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+--- Thread: Restaurant ripoff? (/thread-12958.html)
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- Thomas - 10-04-1999
Unless, Jason, they are filling the bottle in the back room...
- Thomas - 10-04-1999
One more thing, I caught a restaurant that was lined with cruvinets behind the bar -- none were connected to a nitrogen saource, just appeared that way.
- Mr Clean - 10-09-1999
My first post ever. I would like to see wineries, and therefor dining establishments, producing and serving more half bottles of wine. On many occasions, this can be quite appropriate, enjoyable, and tamper proof!
- Jerry D Mead - 10-10-1999
Th tremendous success and profitability of "wine by the glass" makes the chance of half-bottle making a comeback pretty slim. It adds to a restaurants inventory problems, wineries make few selections available and those that are are often several vintages behind what's available in the 750 size, which requires listing two different vintages of the same wine.
I enjoy halves too, but I'm afraid we're out of luck.
- Randy Caparoso - 10-10-1999
Curmudgeon is right (of course). Half bottle containers cost more to the winery, thus more to restaurants and ultimately to the consumer. So a full bottle of, say, a Mondavi Chardonnay may cost you $40 in restaurant; whereas a half will set you back as much as $28.
But there's another factor. Wines in small containers also age faster; and this, combined with the common factor of selling more slowly, means that half bottles are often tired tasting, if not downright over-the-hill. If anything, an interested consumer always needs to make sure that the half bottle he purchases is of a fairly recent vintage (for instance -- drink only '97 or '98 Chardonnays in halves right now, since a '96 may already be burnt out). Not that this is always the case; but it's better to be safe than sorry.
One more thing: as a longtime restaurant wine buyer, I've pretty much stopped selling halves of dry wines long ago (over ten years) for these very same reasons. Why pass on a bad buy to my guests, which is also an excessively high cost item to me?
- Jerry D Mead - 10-10-1999
What I would really have liked to see was a warmer reception to the 500ml bottle, which just never got off the ground.
Very often a half bottle just wasn't enough for two people (even if you werwe having two wines, while a full 750 was a little too much for one wishing to drive home.
The 500mls that a few people tried to get going would have been the perfect answer...but all the problems stated above applied...plus no one knew what the hell a 500ml was.
Oh, well
- glgsr - 10-24-1999
Been gone awhile. Interesting to look at all the recent topics and see that deceitful practices by restaurants in dealing with their pours is a MAJOR source of discussion among everyone. Says something, I believe about scruples and honesty as well as the belief by the restaurants that their clients just "don't know any better". Curm is right. We just have to stay the course and shame them into doing the right thing.
- Randy Caparoso - 10-24-1999
"Shame" them? Just don't go! That's the great American way, isn't it? Survival of the fittest. Only caring, quality conscious restaurants deserve your patronage.
- GudWiin - 10-29-1999
Hi!
Having been both a restaurant patron and a waiter, I have to say that what you describe is just the sign of a poor waiter. I served tables in every type of restaurant from Denny's to fine dining, and have also tended bar. I have never substituted one item for another without first an apology to not having the desired item and then permission to bring the customer a different item. Usually, I have substituted a *nicer* wine for the one requested, at the *lower* price, the exact opposite of your experience! (Were that you had been my customer instead.) I note that your waiter told you that "no one ever notices the difference." Well, you did. I would have never bet that my customer (no matter how obviously wine-ignorant) wouldn't notice that it wasn't his/her favorite brand. Most people know their favorite brand. Beringer White Zinfandel lovers (for example) know Beringer, and they will notice a substitute immediately, even though they may not say anything. And in both fine restaurants and not-so-fine ones, one must always assume that your customer could be *anyone.* Your waiter sorely misjudged you. I'll bet that his income (of which at the very least 75% is probably his tips) suffers for his ignorance and poor skills.
As a lover of wine and dining, I appreciate good service. And I'll give a waiter the benefit of the doubt and a little extra slack most of the time. But once you've been behind the scenes, you really get picky about your service! I'm sorry to hear that this is such a prevalent problem, but it's probably ignorance, rather than dishonesty.
And it should always be mentioned to the manager. Don't forget to vote with your dollar and show your waiter your appreciation--pay him/her exactly what he/she is worth. That's what really hits the point home for them.