canadian wine geek » BYOW Toronto

Toronto’s Six steps not really a BYOW restaurant

sandy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:16:16 +0000

Tonight, I was looking for a new BYOW to try. Something really nice with hopefully good service. Six Steps has been mentioned as a possible BYOW restaurant.

Me: What is your corkage?

Six Steps: We don’t have a corkage.

Me: Oh, I thought I could bring my wine story.

Six Steps: If you want to bring your wine, we charge you the price of our cheapest bottle of wine to open it.

Me: What range would that be?

Six Steps: $35-$40

Needless to say, I won’t be going here tonight. The obvisouly don’t want people bringing wine even if it is a ‘96 bordeaux.

Pangea offers free corkage for VQA wines!

sandy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:35:57 +0000

Reading this tweet from Martin Kouprie brought a smile to my face. One of Toronto’s best restaurants, IMHO, Pangea is offering FREE corkage on VQA wines. That is a fantastic deal and a huge sign of support for Ontario wines. Now if only more restaurants would follow Pangea’s lead.

Mammian’s (now closed) received alot of press when the BYOW law was passed here in Ontario for offering $5 corkage on Ontario wines and $10 on all other wines. Let hope that Pangea will get the same support…spread the word about ‘Free corkage on VQA wines’.

BTW: if the lobster risotto is on special at Pangea…order the appetizer size…it is CrAzY rich.

Corkage fees dropping as EI claims rising

sandy — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:55:07 +0000

Many restaurants across Toronto are slashing their corkage fees to get ‘bums in the seats’. During economic times like this, people need more of an excuse to leave the house. ‘Free, Cheaper or lowered’ corkage fees can definately help get people out.

During my time in San Francisco, I went through the dotcom crash. SF’s vacancy rate went from 0.1% to %10 in about 4 months…people were leaving down at an amazing rate. Restaruants were empty every night but a reduction in corkage fees helped get people out. Q Restaraunt, one of my favorites, had the lowest corkage in San Francisco at $8 and was packed every night. The best thing they did was offer $5 glasses of bubby to everyone while their wine was being open…who can turn down $5 bubbly!

In Toronto, we are lucky to have lots of restaurants offers ‘Free’ or ‘$1′ corkage on many nights of the week. Table 17, in Queen Est, was one of the first to have free corkage on Sundays, they have recently added Monday as well.

Now Toronto has bunch more:

• Table 17: No corkage fee Sunday and Monday

• Paese: No corkage fee Sun to Fri for first bottle; regular charge $25.

• Cava: No corkage fee Sunday, regular charge $30.

• Centro: No corkage fee Mon to Wed; regular charge $35.

• Nota Bene: No corkage fee after 9 p.m.; regular charge $40.

• Crush Wine Bar: Corkage $1 on Mondays; regular charge $25.

• Lee: Corkage $1 Mon to Wed; regular charge $30.

• Madeline’s: Corkage $1 Mon to Wed; regular charge $30.

Some additions to the list:

Pangea, free corkage on VGA wines

Thanks to Toronto Life for the list…

This change in prices is a huge shift from 2005 when restaurant thought BYOW was going to bankrupt them…now they are using it to say afloat in a tough economy. This recession isn’t helping many people… but it is certainly helping people “Bring Your Own Wine’.

East end restaurant, Table 17, offers $1 corkage on Sunday

sandy — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:05:52 +0000

It is great to see another restaurant offering $1 corkage (see Crush offers $1). The restaurant is Table 17, at 728 Queen St East, and the $1 corkage is on Sunday nights. Unfortunately, they don’t offer BYOW the rest of the week but if they Sunday night offer is popular they might extend it.

Table 17 is a great ‘neighbourhood’ restaurant. Their winter salad, beetroot, was amazing and the steak frites was delicious and paried perfect with a french bordeaux.

If you go to Table 17 let me know what you think!

Toronto’s BYOW restaurants

sandy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:55:18 +0000

Looking for a BYOW restaurant in Toronto? You came to the right place.

Here are three of our latest additions to the list:

Conviction, 609 King St. W, 416-603-2777
Didier, 1496 Yonge St. , 416-925-8588
Fare Bistro, 1097 Queen St., 416-645-0914

And here are three of my personal favorites; they always treat the wine with respect.

Globe Bistro, 124 Danforth Ave., 416-466-2000
La Palette, 256 Augusta Ave., 416-929-4900
Nota Bene, 180 Queen St. W., 416-977-6400

Click the link to find our full list of Toronto BYOW restaurants.

Do you have any favorites? Or least-favorites? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Globe Bistro offering Free Corkage in January 2009

sandy — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:41:10 +0000

Globe Bistro is the first restaurant I have seen offering free corkage for the month of January. This is a great idea because many consumers need an excuse for a night out. The food and services at Globe has been fantastic each time I have been there. Give it a try, hopefully I can find more ‘Free Corkage’ restaurants this month.

Latest BYOW restaurants in Toronto

sandy — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:16:50 +0000

Couple of points before we get started. When I use the word ‘corkage’ it means for a standard 750ml bottle unless otherwise stated. THTR stands for ‘Take Home The Rest’; these means a restaurant will recork your wine and let you take it home.

Here are a list of the lastest BYOW restaurants in Toronto:

Alice’s, 865 College St, Toronto, 416.534.7500
Corkage: $20, THTR

Amuse, 1975A Queen St East, Toronto, 416.694.0004
Corkage: $30, THTR

Atelier Thuet, 171 East Liberty St, Toronto, 416.602.2777
Corkage: $25, THTR

Fare Bistro, 1097 Queen St East, Toronto, 416.645.0914
Corkage: $25, THTR

Karuchie, 924 College St, Toronto, 416.850.1729
Corkage: $25, THTR

Greg Couillard’s Spice Room, 55 Avenue Rd, Toronto, 416.935.0000
Corkage: $40, THTR

Mengrai Thai, 82 Ontario St, Toronto, 416.546.0331
Corkage: $18 THTR

After 3 years of calling ‘bring your own wine’ restaurants, Mengrai Thai showed me something new and something very good. After telling me the details of their BYOW program, they very nicely suggested some types of wines that would pair best with their foods. They describe how riesling and pinto gris would match very well; while while a big powerful red would over power the flavours. Mengrai Thai good on you for helping to educate the consumer!
If you know of more BYOW restaurants email me at: sandy [@] bringmywine [dot] ca