Bring my own glasses?

If the restaurant is a BYO, and I don't know the quality of their glasses, I will bring my own with me. It is not in bad etiquette at any establishment I've done this. If in doubt at all, there is no harm in inquiring, surely. You're correct. You should be allowed to drink you purchased wine from anything you wish.

I don't know about etiquette, but, when I've brought my own wine, I have brought my own glasses on several occasions. I don't recall ever bringing my own glasses when purchasing off of the wine list, but I'm not saying I never would.

I have taken glasses to both restaurants and to friends homes. I have asked the host of the party if they minded that I brought my own glasses, and no one really seems to care. They know I am a wine freak, and take the drinking of wine seriously, so they sort of expect the unexpected. As for reastaurants, I would be surprised it the wiater, wine guy, or host said anything to you for bringing your own stems. They may think you are a bit odd, but everyone seems to get over it after about 5-10 minutes. I just make an announcement, telling the hostess or host and the waiter that I have my own stemware and wine, and they say, "no problem, would you like me to open you wine now, or later." The first few times, I felt a little awkward, but now it's no big deal.

i always have 4 stems in the carrying case in my car when going out to dinner....just in case

all I have to say is if your bringing your own wine and your own stemware and you expect the waiter to *clean* your stemware....Just take care of the waitstaff.

I have never brought stemware to a restaurant.

I have eaten dinner with others who have, and I certainly appreciate drinking wine out of the nice stems rather than the clunky restaurant glasses. I understand why people bring their own stems, and I don't begrudge them that right.

That being said, I don't think I could ever bring stemware myself. There just seems to be something a little weird about it. I like to eat on fine bone china and with sterling silver utensils, should I bring them to a restaurant? Should I bring a dry-aged steak to Mortons and ask them to cook it instead of their wet-aged steak? I know that my point is a bit extreme, but for some reason I don't have a problem with bring a bottle of my own wine, but I do have a problem bringing stemware.

Maybe if I did, I would quickly get over my hang-up about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rothko:
There just seems to be something a little weird about it.

Oh, I've been called a lot worse!

would it be right to bring your own dessert wine glass when you order by the glass?

my pet peeve is when a restaurant has decent stemware for dry reds but come sauternes or port time. They have this dinky thick rimmed glass that my snozz doesn't fit into leaving me with a sticky nose.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:

quote:

Originally posted by Rothko:
There just seems to be something a little weird about it.

Oh, I've been called a lot worse!

Board-O, I know that you are a proponent for bringing your own stemware, and I have personally benefited from that, when we have eaten together. And certainly I do not mean anything negative about people who bring their own stems.

The weirdness exists only in my own mind.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I don't feel so shy about bringing my own glasses. I guess that leads to the next question of whether to bring my own decanter!

I frequently bring my wine in a decanter.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
I frequently bring my wine in a decanter.

Really? Do you find that is generally well received by the wait staff, or any funny looks?

On the contrary, I've gotten nice comments on the decanter, even if it's just a cheap one. People expecting a tip from you don't usually antagonize you.

I've never understood why anyone would hesitate about doing something because the staff might make comments about you in the back. As long as the restaurant allows then enjoy yourself. When in doubt about the policy, pick up a phone.

Ok, part two of this question should be:
If you bring your own stems and byob, how does this effect the restaurants corkage policy?
It's got to be a lot tougher for them to do their song and dance about washing and breakage. Can they still justify charging $25 for just opening it? That works out to about $5 a twist, and now you're talking relative MLB-size overpayment for services rendered.

I've never thought that the corkage fee was for opening the wine and the stemware. I believe its purpose is to compensate the establishment for income lost when the patron brings wine rather than purchases it from the wine list.

Board-O, I believe that is the real reason for corkage, but they're usually too embarassed (rightly so) to say so. Makes them sound pretty snooty. Washing and breakage is just a lame cover, IMO. It's always the answer I've been given.

I can't wait until I'm back in Montreal later this summer where I can bring my wine (along with stemware and decanter) without having to pay corkage at the apportez votre vin restaurants.

I usually always bring my own wine and stems unless I'm out of town. Last time I went out to dinner though they waived the corkage and let me use their riedel chardonnay glasses since there was one bottle of chardonnay someone brought to a Bordeaux dinner.

I have often brought my own stemware, and it is typically met first with curiosity, then welcomed by the restaurant. I don't feel in the least bit strange about doing this, after all - it's that many fewer glasses they need to wash, risk breakage, etc. However, I have never exected the establishment to wash my glasses - that would be way too much, imo.

If I brought some Riedels to a restaurant, there's no way I'd trust them to wash my glasses.

There are quite a few BYO's in my area (NJ) so I usually keep two 2-packs of Riedel O's in my trunk. Not my first choice for stemware, but often 100 times better than the $.25 glasses at some of these places.

I am a regular at some of these places and when coming in with a larger group (6-10) I usually have multiple decanters (small Riedel Vivants from Target) along with my 8 pack of knock-off O's. At one place the wait staff always rinses them for us and we tip accordingly. This is an improvement over the full sized decanters and Spiegelau stems we used to walk in with!

The Riedel O's are a great idea. They won't take up as much space and are a bit less awkward to bring in. Plus, they're cheap to replace.

Will they charge you stemmage?