Perhaps not all are wine drinkers.
Rule of thumb: one standard bottle (750ml) yields 5 glasses. (At $3750, that’s $750/glass.)
This article has a more detailed explanation of the event. It says that just 3 of the 10 were planning to share the wine. It seems sympathetic to the customers:
Yes, this story is almost identical to the premise of the Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe legend. A similar version (the $25.00 cake recipe) dates back to 1948.
I’d dine and dash if a place tried to pull this shit on me, fuck em!
Guess that makes me low class, but I am cool with that.
It’s an expensive place but not outrageously so. Most of the entrees are in the thirty to fifty dollar range.
The problem with the Neiman-Marcus story is that she said she paid some amount for two salads and $20 for a scarf.
$20 for a scarf at Neiman Marcus? I don’t think so.
They verified it with a video that does not have audio. That means they didn’t verify it at all, since you can’t verify what is said by what is viewed.
The fact that they did that is enough for me to not side with the company.
$3750 for a bottle of wine? cripes.
No, no. $3750 for a bottle of wine & crêpes.
Three people were going to share the bottle, not all ten.
Yes. That became apparent post number 22. Thanks for the input.
oh. well, that’s different.
Slightly odd that the restaurant claims they verified the price with the guy. The Star-Ledger article linked to above says that the sommelier presented the bottle to him and offered him a taste, but that the guy was distracted by conversation and didn’t really pay attention. I would think if the sommelier was really trying to verify that the patron actually intended to order such an expensive wine, he would have made an effort to get his attention.
If that’s the case, the obvious thing to do is to send everybody to that restaurant, order the $3750 bottle of wine, have a taste, declare it urine, and send it back.
When they run out of the $3750 bottle, have everyone go to the restaurant and order the next most expensive bottle, and so on.
Once, when I was probably a pre-teen, I called about going to the Woodward Camp in Pennsylvania. The guy on the phone says “Yeah, for a week it costs twelve-fifty. Equipment can be rented, etc.” - all I heard was $12.50! Whoa crap - a week at a dream camp for less than $15. About 10 minutes later it sank in. I think if I heard it as an adult, the results would be a little different though. Only semi-related, and I wanted to share. 
Also, yeah. This will fall back on the waitress somehow, but it kind of seems like a ridiculous story. It makes this guy sound like a dingbat also - he is asked to order by someone in his party but doesn’t know anything about wine, so instead of declining (perhaps to someone that does know within the group, or the guy paying), he asks the waitress (which isn’t a terrible idea, but still, if you don’t know, say you don’t know). When they confirm his selection by bringing it to the table and asking him about it, he says “oh yeah, sure” because he is busy talking to these other people at the table. They must have heard him order it, and so one could make the assumption that all of these 10 people, including the guy paying, did not see a wine list, misunderstood the cost, and thought nothing of it. Seems fishy, but a good way to get an expensive bottle and not pay the bill.
That, and it might seem silly, but I know people who will try to get for free what they can easily afford by complaining and throwing a fit in a business setting - it isn’t about the money. Plus, if you can get a story like this picked up by the news, it is clearly portrayed as “This business will scam you!” and businesses seem to be places that want to defend their names.
I’ve asked a waiter to recommend a wine before and they usually ask for my price range if they have a wine list that includes both moderate priced and expensive wines. I can’t believe that she’d recommend something that high end. It’s just stupid.
I’ve eaten at that restaurant. I was very pleased with my meal.
I don’t think they were trying to scam anyone. If they were they did it wrong since they did pay for it. Complaining about it after is a pretty hard way to try and get a free expensive bottle of wine.
We’ll need to see the video as proof.
Seriously, a restaurant that runs video surveillance of customers? Thanks, I’ll go elsewhere.
A few things fishy about the story.
One - the way it’s being reported in my area is that he ordered the “best” bottle of wine. If true then you think it’s $37.50 then you’re an idiot.
Two - he claims that she pointed it out. He didn’t have his glasses on but it is clearly at the bottom of the section meaning either it’s the most expensive or cheapest bottle they have - neither selection would be $37.50 plus I would be wary if she recommended an extreme (cheapest or dearest) bottle on the menu (and do you really think she would recommend the cheapest)?
Three - if he claims to know so little about wine, why was he ordering the bottle?
In short, I think he did order the best bottle of Cab and the restaurant verifying with him was simply, “Was this the bottle you ordered?” but it is still on him.
Lots of businesses have security cameras. Restaurants get robbed just like other businesses open to the public. And security cameras generally are visual only.