Last Updated on September 14, 2020 by JaimeSays
I’ll admit it: I enjoy a nice glass of wine or two when I’m out to dinner. In the past, I used to only drink wine when I went out to a restaurant because my husband is a beer man. Then I figured out how to save wine for later, so now I can have it as much as I want. With the ability to drink decent bottles of wine at home, I started buying better wine to keep at home, and started hosting blind wine tastings at home. As such, I have a hard time paying $15 for a glass of wine when it costs $20 to buy a bottle at a store. I started thinking, what is the wine corkage fee at some of these restaurants. If you go to a restaurant and bring your own wine in Chicago, is it a good idea? More importantly, if you bring your own wine in Chicago, are you saving yourself money?

Get a deluxe beverage fridge at home from NewAir! Save 20% Using Code JAIMESAYS20
Bring Your Own Wine in Chicago: Bucktown/Lincoln Park/Logan Square
-Gemini (2075 N. Lincoln): $25/Bottle; $40/Magnum
-Longman and Eagle (2657 N. Kedzie Avenue): $25/bottle if you bring your own wine but if you also buy a bottle from them, they will waive the corkage fee
-Lula Cafe (2537 N. Kedzie Avenue): $25/Bottle
-Mia Francesca (3311 N. Clark St.): $20/Bottle
Bring Your Own Wine in Chicago: Ukrainian Village/West Loop/West Town
Bring Your Own Wine in Chicago: Gold Coast/River North/Streeterville
–Barton G ( 415 N. Dearborn) : The corkage fee is non-existent because they do not allow you to bring in wine from outside the restaurant. Please save your money and go to dinner somewhere else!
-Bavette’s Bar and Boeuf (218 W. Kinzie St.): $50 unless you share a glass with anyone else in the restaurant, including your server, and then the fee is waived.
-Bellemore (564 W. Randolph): $25/bottle as long as it is not on their wine list.
–Brasserie Margeaux (11 E. Walton): $25 for the first two bottles, $50 for any bottles after that.
-Capital Grille (633 N. St. Clair St.): $35, 1 bottle per table
-Chicago Cut (300 N. LaSalle Dr.): $25/Bottle–One Bottle Only, and cannot be on their wine list.
-Eight Bar (8 W. Maple St.): $50 per every 750 mL, limit of 1 bottle per two people
-Joe’s Stone Crab (60 E. Grand Ave.): $25/Bottle, $50/magnum
-Maple and Ash (8 W. Maple St.):$50/Bottle, limit of 1 bottle per two people
-Mastro’s (520 N. Dearborn St.): $35/Bottle; $70/Magnum
-Naha Chicago (500 N. Clark St.): $50/Bottle but if you buy another bottle off of their wine list, the $50 fee is waived
-Somerset (1112 N. State Street): $35 and cannot be a wine that they carry
Bring Your Own Wine in Chicago: Loop/Printers Row/South Loop
-Acadia (1639 S. Wabash Ave.) : $65/Bottle, Two Bottle Max.
-Cochon Volant (100 W. Monroe Street): $25/bottle
-Kurah Mediterranean (1355 S. Michigan Avenue): $20/bottle
-Sociale Chicago (800 S. Clark Street): $15/Bottle; Two bottle maximum.
- Finding the Right House and the Right Movers - February 6, 2023
- Free Things to do in Wisconsin: Tour Two Frank Lloyd Wright Designs - January 8, 2023
- Love Architecture Travel?13 Cities with Architecture Open Houses - November 14, 2022
- An Afternoon with Bodegas Salentein - October 20, 2022
- Fall Wardrobe Staples - October 13, 2022
- 5 Small Town Midwest Architecture Tours Worth Taking - September 9, 2022
- Things to Do This Month in Chicagoland! - September 1, 2022
- I Hired an Interior Designer and Was Disappointed - November 10, 2021
- Why I Didn’t Share My Pregnancy - September 18, 2021
I’m thinking Au Cheval and Bavette’s Bar and Boeuf got it right. I would visit either of these establishments just for their corkage policy. (also, I like the use of Boeuf in general)
I agree! I am considering these places more nowadays simply because of the corkage policy.