Whats a bottle of wine?

hartcjhart

tbw wrote: »

I have some sympathy for the OP ! Although I wouldn't take it for granted, I (and many other people I know) generally assume that restaurant wine comes in 3 sizes, bottle, litre and sometimes half bottles. I appreciate that 'bottle'does not actually spell out the fluid capacity - but neither does bottle, magnum, jeraboim, methusala etc spell out the actual volume for champagne. and I would be REALLY P***** off if I ordered a bottle of fizz and they uncorked a methusala!!!

Personally, I would never order without checking the price (having been totally steamrollered in Shanghai when I ordered 2 cans of coke from a pavement stall without checking - and then got shafted with a charge equivalent to £7 and they called the cops when I refused to pay). However, if you know the restaurant menu prices are reasonable then , if you wanted some cheap wine, you might easily just ask for a bottle of house wine without looking at the wie list. Nothing wrong with house wine - half way decent places will stock an OK plonk for house wine.

I guess the OP assumed that house wine was reasonably priced so didn't feel the need to check. I know its his error - and he will be more careful next time - but don't treat him like a prat just because he made a reasonable assumption.

no one is treating him like a prat for his assumption,I think he is a prat for coming in here and saying it is a CON and that he will not go back,ALL CAUSED BY HIS ASSUMPTION

tbw

hartcjhart wrote: »

no one is treating him like a prat for his assumption,I think he is a prat for coming in here and saying it is a CON and that he will not go back,ALL CAUSED BY HIS ASSUMPTION

It is a bit of a con - if I order a bottle of house wine I expect the waiter to tell me if the wine is only supplied in anything other than a standard bottle ie a litre , carafe or half carafe. It is fairly widely accepted that 'bottle' as applied to wine means 70 or 75 cl. Well trained front of house staff would do this as a matter of course. Failing to do so is not a huge con but it is a rather underhand way of getting the customer to pay more than expected for an item that he did not knowingly order or expect.

The restaurant could easily have preserved good will by apologising for the oversight (if that is what it was) and knocking 2 or 3 pounds off the cost. The result would have been a happy customer who would return (having learnt to check menus before ordering). They don't even seem to have apologised so I can see why the OP is a bit miffed.

gordikin

No con here...ask the waiter for price/size if it's not specified on the menu....easy!

geordieracer

HugoRune wrote: »

I didnt notice until I came to pour us a second glass that the bottle seemed rather large (easy thing to do in there as the light is very low level).

Also i like how you cant tell. a thicker bottle then what you deem to be 'normal'

HugoRune_2

geordieracer wrote: »

Also i like how you cant tell. a thicker bottle then what you deem to be 'normal'

the explanation of that is in the part of my post you quoted, see how easy it is to miss things!

Anyhow, maybe con was not the right word, marketing trickery is maybe a better phrase, something we sadly all come across more and more and yes we do unfortunately need to check everything even things you might think we are safe with.

Thanks for opinions both for and against, I wont call anyone a prat for having a different opinion from me what with me being a well adjusted adult.

geordieracer

HugoRune wrote: »

the explanation of that is in the part of my post you quoted, see how easy it is to miss things!

Anyhow, maybe con was not the right word, marketing trickery is maybe a better phrase, something we sadly all come across more and more and yes we do unfortunately need to check everything even things you might think we are safe with.

Thanks for opinions both for and against, I wont call anyone a prat for having a different opinion from me what with me being a well adjusted adult.

I know you said it was dark in there. Still managed to pour a couple of glasses before you noticed how much bigger the bottle was. No reason not to notice on the first time as litre bottles are much wider.
Never mind ,you feel hard done by. So do i when i get a larger 35ml shot of drink when i assume its going to be the regular 25ml. No real loss is there.

Hope the wine was nice though. Im sure they will miss your custom.

HugoRune_2

geordieracer wrote: »

I know you said it was dark in there. Still managed to pour a couple of glasses before you noticed how much bigger the bottle was. No reason not to notice on the first time as litre bottles are much wider.
Never mind ,you feel hard done by. So do i when i get a larger 35ml shot of drink when i assume its going to be the regular 25ml. No real loss is there.

Hope the wine was nice though. Im sure they will miss your custom.

I didnt pour the 1st time
The wine was reasonably nice thanks

System

This is one of the more ridiculous posts i've seen on here (and its got alot of competition). You've basically ordered a bottle of house wine without checking the wine list and with no idea what the price is and then have accused the restaurant of conning you because it was a 1 litre bottle. The menu that has been posted on here clearly states the size of the bottle and the price, and i don't see how the restaurant can be blamed for this in the slightest! It's the equivilent of going into a restaurant which only sells one rib eye steak at a weight of 12oz, telling the waiter without consulting the menu that you want the rib eye steak and then complaining afterwards because you assumed it would be 8oz! Christ you must be hard work!

geordieracer

goater78 wrote: »

This is one of the more ridiculous posts i've seen on here (and its got alot of competition). You've basically ordered a bottle of house wine without checking the wine list and with no idea what the price is and then have accused the restaurant of conning you because it was a 1 litre bottle. The menu that has been posted on here clearly states the size of the bottle and the price, and i don't see how the restaurant can be blamed for this in the slightest! It's the equivilent of going into a restaurant which only sells one rib eye steak at a weight of 12oz, telling the waiter without consulting the menu that you want the rib eye steak and then complaining afterwards because you assumed it would be 8oz! Christ you must be hard work!

I just re-read the thread as missed the wine list post. Quite clearly states house wine in 1litre.

OP you have made a terrible error here. Dont worry yourself no more.

You should write to watchdog and complain.

catch_me_if_you_can

lol we've paid more than that for a bottle (75cl) of house wine round here!

Can't understand why you didn't just ask for the wine list if it wasn't given to you already?

Lesson learned