Server Corkage Etiquette?

Hi

Last weekend I had an corkage experience I wanted to share. I have some questions around the restaurant / server etiquette that I experienced.

My friend turned 50 and my wife and I took the birthday boy and his wife out to dinner. We went to Barcino in San Francisco.

I had two special bottles that I wanted to open for the dinner a Champagne and a 2008 Burgundy.

I made reservations a few weeks in advance, and a week before I emailed the restaurant telling them that I would be there to celebrate my friends birthday and wanted to ask them what their corkage policy was. I never heard back from them, a day before I emailed again and no reply. I called them the day of and spoke with the manager and he said it was ok and that corkage was $30 per bottle. I told him I thought that it was steep but would continue with my plan.

I transported the two bottles in a plain black fabric wine tote.

After we got seated I took the two bottles out of the tote and put them on the table so it was clear and obvious what I was doing.

Our waiter walked up and the first thing he said without saying hello was “Corkage is $30 a bottle”, I replied, yes. He asked if he should open the Champagne yes but I would like a water / ice bucket as the bottle was at room temp. I also asked him to open the bottle of Burgundy. So he immediately opened the sparkling and went to pour it. I stopped him and said I wanted it in a water/ice bucket. He said oh yeah, like he forgot. My plan was to have the unopened bottle placed in the ice water bath for 10 or so minutes then to gently tip the bottle upside down to distribute the temperature before opening.

He then took the open bottle to the service station and put it in an ice bucket. About 15 minutes later he brought it back to the table.

When he poured the Burgundy a few drops went on my menu. It wasn’t a big deal to me and I made a comment like it was a small tight table which it was.

A few minutes later a different waiter appeared and the new waiter said they had a waiter shift. Our waiter was still there working the other side of the restaurant (which was small).

At the end of the night when we left I walked by the first waiter and he looked away avoiding eye contact.

So the few things I thought were odd were, he went to pour the sparkling a minute or two after I asked for the ice bucket, having my bottle sit out of site at the waiter/ server station in the ice bucket, and then the waiters swap.

The food was excellent, the restaurant was nice, not super fancy or high end.

Did I do anything wrong?

No but they were dopes.

I’ve asked for ice buckets when they bring a red that’s too warm. (Trigger warning - pun ahead.) They sometimes get snotty and say that “It’s a red wine sir,” but sometimes they’re cool about it.

Through sad experience I’ve found that it’s best to have a conversation with them before they touch your wine. I usually go find someone or hold onto the wine until it’s clear that:

1. We will pour it ourselves, and
2. They are welcome to taste.

If I ask them to put into a cooler, they still aren’t supposed to open.

That is unless I really know the place and the wine people and trust them. That’s a whole different story.

Unless I either have direct knowledge of or can have very good reason to be very confident in their wine program, I’ve found it’s better to take charge. The vast majority of restaurant staff do not know how to provide correct service.

In those cases I will communicate very directly with the server about what I’m looking for. That my table will handle the pouring (and for old wines) even opening the wines. I’ll ask for the ice bucket to be at our table as well. And of course I always offer them a taste.

I’m not a control freak. When I’m at a restaurant where I know the service is correct, I’m fine if they pour, if they keep the chilled wines at more convenient location for them, etc. I simply want wine service to be correct, and if it’s not going to be, I’m not going to try and force it (unless I’m at a restaurant where it ‘should’ be correct, but that’s a different argument…)

Also, I’m not wild about $30 corkage but that’s the world we now live in. $20-30 corkage is what I see in almost every big city I’ve been in, even for just decent restaurants. Yes, sometimes less, sometimes free. Bringing our wines to a restaurant is a privilege, not a divine right, and they are still providing the stems, decanter, etc, even if they aren’t pouring/opening.

If we don’t like it, we are always free to vote with our wallets. I personally wouldn’t complain about it, though I would inform the restaurant if the price prevented me from dining with them; they can then do with that information what they wish. More times than not I’ve either not been charged the full corkage (either a lesser price, or the full price for a lesser number of bottles than I brought).

NOPE. Server was ignorant re: handling wine or disinterested or both. I’ve found results are better if I state my expectations or manner I’d like the bottle to handled/opened explicitly and specifically at the outset. That comes from having too many bottles mangled by waiters/servers/“somms”. Greg T is correct: Don’t give them the bottles until they are clear on what/how/when.

