We were at an Outback tonight - I love the restaurant, but it really seems odd that they bring the bottle of wine to the table with the bottle already opened. How do I know the wine was really opened just then? Maybe it was opened before, sent back by someone else and given to us. Why don't they just open it at the table so that is nice and clear?

There is an even more insidious possibility to consider when a waiter brings an open bottle to the table: maybe he has poured a bottle of a cheaper wine into it, having made a judgement that you won't be able to tell the difference. I recall a Sydney restaurant being prosecuted for this a few years ago when they did it to the wrong person. I won't accept a bottle I haven't seen with the cork in, ever.

BTW, what is an Outback? My son has a Subaru Outback, but I suspect that's not what you're talking about...:-)

how strange to hear that name! there's an 'outback' in koh Pha Ngan (Hat Rin, to be precise)... i didn't think of it as a chain.

i used to work in a restaurant, and whilst i'm quite positive that you do get some scoundrals who tamper with the wine, another strong possibility is that it was just a rubbish waiter who didn't know how to open the bottle standing up. i know quite a few of the younger ones did that in my restaurant.

Outback is actually a great Australian-themed chain in the US, it serves quite good food. I agree that the cheaper wine issue is what comes to mind.

Apparently the restaurant policy is to open all wine at the bar, probably so the waiters don't look like dimbos when they struggle with it. But I agree that it opens the possibilities of tampering.