A waiter accidentally served a £4,500 wine instead of a £260 bottle.
A customer at Hawksmoor Steak House in Manchester was given a costly 2001 bottle of Chateau Le Pin Pomerol rather than the much cheaper Chateau Pichon Longueville Contesse de Lalande, which they actually ordered.
Great story about the diners who got served a bottle of £4,500 wine by mistake… Dale Clovey from the Hawksmoor restaurant in Manchester explains what happened . pic.twitter.com/K420xOywSu
— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) May 16, 2019
The steakhouse shared the mistake on Twitter but insisted the waiter should “keep their chin up” and acknowledged that “mistakes happen”.
The restaurant took to Twitter, smoothing over the situation.
To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4500 on our menu, last night – hope you enjoyed your evening! To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway 😉
— Hawksmoor Manchester (@HawksmoorMCR) May 16, 2019
According to The Washington Post, the restaurant figured out the mistake when a different manager walked by the table and looked at the wine. At the end of the meal, the customers learned they did not get the wine they ordered, but the management did not reveal to the table how costly the error was.
As the restaurant owner, Beckett was immediately aware.
“When they told me about it I thought, ‘Oooh that is an expensive mistake,’” Beckett said. “At the same time, I thought it’s the same kind of I’m-not-concentrating thing I would do. It’s just an unfortunate human error.”
He added: “The restaurant industry is a place where you can get hammered for making mistakes, and we don’t want to be that place.”
He said the manager who grabbed the wrong bottle for the server is mortified, but that hasn’t stopped Beckett from “the most gentle teasing” of her. He called her an otherwise “brilliant” employee.
