in the middle of the room. I will have to get myself one of those.
Phil Jones
Okay, I just called them. It used to be $35 per bottle. I never complained because they keep a cellar with 20,000 bottles, which ainât cheap. But at some point fairly recently they must have shifted over to the $10 per bottle per person. Thing is, we rarely pay that, either. Why not? Well, maybe because we always bring something exceptional they donât have in their cellar. (I do always check first.) Then we make certain everyone gets a taste. '62 Latour, '66 Pichon-Longueville, '01 Solaia, '97 Lafite ⌠you get the idea. Our waitperson gets some, the sommelier obviously, even the chef in the kitchen. And this last time around there were two other birthdays across the aisle, so we shared with those folks, too.
I mean, come on. What good is a great wine that isnât shared? You donât want to end up like that âSidewaysâ guy.
Now youâve got me wondering if I should bring a bottle to our monthly dim sum gathering! Guess the restaurant has to have a liquor license, though. Or I could disguise it as jasmine tea.
Are u saying they donât charge u corkage because u share?
We almost always share with server/somm etc and itâs about 50/50 we get corkage waive. I donât expect it so I donât care, but curious as to ur experience at canlis.
As of early 2020 all(?) of Ethan Stowellâs restaurants do corkage at $25/bottle. Iâve only actually done it at Red Cow and Cortina but was told it applies everywhere.
Canlis discussion above update. They are back to $35 a btl I believe. But limit 2 btls officially.
Certainly if u email the somm, heâs quite nice and will work with you.
Seattleâs biggest issue with corkage is the bottle limit regardless of group size (unless u know someone).
The Canlis website still says $10 per person per bottle. Which, as noted above, is a tremendous bargain for two people with one bottle.
At other restaurants, I agree that the bottle limit, without regard to party size, is problematic. I donât mind a reasonably high corkage fee. It should be the average profit the restaurant makes on a bottle from their list. Then let large (or medium) groups bring as many bottles as they like. Itâs a win-win.
Phil Jones
With a limit of two bottles per person, why even have a limit? Iâm really wondering what problem they were solving by instituting the limit. I mean, who was bringing three bottles per person before the limit, who will now bring two bottles per person and buy a few extra bottles off the list? Just not seeing that happening, like, ever.
Was at El Gaucho Seattle last night. Brought a bottle and bought a bottle. No corkage charged. Not sure if it is standard practice or because we are regular customers.
We are also regulars at the Tacoma El Gaucho and always bring 2-4 bottles of our own. They have offered me one of the wine lockers to store stuff in, but havenât taken them up on it.
Usually start off with a cocktail or two per, sometimes order a sparkler bottle (the wives order a sparkling glass each at a minimum), and I always offer the wine or table captain a sample, and I donât think they ever charge me corkage.
But then again, I usually donât look at the bill super close.