Money Moral Dilemma: Should I have paid for alcohol-free drinks at a bring-your-own restaurant?

grumpy261

It always bugs me that most restaurants charge as much, if not more, for soft drinks (usually syrup concentrate watered down to within an inch of its life) than for alcoholic ones which carry a significant tax/duty element.  They clearly see this as a money spinner as the profit must be huge.  Non-alcoholic beer costs almost as much in the shops as the real stuff, so it doesn't surprise me that this place applied the same mark-up.  All that aside,  unless you really can't live within out going to this place, I would vote with my feet.

Saoirselondon

The restaurant should make it clear on their website etc that soft and non-alcoholic drinks aren’t allowed. At the very least they should’ve let your party know when you arrived. Without that information it’s hard to know whether they were being reasonable or not. 

REJP

Be thankful the restaurant owner doesn’t charge for opening the bottle as most BYOB places do in USA.
 I agree with many who say don’t go back.

hannerrbabes

Considering the restaurant has probably had very minimal amounts of trade in the past year, I would suggest she should be grateful that you're coming out for a meal at her establishment!

Hadenoughofitall

Why would you pay someone to drink your own drinks in the street? People need to stop this nonsense. If they want to open they should do it properly and stop taking advice from politicians. Never go back to that restaurant again and leave them bad reviews everywhere. 

cwc1899

For what reason reason could the restaurant have for not obtaining a license to sell alcohol?
They should be telling potential customers that they do not sell alcohol nor invite them to bring their own. 

The restaurant should make things clear and they should not have put their customer in an uncomfortable position and make him feel guilty.
I agree that it’s a place to avoid in future. 

JACKIEAB

Yes you should pay if the restaurant sells the item or other non alcohol items. In a non byo restaurant you would not do it so why here.  Food is not the only cost to a restaurant overheads need to be covered. Restaurants charge corkage to cover glasses, washing up etc. If you take spirit's you should buy your mixers at the restaurant to. Let people make a living and not always expect something for nothing. I go to a byo restaurant and I expect to pay corkage and I'm disgusted to see people hiding bottles to avoid the charge. Get a grip and pay your way. 

Joe.P

This is a ridiculous position to put anyone in, the person at the restaurant needs to give themselves a good shake and read their own rules.

tain

cwc1899 said:

For what reason reason could the restaurant have for not obtaining a license to sell alcohol?
They should be telling potential customers that they do not sell alcohol nor invite them to bring their own. 

The restaurant should make things clear and they should not have put their customer in an uncomfortable position and make him feel guilty.
I agree that it’s a place to avoid in future. 

From my understanding, it's almost always a religious reason. Or they've been banned from selling alcohol, but that would generally stop BYOB as well.

Tonybb

I think just about everyone would know that, “bring your own bottle” just means that the restaurant doesn't have a license to sell alcohol so if you want some with your meal you need to bring it. They won't expect anyone to interpret it to mean a customer can bring just any kind of drink to consume on the premises.