Diner outraged after he had to buy $3,750 bottle of wine when he asked waiter for a recommendation (but he did get $1,200 discount)

 

• Joe Lentini asked the waitress at Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City for a wine recommendation for a business dinner
• He and other diners thought the waitress said the bottle was 'thirty-seven fifty' and assumed that meant $37.50
• When they received the bill, they found out that the wine was actually a $3,750 bottle
• The restaurant dropped the price after the party complained - to $2,200 

Joe Lentini went to dinner at Bobby Flay Steak not knowing much about wine. He left having learned a harsh lesson.

Lentini and his companions were taking a business dinner at the Atlantic City restaurant in the Borgata Hotel, and while ordering the wine he asked the server for a recommendation.

'I asked the waitress if she could recommend something decent because I don't have experience with wine,' Lentini told NJ.com. 

'She pointed to a bottle on the menu,' a 2011 Screaming Eagle. 'I didn't have my glasses. I asked how much and she said, "Thirty-seven fifty."'

In the words of Lentini, he thought he meant $37.50, the table approved and the wine was ordered. 

When the bill came, the host who had agreed to cover the dinner was shocked to find it totaled over $4,000.

At the top of the list of items ordered was the Screaming Eagle, but with the staggeringly high price tag of $3,750.

In the words of another dining companion Don Chin, when the bill came, 'We all had a heart attack.'

The party complained that the waitress had been misleading when she informed Lentini and the other guests about the price of the wine.

Misled: Joe Lentini claims he heard the waitress say 'thirty-seven fifty' and only assumed that the bottle only cost $37.50

High life: The diners in the party had expected an expensive dinner of steak and seafood, but the $3,750 was a shock, especially for Lentini, who did not often drink wine 

100 point: Screaming Eagle is considered one of the best bottles of wine in the world - and is priced as such, fetching over $1000 a bottle at auction

The restaurant offered to drop the price of the wine to $2,200, which the party begrudgingly accepted.

'As the leading culinary destination in this region, we consistently serve as many, if not more high-end wine and spirits without incident,' executive vice president Joseph Lupo said. 

'In this isolated case, both the server and sommelier verified the bottle requested with the patron,' said Lupo, who claimed the host did not 'say anything to management.'

The unidentified host of the dinner reportedly confirmed to NJ.com that he did learn the price before the bill was handed out, but that the bottle was open and likely empty so he kept quiet.

According to the restaurant's menu, the bottle recommended was the second most expensive for its size.

So how was the wine? Self-declared wine amateur Lentini says, 'It was okay. It was good. It wasn't great. It wasn't terrible. It was fine.'

For those looking for the experience of enjoying shockingly expensive wine in the comfort of their own home, bottles of Screaming Eagle's 2011 vintage sell at auction beginning around $1000. 

Read more:

• NJ.com: What happens when a 'thirty-seven-fifty' bottle of wine really costs $3,750
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