$3,750 Bottle: Expensive Wine Gives Diner Sticker Shock Due To Misinterpretation

A $3,750 bottle of wine gave a man quite a shock when the bill arrived after a business dinner. According to NJ.com, a man named Joe Lentini was at dinner at Bobby Flay Steak at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when the incident happened. Mr. Lentini was with 10 other people at dinner and decided to share a bottle of wine with two of the other people at the table. Not knowing much about wine, Lentini asked the waitress for her opinion.

“I asked the waitress if she could recommend something decent because I don’t have experience with wine. She pointed to a bottle on the menu. I didn’t have my glasses. I asked how much and she said, ‘Thirty-seven fifty,'” Lentini explained. He sampled the wine and the three agreed to share the bottle.

“It was okay. It was good. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible. It was fine,” Lentini said.

Well, that “thirty-seven fifty” bottle of wine wasn’t what Lentini and his friends expected. While they were anticipating the price to be $37.50, they were quite surprised when the bill arrived and it was more than $3,000. The total bill for the evening was $4,700, more than half of that was for the bottle of Screaming Eagle, Oakville 2011.

“[The host] was sitting across from me and he handed the bill to person next to him, who handed it to the next person until it got to me. I showed the gentleman next to me and we were shocked. We couldn’t believe it,” said Lentini.

According to the New York Post, the man and his co-workers disputed the bill. They told the waitress of their misunderstanding and they reached somewhat of a deal with the restaurant. The guys paid $2,200 for the bottle of wine. A Borgata spokesperson said that there was “no misunderstanding regarding the selection,” so the guys are definitely lucky to have caught a break.

A $3,750 bottle of wine isn’t necessarily better than a wine that’s cheaper in price — it’s all about the taste and what people are used to. Drinking alcohol has its benefits and a lot of people really enjoy a nice glass of wine (perhaps a $12 one) with dinner. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a new study found that people over the age of 60 who drink alcohol might be promoting memory function.

Of course anyone ordering a pricey bottle might be promoting a loss of bank funds, but let Mr. Lentini’s mistake be a lesson for us all.

[Photo courtesy of Groovexi]