Restaurant ripoff?

[CSUFvintner]

After lurking around the boards for quite some time (mostly because I'm kinda shy and afraid I'll display my foot-in-mouth disease) I've decided that Rants & Raves will be the place to post my very first message ... off to a great start, huh?!

<I'll take this opportunity to say howdy to my fellow NWIWC friends, and a smooch on the cheek to the Curm - this is Lisa from Fresno State, now in Texas winemaking purgatory, but on my way back to California next week [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] thankfully>

In any event, my angst has to do with ordering wines by-the-glass in restaurants, and the waitstaff taking it upon themselves to "substitute" my selection. Not only does it irritate me that they've taken the liberty to choose an alternate for me, they don't acknowledge the price difference in the glass, which in one case was over $3.

This has happened to me four times in the past year, the most recent occurrence being two days ago. Hubby and I were celebrating our first anniversary at a nice hotel/restaurant, and after perusing the wine list, I started off by ordering a sparkling wine from the Finger Lakes region. Imagine my surprise to find that it tasted exactly like Asti Spumanti. When I called this to my waiters attention, he explained that the sparkling I'd requested was not chilled, but the Asti was, and that the quality of the Asti Spumanti was far superior to that of the Finger Lakes choice. Upon further questioning tho', my waiter confessed he'd never tried the Finger Lakes wine. <At this point, hubby begins to squirm, fearing a repeat of last weeks wine ordering ordeal>

That particular incident involved ordering a glass of reserve Cab, but getting a bulk produced Merlot. Again, I called this to my waiter's attention, who confessed that "oh, that happens sometimes - when we're out of the Cab we'll substitute the Merlot, people never notice the difference." There was a $3 price difference in this case, which irritates me all the more.

I seem to be encountering this type of service more frequently - in all four of my instances, it was acknowledged that the wines I ordered were "substituted".

So there it is ... My question is how do you, or would you, my peers, handle this situation? Before displaying any inappropriate behavior next time, which is where I'm sure this is headed, I'd like to get your input ... and I thank you for helping to control the banshee in me <smile>