A group of 6-8 of us are all going to be in San Francisco for a meeting and are trying to put together a Burg-friendly evening. We are finding that nearly every place has a pyramidal corkage policy (e.g. $30 per for the first 1 or 2 bottles, $60 for the 3rd, $90 for subsequent bottles) & nobody seems to be interested in negotiating any different terms. The two places that sounded the most promising based on tips from others, were Jardinière & Mourad and both turned out to be unwilling to bend on their policies.
Does anyone have any favorite venues (and we are willing to look at more casual places too if the food is Burg friendly) that might be more accommodating?
Just to be clear, none of us are complaining about Jardinière or Mourad and their policies. They can choose to make their policies and enforce them. We are just looking for a different option. I’m not interested in a big debate about corkage & restaurants needing to make their margins on alcohol, etc.
places that do BYO in SF are pretty rare. And among those, ones with great food is even rarer. Check out Zazie if you want to do dinner on Tuesday nights, which I believe is corkage free. Food is great, but check out the menu to see if anything will pair well with burgs.
Two places that have been very good to us are Heirloom Cafe and The Morris (BTW their smoked duck is to die for). I’m not sure what their normal policies are but we’ve been able to arrange unlimited bottles and often flat/per person corkage.
Not surprising that a lot of restos aren’t interested in cutting a deal for a Saturday dinner. The good spots will be busy enough.
I’d suggest you consider ranging further afield both cuisine and distance-wise. Large Chinese restos, especially when you order their banquet menus for X people, often charge little to nothing in terms of corkage. Their glassware will be crap, but the menus typically lend themselves well to white and red Burgs. Check out Zen Peninsula in Millbrae or Koi Palace in Daly City, both of which are about a 20-30 min drive from downtown SF to their locations.
That’s good advice and always something to keep in mind. Once, I took 19 people to Din Tai Fung. They told me over the phone it was $15 corkage. So we brought over 30 wines. When the bill came, it wasn’t $15 a bottle, it wasn’t $15 a head, it was just $15. Winner!
