As my now-deceased brother used to say to me: “Merrill - you know exactly what you want. Why not tell the bartender right up front instead of letting him make you a drink that is not the way you like it?” I never wanted to appear as though I were telling them how to do their job. But then (north of Boston - very common) they make a Cosmo with Rose’s Lime Juice. Bleh! The same is for wine at a BYOB. Be specific about how you want the wine handled, in which order to open/pour/decant, type of stems. It alleviates a lot of problems. Sometimes I feel like I am being bossy, but if I am happy, the tip will be larger and everyone will be happier.
Funny - but the opposite is the case around here. If I bring my own (not specifically EMH), it is difficult to get any input from the Somm. Everyone brings their own, half are in the wine business, and I think they are overwhelmed with excellent/interesting wines with great frequency. But if one of my table-mates brings a wine and I think it is off, I appreciate some interest from the Somm in getting me off the hook!
Of course if I have Gronk with me, I let him handle it. No one argues with him!
what i don’t get is… it’s a great wine… sure… but as a Somm at a high end dining place… don’t they handle DRC/Screagle type of bottles on a daily basis?
Based on this review I’d avoid this place. Way too many other really good places with caring Somm’s that don’t behave like that.
And if any Somm helped themselves to a 3-4 oz pour of my wine without permission I’d raise holy hell with the manager. I won’t tolerate that behavior, period.
Someone needs to send this thread link to their Somm’s. Perhaps they’ll learn a thing or two seeing what behavior customers don’t care for.
I don’t know if your bottle was instagrammed or not, but I like the idea of informing a somm that I expect corkage to be waived on any of my bottles that he or she posts to Instagram.
As for the service issues, you are a more tolerant and forgiving person than I am, and I commend you for it.
No idea if they drank 3-4 ounces - highly doubt that much. Just saw three people tasting it. Just relaying a mutual friend of ours (a renowned somm;)) story about his experience at an event organized last year in NYC.
Decades ago, a tradition was started, when out for a night with grand vin of all types. It started with a bottle of 1945 Mouton at a high end restaurant in North Beach. All rare, unique and/or pricy bottles will be opened and decanted at my table.
I never let a somm take such bottles out of my sight. I am not afraid to tell them why either. I do not know them and I do not trust a stranger.
If they decant it, you have no idea how much they have not served you, right? I have also heard of an instance where other wine replaced that which was removed from a customer’s bottle.
Your story now provides you with a tale to tell the next somm.
Alan and Marcus +
I have my Durand and another corkscrew, plus my Waiter’s Helper(aptly named) to retrieve broken corks, so thanks, but no thanks.
This entire wine service episode is appalling IMO, and this last bit adds insult to injury. Thomas sounds like a certified you-know-what and an obnoxious snot if his idea of customer service, not to mention service to someone bringing serious wine to his restaurant, is making fun of you. I’ve never been to Nomad in NY but I’ve never had anything remotely like this experience in the last 20 years I’ve been drinking wine at any restaurant in NY.
This is indeed surprising as my Nomad NYC experience was almost as bad.
The perps in this story were the too cool for school hostesses who tried to seat our party of 3 at the tiny round table by the entrance to the bar. I asked if they could provide a quieter table in the more formal dining room. She said they were booked. Having lived in NYC for 5 years and visited once or twice a year since the last 15 years for dining, I knew better than to believe her so I checked Opentable and sure enough, there was a party of 4 available for the last seating at 945pm (it was 920pm, and last call was 10pm). The hostess replied they were saving it in the event there was a walk in group of 4. If I were alone I would have walked out but I was with my sister and fiancée and trying very hard not to let our first night in NYC be ruined. So I took the crappy table. When the somm arrives with the wine, he says this table is too small. Let’s move you to a larger one and we were seated in the more quiet dining room where there were no less than 5 open tables of 4 or more available.
I had to count to 10 so the absurdity of it wouldn’t anger me further. The plateau de fruits de mer was very good. The magnum of 2010 Comte Liger Colombiere off their list even better and quite reasonable at $550. The roast chicken however was the most absurdly small and dry chicken in the $40 category and yet they were charging $90+ for it that evening. Le Coq Rico and L’Hotel this was not. Not by a long shot.
The food at Nomad is about as far removed from EMP as the service is from a Danny Meyer’s establishment.
I emailed the management a week later to inform them of the ridiculous hostesses they had employed. They were responsive and nice and offered to comp my return but I declined because literally, you couldn’t pay me to go back.
What an arrogant, narcissistic post. Why even bother with going out to dinner? You don’t have to worry about them stealing your precious wine, but hopefully they spit in your food.
First off, I know and like Charlie, notwithstanding his propensity to wear t-shirts to any venue. But Merrill’s advice is spot on. Be specific, tell the somm exactly what you’d like, and do that in advance via email when possible. Being literal has its benefits.
Huh? Given Charlie’s experience, and plenty of other Somm stories that abound, I don’t get this reaction. I think if I had a rare and expensive bottle, and didn’t have a longstanding relationship with the Somm, I would be wary of letting it out of my sight. People in all walks of life do bad things, Somms are just people.
I agree 100% Alan. I went to a restaurant with a client about two years ago and he generously brought a bottle of mature Petrus. The Somm started to take the bottle away from the table to decant it, and I politely stopped him and asked him to do a table side, so that we could experience it. I said it that way so it would not come across as accusatory, but there’s no way I’m letting a bottle of Petrus out of my sight and going into a back room. And yes I am narcissistic . I poured some for the Somm, though.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
. I poured some for the Somm, though.