You did the right thing. Why would you feel bad about it? The world needs a LOT more honor and integrity.
I’ll gently disagree with some folks: yes, it’s the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get to feel good about it. Honesty like that has few enough rewards that a little bit of self-righteous smugness is fair compensation. Especially when you get inconvenienced for it: then you get to add in a mild case of martyrdom, which can be quite satisfying.
A reason for a long wait could of been in most restaurants you need a manager to void a bill or correct one, maybe he wasn’t around. No excuse for not letting you know that though if that was the case.
Also, another thing is for certain. That restaurant has a flaw with their inventory/theft control system. A watier being able to get booze from a bartender without a ticket is an invitation for that to happen.
I’d have to be honest, and don’t think I would feel too annoyed at the delay and error you experienced. But then I am pretty forgiving and easygoing about such things. I also pull over for tailgating drivers and generally don’t mind at all.
(bolding mine)
I would respectfully turn the question in bold back around to you - is the restaurant responsible for keeping your moral compass centered? Honesty as a rule isn’t conditional. When being honest has no consequences (let’s say they turned around the bill in 10 seconds, and gave you half off the bottle of wine), you’ve not done the right thing, you’ve just done a thing.
You can be annoyed that you were kept waiting, but that has nothing to do with paying your fair share. If you feel that the delay was bad service (IMO, it was - the waitress should have at least come back and explained what was taking so long), then give a smaller tip. If you were on a schedule and needed to leave, track down the waitress, then tell her you’ll just pay separate bills if that would be quicker. If not, there are worse places to spend time than a nice restaurant. 
I would suggest that presenting you a correct bill promptly is an aspect of providing good service.
Now, having your night with them end via an example of poor service is not necessarily the way you want people to exit your restaurant. Yes, they can leave a smaller tip, but that isn’t going to make them feel enthusiastic about going back to your restaurant. Nobody says “it’s a great place, when the service sucks I can save money on the tip”.
There’s a screwup that is likely to annoy your patron, do what you can to comp something.
IMHO there are no hard and fast rules in morality. There are times to confront (which is what the OP did, actually create a conflict for the wait-person who probably wanted to close out your account and move on) and a time to chalk it up for the common good and allow the law of averages (or cosmic forces if you are so inclined) to take over… Sometimes we chose wrong, but as long as we learn from it there is no wrong choice.
The OP created a conflict that visited back on them in that a very nice evening was spoiled - this was obviously not the correct choice. The OP infers a sense of guilt if they just left it as is, a guilty feeling is also not the correct choice, there must be another way. You can try to hard code it into rules that can be written, but if you do you made a mistake already.
Sometimes you just have to decide to let things go as is, it’s not up to you to control fairness and there is no way for you to do this anyway. Just trust that things will balance out and live your life.
I understand how you feel. I had something similar happen to me. You automatically do the right thing, and then they make you wait so long, you start to regret bringing the error to their attention.
Last year I got a delivery of beauty products I ordered online. They doubled up on a few items, which came to over $100. I call them to let them know about their mistake and to get a UPS return label so I could send them back the duplicates. 10 minutes on hold, another 10 minutes getting the problem across. “No, I’m not trying to return my order. There were two of several items in the box, when I only ordered one. I want to send back the duplicates.” “No, I don’t need a credit. You only charged me for one.”
When the return label finally comes, its a USPS label, not a UPS label. They want me to walk to the post office on my lunch hour and wait in line. I don’t think so. I want a UPS or other carrier label, the kind where they drive up in a truck and all I have to do is hand them the box. I call again. More holding. More conversation. I eventually give up and bring the box to the post office.
Of course returning the items was the right thing to do, but the long drawn out process they had me go through really made me sorry I had said anything.
i think it’s just unfortunate that the OP was laden with just enough morality to be honest but not enough to feel good about it. you should train yourself to be MORE honest and derive self-satisfaction from it, or LESS honest so that this won’t bum you out in the future.
me personally? i guess i’m one of the less moral people on this board because if the bill came and the server/bartender/etc. left something off? not my problem. the server will get caught, yelled at, charged for it, and learn a lesson. consequences. i work hard for my money and if i make a mistake at my work i’ll get a talking to. no biggie.
In terms of the wait, I would chalk that up to “Shit Happens”. Yes you were inconvenienced, and it is understandable to be a little annoyed, but doing the right thing, IMO, should outweigh that. People make mistakes, people also make choices. Feel good about making the right choice and try not to get too hung-up on what in the long run is a minor inconvenience.
I get around this by not looking at my bills. I figure over time the errors will even out.
There’s a good chance I wouldn’t have noticed - high or low - 'cause I tend not to look too closely.
But if I caught it, I would definitely point it out and would feel good about myself for having done so.
I would be annoyed at having to wait a long time for it to be corrected, but I would likely have forgotten it before getting home.
How long did you have to wait for them to bring the corrected bill?
I had a related experience I reported before at SDMB.
My male friend and I went out for a late-night snack. The attractive waitress and I obviously hit it off. The check ended up being for a fraction of the correct amount.
Thinking to prevent a problem for the waitress I pointed out the error to the cashier. While waiting, I recalled an odd remark by the waitress and suddenly realized she was trying to give me a free meal. I may have cost her her job. :smack:
Thanks for all the responses. It does seem that honesty is, still, widely regarded as the best policy, and one I do plan to stick with.
PunditLisa, the waitress did acknowledge my honesty when I returned the bill. It took her about 2 minutes to get it after I first asked, but then about 10 to return it with the correction. With my date tired and ready to go, that was far from ideal, and I was considering reducing the tip.
However, the way tips are handled in many restaurants in the UK now, including this one, is that a ‘service charge’ (the default seems to be 12.5%) is now automatically added to the bill. So, to withhold a service charge (which I have done a few times), I would have had to send the bill back AGAIN, and who knows how long that would have taken.
In the circumstances I opted not to…
So the lost bottle won’t come out of the waiter’s check? That’s how I’d handle it if I were the owner.
As for the situation: I see no reason why they didn’t just go back and quickly run up another ticket for the wine.
And I don’t patronize places that have enforced gratuity. Add it to the price of the food and don’t try to trick me.
And you could get fined for that, since it’s against the law. It’s the same as the old “they make the waiter pay for dine and dashes” – nope, can’t do it.
There’s a big difference in accidentally breaking a plate and forgetting to ring up a bottle of wine on the bill.
for me, regretting a correct decision often comes when women are involved. i’m too much of a gentleman. i often recall instances when a girl was clearly sounding me off but i thought the timing was bad or i had some other reason to pass.