A recent post on the new Korean-Japanese restaurant Maru in Summerlin in Vegas Wineaux mentioned that Maru has a $15 corkage fee. You can read that article here.
As reasonable as that fee is, it is illegal.
Or so sayeth the liquor enforcement officers of the City of Las Vegas. According to their strained, tortured, and attenuated reading of State and local liquor licensing laws and regulations, any establishment who charges a corkage fee, or who allows patrons to bring their own bottles into a restaurant, is violating Nevada law (and local ordinances) which mandate that all alcoholic beverages consumed on premises be sold by a licensed purveyor who obtains those beverages from a licensed distributor/wholesaler. The convoluted, nonsensical nature of these statutes and the interpretation of same, put us in mind of the immortal word of Otto von Bismarck: “Anyone who loves the law and sausage should watch neither being made.”
ELV had heard that certain restaurants had been cited or warned about this practice, and confirmed this by speaking to the City Attorney’s office of the City of Las Vegas.
We haven’t confirmed what Clark County’s position is on this – yet – but methinks the lawgivers and enforcers on that pillar of intellect and integrity – the Clark County Commission* – will take an identical tack.
For newcomers to Vegas, and to oversimplify a bit, everything south of Sahara Blvd. is County, i.e. the Strip; everything north of it is the City.
Thus hath the City doth giveth and taketh away from the wine drinker in one fell swoop. You can confidently proclaim to a restaurateur that they have no right to charge you for the privilege of bringing your own bottle into the restaurant, and they can turn right around and tell you that both of you are breaking the law if you do.
No restaurant I know of, big or small, is going to risk a citation by letting customers bring their own wine, because: 1) they don’t want a regulatory hassle, and 2) it essentially bolsters their bottom line all in the name of regulatory compliance, as in: “We’re sorry Mr. Parker, but we can’t let you bring in that ’47 Cheval Blanc in to celebrate your anniversary because the big, bad City of Las Vegas liquor licensing agency won’t let us. However, we’ll gladly sell you one of our bottles of the same wine for $15,000.”
No wine drinkers/corkage payers are going to change things because to do so would require more time, money and lobbying than any individual would want to commit to such reform.**
Thus are restaurants now compelled by bureaucratic fiat to refuse a customer the right to drink his or her own hooch at their establishment. As much as I sympathize with the customers right to drink what they want, I also see the abuses of restaurants by customers who buy a $12 bottle at Albertson’s and ask the restaurant to serve it to them. Then again, I also bleed for the consumer when I see how much gouging goes on on wine lists, on and off the Strip. And so the circular arguments go.
Bottom line: corkage fees are illegal, but so is bringing your own wine (or vodka for that matter) into a restaurant for consumption. Pass it on.
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* See: Scandal, G-Sting; Malone, Lance; Kenny, Erin; Herrara, Dario, Kincaid, Mary Sue; et al
** Further legal advice in this regard will gladly be provided (for a fee) by Curtas, John A. Esq., of the estimable law firm of Armstrong and Teasdale LLC, 317 South Sixth St., Las Vegas, NV 89101, 702.678.5070
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that there was sort of conspiracy to keep customers from enjoying their own (better, cheaper) wine than pay the gouge in the restaurants. “Oh I’m so sorry. It’s ILLEGAL for you to have your own wine here. You will have to order one of ours.” Followed by an innocent expression and huge blinking eyes.
Is it going to take a grass roots effort by people who need to go and let the legislaters (state, county, city, whatever) that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing when it comes to wine? Or could we expect only more open-mouthed gaping from the politicos?
Thank goodness for Marche Bacchus!
truly liked reading your post – great job. Keep it up!!
Thanks for reading and the comments!
yourfriendlyneighborhoodrestaurantcritic
John,
I am alarmed that corkage is actually illegal.
Over the past few years I have brought my own wine and been charged corkage at many places on and off the strip.
Whenever I plan to bring my own wine, I always contact the restaurant to quote the corkage fee and check with their policy on not bringing wines that are already on their list.
I have yet to be refused corkage service.
Do you have any idea on how many (and which) restaurants are refusing this policy to their customers?
BTW – Love the new website. I check it everyday. With good reason !!!
thanks,
Alonso
By Prof. Restaurant on August 24, 2008 8:52 AM
I do not and will not allow anyone to bring their own bottle(s)into my restaurant. Why? Because of all of the hassles associated with it…if you don’t charge a corkage…sales suffer and the server feels slighted. If you charge a corkage…it always seems like someone “expects” to get that fee waived…plus I have had people on numerous occasions call ahead and ask if they can bring a bottle, the hostess says “sure, as long as it is not a bottle from our list” and they showed up with 3 magnums of the cheapest wine imaginable..it was embarrassing that people around them thought I served that stuff!!
Finally, the very last straw came the other evening when one of my long time professional servers came to me with the dilemma that one of her tables was being drunk and rowdy. I run a fun and warm place where everyone gets treated with respect. I went to see the situation and realized that the table had brought in 3 bottles of their own wine (in the $85 to $100 range) for a party of 5. They were on the last bottle (maybe half full) They all seemed pretty intoxicated and LEGALLY it is up to me to cut them off of any further alcohol use. How do I take the bottle? I am responsible for my place and I send all of my bartenders and servers to alcohol awareness training. I mentioned that I was sorry, but that they could not drink the rest of the bottle and that I would re-cork it and they could come back the next night to finish it. I cannot legally give them an open bottle to take on the road…lawyers live for this kind of thing. They started yelling at me and booing when I took the bottle and the guy kept telling me that “I can’t take HIS bottle” This is in my own place and people are trying to dictate my business to me. They wanted me to pay for the bottle!! They ended up leaving mad and stiffing the poor waitress on a $500 check!!!
Corkage fee…BYOB forget it. Why not bring your own menu items? I don’t serve lamb, so if you want to bring some in with your own wine…that is great…we can turn my place into your living room hangout, bring your own music….
I have been in this business 25 years and I remember a time when people went out…ordered from the menu provided (without 20 substitutions) had a great meal, great wine and great service and went home happy. Nowadays, people want their own clubhouse, where someone else pays the bills and takes the insurance risk.
If you want YOUR bottle of wine—drink it in YOUR home.
Well Prof, I guess I won’t be going to your place.
Declining BYO is one thing, but the hostility towards my segment of the public makes it clear you aren’t interested in my business, with or without wine.
To: “Prof. Restaurant”
Go ahead and charge me $30 for a plate of pasta that has $4 dollars worth of ingredients if the preparation and presentation are done well. $45 for a steak that cost you maybe $8? Fine, cook it right, server it right and I won’t complain. You cooked it at your place, you’ve got overhead, I understand that, and I’m fine with it.
What I won’t do is pay $75 for a bottle of wine I can purchase for $19 in a grocery store.
You didn’t buy the land, grow the grapes, stomp them, bottle them and wait for them to be ready for consumption. YOU UNCORKED A BOTTLE OF WINE.
Professor,
What restaurant do you own or work in? I think that many of us would be interested in knowing.
Thanks for your reply.