What happens when you don’t know much about wine and miscommunication occurs in the restaurant? Well, for Joe Lentini it meant having to pay several thousand bucks on top of what he expected.
Mr. Lentini, not a great fan of wine, asked the waitress for “something decent” in an Atlantic City restaurant, he told nj.com. The waitress pointed to an item in the menu and Mr. Lentini, who had forgotten his glasses, asked for the price. The reply was “Thirty-seven fifty.” The company sitting at the table agreed to order.
Mr. Lentini said that the wine was good, but not great.
And then came the awkward moment. When the bill arrived, the astounding number $4700.61 was written on it, tax included. The bottle cost $3750. So Mr. Lentini complained to the waitress and eventually to the manager that he had heard “thirty-seven fifty,” which means $37.50. However, the best the manager could offer was reduction to $2200 on the bill.
The costs were borne by two other diners, since Mr. Lentini said he couldn’t afford the price. His wife and another member of the company confirmed that the waitress said “thirty-seven fifty.” But the restaurant management denied being responsible of any misunderstanding and said the host of the dinner confirmed the price before the bill arrived.
If anything, Mr. Lentini has drawn a lesson from the mishappening. He said he wouldn’t ask anymore a waitress to pick wine for him.
Bummer… I would have taken that to be $37.50 as well. If it were taken to court, a judge might well decide in his favour as the waitress quoted the wrong price by all references in the English language.
AV
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True that… I wonder how often this `mistake` is made. Could be a very profitable business.
Cheers,
Micky
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Yikes!
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Posted about the same incident, pretty shocking!
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Indeed…. Not sure what I would do when in this position. At least try to enjoy that bottle I guess.
Cheers,
Micky
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I think that restaurant was extremely underhanded and deceptive. It was an expensive restaurant, but not outrageously so. In a place where you are ordering a $6 beer and you tell the waitress that you don’t know anything about wine, why on earth would she even recommend a $3750 bottle, the second most expensive bottle in the place!? Shame on them – I hope that Bobby Flay Steak House gets some very negative publicity. Maybe Bobby Flay will pony up and pay that poor man back; he ought to.
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I completely agree with you. These are nasty tricks.
Cheers,
Micky
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This is insane, the waitstaff and sommelier should have confirmed both the wine selection and price (including the word thousand) with the patron. The waitstaff said that the price was “thirty seven fifty” the restaurant should have honored that quoted price.
On another note, this restaurant comes off as extremely snotty and money grubbing if they recommended their second highest priced wine to a man who proclaimed to know nothing about wine. It goes to show that the waitstaff didn’t care about the customers request or background, they just wanted to get a good tip out of the deal. Disgusting.
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Guess they can close their doors soon. They say there’s no such thing as “bad publicity”, but let’s see… 😉
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Anything that costs 3,750 would be quoted as thirty seven hundred and fifty.
That the wait staff chose to bring a 3700 dollar bottle of wine to someone who doesn’t know anything about wine and tell him its ‘thirty seven fifty’ is telling. He ought have paid 37.50 and let the restaurant try and win a civil action on the matter.
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