Don’t think you did anything wrong. In the future I would have informed the hostess that you would like an ice bucket set at your table and that you have brought your own bottles. I think that would avoid the initial problems you experienced at the start of your dinner.

When it comes to BYOB always be extremely clear and direct to the server with your requests and expectations especially if you’re paying $30 per bottle corkage.

For example;I would like two glasses set per person so we can drink both our wines simultaneously. I would also like to pour my own wine. I would like to save my CDP for the sushi boat, etc

That was certainly poor service, though not enough to make a big deal about. You didn’t do anything wrong. That first server did. Lying about the shift change was ridiculously unprofessional. Did they really think you wouldn’t notice?

If you went in on the early side and saw the place getting busier, the waiter shift could’ve been because of staggered start times. So, they’d have been getting you started before your server was there or ready.

I was in Kiawah at a very good restaurant but we were sitting at the bar of the informal dining area. Well, it was our anniversary and I had an ‘03 Harlan. I had decanted it previously and offered the woman at the bar and the sommelier who came over to see the bottle a good sized taste each. The bill came with a $50 corkage fee! Needless to say I won’t be going back there anymore!

Thanks for sharing. I’ve been trying to avoid getting stressy about these type of niggling service mistakes as they happen in real time.

I often would feel myself getting agitated and unable to fully enjoy the company of friends because I was bird-dogging bottles. My wife would pick up on my distracted state and kick me under the table and command me to let go of the obsessive wine details for Pete’s sake.

Not judging or saying you weren’t treated poorly. I get how annoying it is … service micro-aggressions, especially at $30 a bottle!

Just sharing my experience in trying to put wine service in perspective. Most people at the table don’t notice or care about the details. Just let it go. I know it’s hard but I’m trying…

This seems to be much ado about very little. They forgot to chill the Champagne, but did so when you reminded them. As previously noted, let it go.

Maybe he was new and out of his depth, and either asked for a change or it was suggested.

A slightly contrarian view. Just slightly, since the service itself seemed fairly ignorant.

But the thirty dollar corkage is a steal, and that price, you are costing restaurant and server money-the server in tips and the restaurant in lost profits.

The other thing is giving the server a small pour, and thinking that should entitle you to less or free corkage. Sorry guys, that is about sharing and generosity and does not compensate for less of income.

Fully agree with this.

Ditto. Restaurants have enough trouble staying in business without having to deal with people who want their corkage fees waived.

1. Bringing warm wine, especially sparkling, and being peeved at the “poor ice service” strikes me as a moment when the wait staff might roll eyes at each other and say, “Oh, one of those people.”

2. It seems you were perturbed enough about the one drip to comment, so it likely came off as though you thought it was a bigger deal than you might think it did. It sounded a bit like a somewhat passive aggressive disapproving in-law comment.

3. 30 bucks corkage is a great and fair price. I love wine as much as the next Berserker, but if our need to feed our fetish makes going out to dinner some sort of production to impose our cellars on a restaurant, I land with the restaurant. We can come off a bit like “Sally” in “When Harry Met Sally” when you think of a room full of customers, each of whom may have poorly prepared their own wines for dining and wanting things done in some peculiar way. I agree, it’s your money, but I think we sometimes forget there are more things to dinner than looking for ways that a wine server spoiled the evening.

I’ve never heard a complaint about brining a warm champagne and opining about not getting a proper serving ritual before, so that might be a new one for the archives!

4. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, I don’t generally drag my wines out to dinner so I am a bad source from the get go. I do like to take my favorite CDs and ask they be played in a certain order as I dine, however.

Well stated.
I do take wine to dinner constantly. And I would not have written a novella about what happened here.

This BYO is apparently common is the USA, I live in Denmark here we just pick from the wine card to decide what we drink , I know some people who always want to bring their own wine to the restaurant, perhaps to save money
Never understood this

I can’t speak for others, but I BYOB for several reasons:

1. I know what I like to drink.
2. I don’t like ordering unfamiliar bottles off a wine list.
3. I have a ton of wine in my basement, and it needs to be consumed in a timely manner (before it goes bad, and within my lifetime).
4. To save money.

Good list. I would add I like wines that have been cellared and are fully mature.

Yes, I agree, that’s what I meant (in part) when I said timely, before it goes bad. So maybe I have five reasons. But the odd thing is that all five seem equally important to me; I would have difficulty ranking them.