BYOW [General]
2011 Sep 8
I have taken my own wine to two places in Ottawa, Zola's which charges a 10.00 corking charge on some nights and the "Main Street Cellar" in Manotick. Sunday night at MSC you can bring your own wine with a 0 dollar corking charge provided you spent $20.00 on food. I have bought very nice wine from LCBO vintages to drink. I could not afford to drink them at a restaurant and pay their price. It must be wine from the LCBO, nothing homemade because of taxes etc. Most places are also allowed to re-cork and seal any left over wine (If any is left) for you to take home.
Call the restaurant you are planning to visit and ask about corking charges, I know there are other restaurants but I can't recall which at the monment.
Call the restaurant you are planning to visit and ask about corking charges, I know there are other restaurants but I can't recall which at the monment.
2011 Sep 8
There's a BYOW tag here on OttawaFoodies: ottawafoodies.com/tag/112
It's a starting point -- incomplete I'm sure, and containing some vendors who have now closed.
It's a starting point -- incomplete I'm sure, and containing some vendors who have now closed.
2011 Sep 8
We haven't used it in Ottawa. The generally high corkage fees we've seen here don't really fit in with how we would generally use BYO. We've done it in the past in Montreal and New Zealand, but we've done it for casual, cost effective dining out. I'm not going to buy a $15-20 bottle of wine and pay a $10 or $15 corkage fee - that doesn't make any sense to me. When we go out for higher-end fine dining, say Beckta or Atelier, then we are interested in trying what they've selected on their wine list. Often they have something interesting that the LCBO doesn't carry, or they offer specific wine pairings that have been specially created. However, below that strata there are a large number of low and mid-range restaurants in which there is very little 'value-add' to the wine list (beyond the prices they charge the diner).
I know some Ottawa places have low, or no, corkage fees early in the week, on low traffic days. I'd definitely consider it then. I don't usually think of it however, since the up-take in Ottawa hasn't been that high from what we've seen and restaurants don't seem to advertise it if they do offer it.
I think it's good that Ontario introduced it, and I could see us using it, but either the rules or the restaurant-owners haven't really offered it in the right way for how we might use it.
I know some Ottawa places have low, or no, corkage fees early in the week, on low traffic days. I'd definitely consider it then. I don't usually think of it however, since the up-take in Ottawa hasn't been that high from what we've seen and restaurants don't seem to advertise it if they do offer it.
I think it's good that Ontario introduced it, and I could see us using it, but either the rules or the restaurant-owners haven't really offered it in the right way for how we might use it.
2011 Sep 12
Remember that you can't compare Montreal and Ottawa. Quebec BTOW restaurants by law must not have a liquor licence, hence there's no loss to them. Ontario restaurants must be licenced, and many say the bottle must be from the LCBO - which would be logical with the LCBO and Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario's bizarre rules (though some searching did not reveal the detailed regulations, and the more basic explanations never mention this LCBO availability restriction).
I personally don't use it because I usually dine alone in good-enough restaurants, and if I don't, I'm usually the only one who would drink wine (or any alcohol, considering most of my friends with a distate, sensitivity or outright allergy to ethanol). I don't have a car, but polishing off a full bottle by myself means I couldn't walk at all, which isn't much better.
I personally don't use it because I usually dine alone in good-enough restaurants, and if I don't, I'm usually the only one who would drink wine (or any alcohol, considering most of my friends with a distate, sensitivity or outright allergy to ethanol). I don't have a car, but polishing off a full bottle by myself means I couldn't walk at all, which isn't much better.
2013 Oct 21
All the Beckta restaurants are BYOW. We did this recently at Play with a special bottle. The corkage fee was $15, which was incredibly reasonable considering the fact we would never (could never...) order an equivalent bottle in a restaurant given the markup.
Generally though, I stick to humbler offerings and prefer to try whatever pairings the restaurant has created.
Generally though, I stick to humbler offerings and prefer to try whatever pairings the restaurant has created.
Terry