Thirty-seven fifty Bottle of Wine

[RunForTheRoses]

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/bamboozled_what_happens_when_a_3750_bottle_of_wine _really_costs_3750.html#incart_most-read

Strange article out of New Jersey. Have to blame the purchaser, need to put those glasses on or don't order but Sommelier pushing a $3,750 bottle on someone who doesn't know wine, allegedly? Any opinions from those who work in Restaurant industry?

[TJDave]

Nope. If it went down as reported server and sommelier at fault.

[DJofSD]

Did the bill automatically include a 10% gratuity for the large party too?

[Dave Schwartz]

Wow.

I think the Borgata should be ashamed.

But, hey, they're a casino, right? In this new age, the customer is rarely getting the benefit of doubt at anything.

[JustRalph]

Nope. If it went down as reported server and sommelier at fault.


Showed it to my wife who has fine dining experience, she said

"Waitress and her supervisors would be buying the bottle"

[Clocker]

What is this going to cost Borgata in bad publicity?

[TJDave]

Showed it to my wife who has fine dining experience, she said

"Waitress and her supervisors would be buying the bottle"

Maybe, but I'd bet that the Borgata wouldn't have been stuck for it had the customer refused to pay. The liquor distributor or wine peddler would eat it...

If they wanted to continue doing business with the casino. ;)

[RunForTheRoses]

Maybe, but I'd bet that the Borgata wouldn't have been stuck for it had the customer refused to pay. The liquor distributor or wine peddler would eat it...

If they wanted to continue doing business with the casino. ;)

If he refused to pay would that have been a criminal act with cops showing up?
The restaurant was owned by horse owner Bobby Flay, you would think they wouldn't want such bad publicity.
I do think the gentleman involved may have been a little too nonchalant about it though. On the other hand that was a vastly expensive bottle of wine and if you look at the receipt the rest of their order that you can see is fairly basic $6 beers, $8 mix drinks, that is a $3K bottle of wine seems out of the ordinary.

[HUSKER55]

we don't frequent high end places like that except on special occasions. we phone ahead and make reservations and tell them in advance. we have never had a bad experience like that.

those kind of places should know who they are dealing with. the one we got to has a piano with skits, stand up comedy type. they know we are not regulars.

I can't imagine why a restaurant in that league would pull such a trick.

[ldiatone]

next time order the house wine by the glass...6oz pour or 8oz pour

[OverlayHunter]

Does anyone know who actually owns and who manages the restaurant? The comments in this thread suggest Borgata is calling the shots.

Is the Borgata a franchisee operating a Flay/franchisor restaurant or is Flay more involved, perhaps in partnership with Borgata? IOW, who is the party (or the parties) responsible for what appears on the surface to be a pretty heavy handed approach towards the customer. BTW, did the customer pay the $2200 "discounted" price or full boat?

To be fair to the management, though the accounts so far suggest this is not the case, I wouldn't be surprised if restaurants get scammed by customers from time to time.

[PhantomOnTour]

If a guy sits down at my place and tells one of my servers to "pick out an entrée for him" and that server decides on the filet with truffle frites and jumbo lump crab meat (ya' know...the works) which would come out to over $70; that server would be in trouble with me.

I cannot believe a server or somm at a place like Flay's would pull a move like that. Bush league...the guy was treated like a tourist who will fly back to Peoria the next day and be gone forever.
Then again - anyone who's ever eaten at a fine dining place knows that they round all prices to the dollar.
You will never see a steak listed at $30.55 or a bottle wine priced at $150.25

[Robert Fischer]

Hard to know what actually happened.

[ldiatone]

ya know POT your are right and i do believe the guy was wrong also. it goes both ways. the guy should have asked the sommelier to recomend a "lite" priced or avarage priced bottle of wine and the wait staff should have called the sommelier over. ok so the wine was 3grand+ if the staff would have picked a $600.00 bottle of red would he be upset also? hey i ordered a glass of champange at a place in vegas. had 4 glasses $51.00 each. and no prices but i knew going in, it would be that way. the fellow doesn't drink wine much, all the more for the sommelier to help. now some common sense, would any of us go in to a upscale place and say to the wait/sommelier "give me a bottle of wine pick one" i have "readers" and i still can make out prices on a wine list with out them on. and fire the wait staff? they did what the customer wanted.

[ldiatone]

and no wonder it was so expensive... a NAPA valley wine...and ya know what sonoma county says about napa wines "NAPA, a four letter word" :rolleyes: