Wayfarer BYOB and website confusion/conflict at Carnivore & Queen Restaurant Downers Grove
For a Friday night date night, we planned to go to a local neighborhood eaterie, Carnivore & the Queen in adjacent Downers Grove (IL). The last time we were there, we learned it was the last evening in the existing site, that they were premiering opening the expanded adjacent dining room the following evening. So, we were eager to go back and see and try out the 'new' restaurant.
Even though we know the usual menu, we reviewed the posted on-line menu to plan our evening, and chose two seafood options for our dinner. Exploring our wine pairing options, we checked the on-line published winelist (below) options to pair with our seafood selections.
Seafood selections ...
 |
| Pan seared Chilean Sea Bass Beurre Blanc Sauce |
In light of the very limited options, one Sauvignon Blanc and one Chardonnay, we pulled from our cellar an ultra-premium highly rated recent release Sonoma Chardonnay that we were eager to try and review, to take for an accompaniment, taking into account the prominently displayed posted published Corkage Fee.
Carnivore & Queen Published Winelist page, copied SIC below:
WINES & LOCAL CRAFT BEERS
BUBBLES
by the glass & BOttle
FRANCOIS MANTAND BRUT JURA, FRANCE
rose FRANCOIS MANTAND BRUT JURA, FRANCE
Bariano prosecco Spumante, DOC
WHITE
by the glass & Bottle
SAUVIGNON BLANC Chateau Saint-Marie, Bordeaux, Frace
ROSE' LA FAGE, FRANCE
CHARDONNAY Raymond Reserve, CA
REDS
by the glass & Bottle
Pinot noir belle gloss, ca
Sangiovese Gran Sasso, Abruzzo, ITaly
Beujolais Gamay Domaine Pascal, Burgundy, France
ZINFANDEL HERITAGE DRY CREEK, CA
CABERNET SAUVIGNON KATHERINE GOLDSCHMIDT, CA
CABERNET SAUVIGNON Goldschmidt Game Ranch, ca
cabernet sauvignon frogs leap, ca
cabernet sauvignon phase IV, ca
RED BLEND dusi model m, CA
Corkage Fee’s
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & SUnday $15
Friday & Saturday $25
We arrived early for our early reservation and were promptly seated at a table to the side and rear of the main dining room, in the corridor to the kitchen, essentially behind and with a view of the working side of the adjacent bar. For decades, more often than not, I would reject our first table seating offered, asking for a more favorable setting. Tonight, contrary to my normal response, I opted to avoid any friction or tension and casually accepted our seating arrangements, ironically, the only table with virtually no line of sight view into the main, let-alone the new expanded restaurant dining room.
We finished our dinner and received the bill for settlement. I noted we were charged a $45 corkage fee. I pulled up on my phone what I clearly recalled was $25 and there it was, as I remembered, as shown above in context.
I brought this to the attention of the server who suggested I 'refresh my browser' and promptly summoned the manager. When confronted with the disparity he directed me to 'refresh my browser'. I exclaimed the website, as viewed earlier on my home computer, and then again, realtime on my phone browser, clearly showed what I claimed, a $25 corkage fee.
The manager argued that I must be wrong and that I must be using an old browser or some related setting that was bringing up incorrect information. Never-mind that I've been in the software business for four decades and manage a global software company, or that I have been publishing my own personal website for more than two decades, or that I publish this on-line blog with a thousand postings going back ten years, I must be clearly mistaken. He admonished me that my browsing was errant and he showed us, after much searching, displayed on their website, the $45 corkage fee.
Later, I reviewed the Carnivore & the Queen website in detail and found the reference (s) to the corkage fee (s). The design of the site is such that all content is on one continuous page, down the main page that serves as a home page with navigation bar, are content for the welcome/about page, also the special event Santa Brunch page, the menu first page and second page, kids menu, rolling events banner, location map and contact page with announcements, reservations page, and, below/following all of that, tucked away in some fine print before and above the SPECIALTY CRAFTED Local Spirits COCKTAILS page, then the LOCAL SPIRITS Featuring Our Own Vodka & Bourbon Locally Distilled page, then, the WINES & LOCAL CRAFT BEERS section featuring the actual winelist (showing the 'errant' corkage fee), and three more pages of content, gallery, news, reviews etc .....
Never mind the static Menu Navigation bar at the top that takes you directly to the Wine List, and each of these content sections, through bookmarks to the section headings ... if one navigates the main page with all its content, without using the Navigation Bar/Buttons at the top, scrolling from top to bottom, one will come across the $25 corkage fee, halfway down, and then many pages later, will also come across the 'updated' increased $45 corkage fee.
Alas, we were both right, their website which is one continuous main page shows both corkage fees, $25 near the middle, and navigated to on their winelist, and much further down nearer the bottom, $45.
After much rancor and animated discussion, he offered to 'refund' me the difference. Having already filled out the payment authorization, based on the lower amount, I advised him it wasn't necessary, I had settled the account and he could account for the corkage fee, and remaining tip, however he wished - a concept he found difficult to grasp, but eventually accepted, concise, unequivocable and final, indeed.
What an excruciating and painful experience.
We'll return to Carnivore and Queen eventually, and will be steadfast to experiencing the new dining room, and will follow the prevailing published/posted corkage fee accordingly.
In any event, here's my review of the Wayfarer Chardonnay which
highlighted the Pan Seared and baked Walleye with Shrimp, and the
Seabass with muniere sauce.
Wayfarer Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma County Chardonnay 2021
I featured an earlier release of this label back in June in this blogpost, Wayfarer Sonoma County Seaview Ross Chardonnay with lobster. In that post, I wrote in depth then about the producer, vineyard site and label.
We toured the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County and Russian River Valley during our Napa Sonoma Wine Experience in 2017.
In recent months, since we've made five trips and had a dozen and half seafood dinners on the Gulf Coast, we've explored and enjoyed a wide selection of ultra-premium Chardonnays - SeaSmoke, Kistler, Wayfarer, Far Niente, Domaine Serene Reserve, and others. This was the most expressive, distinctive, bright and vibrant of any of our recent Chardonnay selections.
This was so up-front that it was almost obtuse and perhaps needs some settling time, but was delicious none-the-less.
Light golden straw colored, medium bodied, rich, dense, concentrated and forward, notes of citrus laced pear with notes of honey flavor but without residual sweetness, smooth and polished on the finish.
One CT'er (Cellertracker reviewer), 'RhoneWho' writes "opulent bouquet ... uplifting aromatics infused with ripe
summer California white orchard fruits and white flower floral". I agree with his assessment that "This wine will definitely improve with bottle aging in 3-5 years and can
easily sustain its primary profile over 10+ years given its structure." He gave this 97 points.
RM 94 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4612323
https://www.wayfarervineyard.com/
https://twitter.com/WayfarerWine @WayfarerWine
https://carnivoreandthequeen.com/
https://twitter.com/QueenCarnivore @QueenCarnivore
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