Sticker shock

Last Friday night Liisa and I went for dinner at "Lee", a restaurant run by the world famous chef Susur Lee. It's a tapas style menu where you order 5-6 dished and share them. Overall the food was very good although 1 or 2 of the dishes were slightly disappointingly (the braized pork which is cooked for 2 days was a bit bland). What really annoyed me, however, was the exorbitant rate they charge for alcohol. I ordered a 2004 Bogle Merlot which cost $65. The wine itself was good and we very well with what we ordered but considering that this bottle of wine retails for $16.95 at the LCBO is crazy. I could have saved $15 had I bought the bottle myself and paid the $30 corkage fee at the restaurant. I know that restaurants make a lot of their money of booze but to charge over 300% profit is a bit insane. Especially in Ontario where you can easily know the exact price of the wine from the LCBO's website.

(Thankfully I had a gift certificate for dinner which helped absorb the cost. Thanks Paul, Eric and Triina!)