Since our servers aren't responding (maybe they are all too whipped after RW?) here's something to ponder.

I recently sat down to flip through the latest issue of Food & Wine. My attention was caught by Lettie Teague's piece on corkage fees. She notes that some high end restaurants in New York (unnamed) are now charging $250 per bottle
corkage fee. Clearly, this is designed to discourage people
from bringing their own bottles. But what is a "fair" corkage fee?
Ms. Teague seems to think $10 is dirt cheap and anything up to $35 per
bottle is fair. She also recommends giving the server a glass of the
wine (not a taste, a glass!) I'm wondering what people in Baltimore
might think of all this. All things considered, I think I'd prefer to
stay home and drink my own bottle than pay through the nose for the
privilege of having the cork extracted (or the screw cap unscrewed, as
is increasingly the case), and then having to share said bottle with a
stranger. For an $85 corkage fee at Jean Georges, the server plunged
the bottle into an ice bucket. Heck, I can do that at home for free!

I was also interested to learn that evidently BYOB is illegal in Texas
(but wearing a sidearm is not).

I find that if you're strapped with your gat, then there is no corkage fee.

I wait tables part-time, so I only worked two shifts during Restaurant Week. I mostly loved it - it was so busy that I was never bored, and made decent money. I didn't make that much more in tips than a usual Friday or Saturday night, because the average cover price was much lower than usual, but it was fun and active and the people were nice.

The huge downfall was the large number of no-shows on the reservations. Three large parties of 7+ didn't show up on Saturday night - didn't call, and didn't answer the telephone number they left - which really kills our small restaurant. On Sunday, a 10-top failed to show up for brunch. It was my table and because my entire section was set up for that nearly the entire morning, both before and a bit after, I ended up making almost nothing because there was nowhere to sit people. By the way, we found that Restaurant Week was pretty much over by the end of Saturday night. Sunday Brunch was sparsely attended, and we figured Sunday night would be as well (the Super Bowl, too.) A friend went to Sotto Sopra and said it was busy on Sunday night, though.

Dahlink, there are different ways that restaurants come up with the price of the corkage fee. The best way, in my opinion, is to charge the same as your cheapest bottle of wine.

Now, I'm not sure of the Maryland laws on this subject, but for the past 5 years or so, all the owners at several restaurants I've worked in have begun to tell customers that corkage fees are against the law, so bringing in outside wine is prohibited. Maybe they're lying, maybe not. I'm not sure

Thanks, Someserver. Corkage fees against the law? Sounds implausible for this state. Does anyone know for sure?

I've heard that it's illegal for a BYOB restaurant to charge corkage fees.

Cafe Gia (no liquor license) on Eastern and High charges a $7.50 corkage fee for BYOB wine and $1 per bottle of beer (plus tax). That seems ridiculous, especially if you drink the beer from the bottle.

If you charged a corkage fee for BYOB then you would be charging to serve alcohol without a liquor license. Who knows? If you really want to know call the Liquor Board during the day (410-396-4377). These liquor laws are positively Byzantine. I need a beer.