Corkage Fees at Top NYC restaurants

[mikec]

Steve,

Thanks for the welcome.  That was my first post here.  I have been a regular reader of your website and lurked here for a bit.  You and I have actually had some nice e-mail correspondence via your site.  My name is Mike Cohen, until this past August I lived in Gramercy Park for the past 6 years.  My wife and I bought a house in NJ and while we miss NYC a good deal, the added space will make things easier for us since we are expecting our first child this January.  Quality, meat, cheese, produce, etc. is much harder to come by in NJ and I will have to post a request for places to shop on the NJ board.  Currently I'm still making a NYC market run about once a week.  

I am an active participant on some of the internet wine boards and have a number of friends who enjoy wine.  We go out for dinner quite often as a group ranging from 4-12 people and thus have a good deal of experience dealing with corkage issues.  We've had some serious problems finding places to accomodate us when we are more than 6 people.  Frankly I can understand the issue for restaurants.  Many of the places that used to be corkage friendly have since changed their policy or their attitudes.  I suspect that things will change with the downturn in the economy and all the other factors affecting NYC right now.  

Also, even though it may not be a well known fact, there are a number of wine lovers who like to enjoy a bottle from their cellar with a nice meal in a restaurant setting.  What happens though is that as soon as a restaurant is determined to be corkage friendly, many overzealous wine lovers flock to the place bringing their own wine.  Usually they are willing to buy some wine off the list as well, but when it becomes a common occurance it must annoy restaurantuers quite a bit.  Some examples from recent memory include Po changing corkage from บ to ฤ, Irving on Irving going from บ (but often waived) to ฤ, and The Place going from ฟ to not accepting it at all.

Like I said above, I bet that more restaurants will be willing to allow corkage for a reasonable price now that the economy has faltered.

Take care,

Mike

[robert brown]

Mike, something I forgot to mention is that once you find a place that lets you bring in your wine "gratis" or for a small amount, besides letting the service people taste it, leave a generous tip.

Some friends who live in Middletown, Rumsen, Little Silver area took me to a specialty food place called Sickles (Syckles?) It seemed to be on a decent level with a lot of stuff.

[Beachfan]

If it's a truly special wine, then sending a taste to the chef is often appreciated, even at top places (Wolfgang Puck at Spago out here for example).  And often a taste of an interesting or merely delicious wine is appreciated by the chef.

[Wilfrid]

Can I ask about a related issue?  It seems to me that one downside for the waitstaff, if you bring your own bottle, is that it's not going to show up on the check and become part of the tipping calculation.  I guess you would tip on the corkage.  How do you handle that?  Tip a little extra, or ignore the issue.

Not wanting to get onto tipping in general, I did just want to say that one of the things I resent about paying the high prices on Manhattan wine lists, is the amount it adds to the tip.  I mean, a 贄 bottle of wine - add on say ฟ (maybe more) to the gratuity.  Is that just me, or does anyone share that gripe?

[Felonius]

The issue of how much to tip on wine is a good point that I haven't really considered before.  It doesn't take any more effort to serve a 跌 bottle of wine than it does to serve a 贄 one, yet the tip goes up threefold.  In the past I have just tipped the usual 15-20% on the entire tab, and more than this if I brought my own bottle of wine to make up for the difference.  Am I over-tipping?   Do other folks out there tip less incrementally on high dollar wine purchases?

Then again, I suppose if I one can afford an expensive bottle of wine, one can afford to tip the waitstaff a bit extra.

[tommy]

Quote: from Felonius on 10:39 pm on Oct. 29, 2001

In the past I have just tipped the usual 15-20% on the entire tab, and more than this if I brought my own bottle of wine to make up for the difference.  Am I over-tipping?   Do other folks out there tip less incrementally on high dollar wine purchases?

this issue has been touched on here if i'm not mistaken, although a cursory search has not located it.

i had good service just tonite at a BYO.  the total tab was about 30 dollars.  the waitstaff was attentive to the wine i brought.  i'd usually throw down 6 as a tip, but since they serviced the wine, i tipped 8 and change.  not much of a difference, but instead of 20% it was closer to 30%.  not a lot from me, but for them it adds up.

with that said, if a BYO provides no wine service besides bringing out glasses, that rule goes out the window.

as far as tipping on 跌 bottles, that's a different issue, and one that i have given much thought to, although on the rare occasion that i spend 80 or more on a bottle of wine (well, i should say 2 or more at 80 bucks, as that starts adding up), i won't tip ภ a bottle.  and i certainly wouldn't tip 60 on a 300 dollar bottle...although in those rare situations it's usually on an expense account and it's not my money anyway.

i don't think there's any such thing as "over-tipping".  tip what you're comfortable with.  the notion that there is a correct amount to tip seems to be defeating the purpose.