Cork Wine Bar and Market

Aditya and Joe - it appears from our research into this matter you visited us together so we will address your comments en mass. First, we are sorry that your experience with us is not what strive for from guests. We strive every day to proved an atmosphere focused on service, quality and enjoyment, and when we fall short of that, we will take steps to correct. Unfortunately, with the high cost of goods, we have had to add an additional charge (as a great many of restaurants have been forced to do) to help cover higher prices. However, that should have been disclosed to you. After investigating the matter, your table was being served by a lead server who was being trailed by a server in training. It is she who you asked for olive oil and being it was her second day of training, did not know to inform you of the charge. We apologize for this miscommunication. That said, Aditya alluded to the portion being a "tiny spoonful" which is (1) factually inaccurate - period and (2) the Focaccia you ordered comes with housemade herb butter. As to service charges brought up by Aditya, we do incorporate a "small" service charge fee, which is disclosed upfront on your menu as required by law. The fee itself is controlled by the restaurant, yes, and is dictated so by federal law. I am sure you have experienced similar and even larger fees at other establishments in the city. This small fee helps cover higher labor costs and has been in existence for about two years - posted on our door, our website and again our menu. We do not "pocket it" as you intimate. Cork has been a neighborhood gathering spot in the Logan Circle neighborhood for 18 years. One of the things we pride ourselves on is the quality, diversity and price point of our wine list and have won several awards and many accolades for it. From our beginning, we have focused our wine sourcing on sustainable, organic and bio-dynamic wines, before these descriptions became more widely used among the general public. It is not "basic." it is not "stuffy." it is in fact thoughtful, highly curated, and caters to a wide audience from serious oenophiles to beginners of all ages. Contrary to what was stated, we have a large selection of natural wines and orange wines with a great many of our wines being free of sulfates. They are widely represented on our by the class lists (upstairs and downstairs bars) and our more fuller bottle list. In fact, it appears you had an orange wine at our downstairs bar and requested that same wine at your table. This would seem contrary to your comments that we had no "orange wines." In closing, from our investigation into this incident, it appears one person in your party is a regular at Cork and frequents our downstairs bar for drinks and food, which is why we find the comments about the boring pretentiousness of our food lets say odd. We would have wished your concerns would have been brought to the manager on duty. If you wish to continue an open dialogue on this matter, please feel to reach out to us via email. Cork

Tom, Happy New Year to you and thanks for the kind words. G;ad you're not sleeping on us anymore (smile), and we will pass along the music comments to our resident DJ on staff.

Sam - that is the standard amount for our boards and we do feel our menu is very value priced. Noted on the octopus, and wonder did you share those thoughts with your server. Hopefully, if you join us again in the future.Happy New Year