Is $22 Corkage Fee a Bit Much?
 

My anniversary is 1986 and I have some 1986 Bordeaux in the basement that I like to pull out once or twice a year. I decided on a restaurant this year (Groupon helped me decide) and I asked about bringing my own wine and they said it was a $22 corkage fee.

I think I have paid $10 corkage before but was kind shocked by $22. On the other hand, if we pay for a couple of glasses of wine I could be up to $22 quite easily. I'm actually kind of okay with the corkage fee after getting over the initial shock.

Is $22 a bit much?

Depends on the restaurant of course but in a major city this would be very acceptable.

$22 is an "odd" number. Around these parts, they seem to be in increments of $5. The range is $10 to $25. And some with the higher fees can have reasonable markups on what they carry, making me less likely to bring something.

A special bottle for a special meal? If the restaurant uses proper stemware and provides proper wine service,$22 is not out of line.

It's a lot of money but it's definitely not unusual.

Booze is a major profit center for restaurants.

What he said; I'd have said $15 or $20 was typical, but $25 (and thus $22, other than not being a very "round" number) would not be out of line, especially at nicer places.

I've noticed here in Los Angeles, a number of better restaurants have moved to $30.

have done a number of $25's. one place did not have a decanter for $25. also one place charged $25 if it was on the wine list, free if not. so, we decanted the bottle into an empty 2 liter wine in a box. the restaurant redecanted quickly, then asked if we wished to take the "bottle" home.

Man that's cheap. In New York, the average is $25, but more recently it's moving up to $35. We're going out to eat next week at a $35 place. It's killing me, but buying an over-priced bottle of wine, or doing by the glass, will kill me more. I win the battle, but do have some scratches.

YES. Find another place more reasonable.

Sounds like most people would say that $15 is reasonable. So is another $7 a deal breaker. For me it's not. Perhaps some could argue it's the principle that matters more.

So here's another question: Should my tip calculation include the corkage fee?

I don't think it should. Any other opinions?

BTW, the restaurant is question is Ponti Seafood in Seattle.

If you receive proper wine service, it definitely should. If the wine is plopped down on the table, and you receive a couple of 99¢ store type glasses for the wine, then it becomes a bit fuzzier (i.e., the wait person cannot help the glassware the restaurant has, but the waitperson certainly can serve your wine in a proper manner as if you purchased it right there - and most, in my experience, do).

If people are paying it, no it's not too much.

The restaurant probably does not really care if people like it or not. If they want wine and the fee is too high, they will buy a bottle from the menu. If they want their special bottle, they will pay the fee. It's not a significant enough amount of people who choose a restaurant by the corkage fee that will make or break them.

Exactly. Since it appears you'll be using a groupoin, the restaurant is going to lose money feeding you ... they need to make it up somewhere :)

Restaurants shouldn't get to claim that the food cost is just for the food (and therefore we must tip, too), then also demand $25 for wine 'service' if it doesn't actually cover any 'service'.

These places get away with charging $25-$30 for the same reason that Starbucks gets away with asking for tips. Americans are too frivolous to pay attention to where their money goes.

I wouldn't pay more than $15 or so for an opportunity loss to the restaurant by bringing my own wine. For the tipping part - that's gone far out of hand in the States.

That's very often discussed on boards of every type and purpose.

What it comes down to, at least to me, is this.

When you pay a corkage fee, the waiter gets nothing of that unless you tip them. They may be doing just as much work as if you ordered a bottle of wine (which you would probably tip on without hesitating, and would be tipping on more than the corkage fee in most places), they are still bringing you glasses, still opening the wine, still pouring it, still icing it, etc.

If you tip on the price of wine when you order a bottle, why would you not tip on the corkage fee if you believe tips are service related? Other than not storing the bottle in their cellar, the service received is exactly the same (or should be)