The king of the DC wine scene gets treated like the king bc he always buys or brings great wine that he gives to the kitchen. I have been fortunate to go with him to some of the best places in town and the chef always came out to our table, we never saw a menu, everything was paired with the wines and simply brought to us and we often sat in special areas. One time, at a noted place, I thought I was being escorted out of the back of the restaurant only to be seated in a secret really table right by the kitchen. Didn’t even know the location existed and I had been to the restaurant 10 times before. He is treated in a very special way.

I've done it when I've seen it listed on the menu, but never unpromped.

OP, where have you seen this?

I've never seen this in real life or on TV.

Anonymous wrote:I've never seen or done this. I have had a dinner at a nice restaurant where we had a great rapport with out waiter and the GM came around at the end of our meal with an open bottle and gave us free drinks because he heard we were cool.

Yeah, the reverse happens. Some nicer restaurants and bars have a policy where if a group spends a certain amount the waiter or bartender can comp them a certain amount of alcohol (buy them a drink) or buy them a dessert. It's all tracked in the system, so you can't abuse it.

I have a job where for 10 years I spent a lot of time entertaining clients and going to high-end seafood and steakhouse restaurants in cities all over the Midwest and eastern seaboard. I have never heard of this and I learned a lot during that time from the rich partners who paid the tab.

Prior to graduating from college I worked in restaurants as a server and a hostess. Anyone in that industry would much rather have a $40 tip vs. a $40 bottle of wine at the mark-up menu price. There are people at every restaurant that drink on the job. They are NOT sipping nice wine.

Also at most restaurants, the chef is a salary job. The waitstaff pool tips and “tip out” a certain percentage of their tips or a percentage of their nightly sales. That pool of money is divided among the line cooks, dishwashers, bussers and other back of the house workers.

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of this in my life.

I think your responses answer your question.

(Even if this did happen, it would be presumptuous and tone deaf. Most kitchen workers earn very low incomes and would rather have money to spend as they wish than have some spoiled customer make a grand gesture that allows them to see how the other half lives for an hour. (Especially since restaurant workers know all about the outrageous overhead that is charged on the alcohol they sell.)

A lot of restaurants also frown upon or ban staff drinking while in uniform, so that's another thing to to consider.

I have never heard of anyone doing this. People just generally leave a fat tip when they have a good meal.

Are you meaning when it's actually listed as a line item on the menu? I've seen that many times, I've never done it though. It doesn't sit well with me, I wouldn't buy a drink for a stranger--you never know what their relationship with alcohol is.

Never heard of this in my life.

I think your responses answer your question.

(Even if this did happen, it would be presumptuous and tone deaf. Most kitchen workers earn very low incomes and would rather have money to spend as they wish than have some spoiled customer make a grand gesture that allows them to see how the other half lives for an hour. (Especially since restaurant workers know all about the outrageous overhead that is charged on the alcohol they sell.)

Huh? Just give a nice tip. I don't understand the question.

I've never seen or done this. I have had a dinner at a nice restaurant where we had a great rapport with out waiter and the GM came around at the end of our meal with an open bottle and gave us free drinks because he heard we were cool.

I’m sure the restaurant staff would much rather have the money. I’ve never heard of anyone doing this.

I worked in very high end restaurants in DC in my twenties and this never happened. I think it would be weird.

Or is this something you only see on shows/movies? If you buy wine at a fancy restaurant for the kitchen because you had a fantastic meal, do they actually drink it or does the restaurant pocket the money? Is the price of the bottle important? Like for an $800 and you sent back a $40 wine to complement the kitchen? Should it be $200 to even be worth it? A certain % of the bill for the complementary bottle?