Bobby Flay Customer Ordered $3,750 Wine, Says He Thought It Cost $37.50

Photo by Victor Fiorillo

It’s easy to drop a lot of money at the Borgata, and not just at the blackjack table. The Borgata’s restaurants, which feature celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck, flaunt prices as high as many of their customers. But one recent diner seems to have been a bit more shocked than most when he got the check.

About a week ago, Joe Lentini of Hazlet, New Jersey, visited Bobby Flay Steak at the Borgata for a business dinner. It was a table of ten, and Lentini and two others decided to split a bottle of wine. For whatever reason, the dinner host told Lentini — a self-described wine novice — to pick a bottle. That’s where the trouble began.

According to a story in the Star-Ledger, Lentini asked his server for advice, explaining that he didn’t have a clue.

“She pointed to a bottle on the menu,” Lentini told the newspaper. “I didn’t have my glasses. I asked how much and she said, ‘Thirty-seven fifty.'”

You know how this story ends, right?

Lentini approved the bottle of Screaming Eagle, Oakville 2011 when the sommelier presented it, and the wine was enjoyed with the meal. But when the check came, Lentini says he was shocked to find that the wine cost $3,750 — not $37.50.

Lentini disputed the check, and after some back and forth, Bobby Flay management dropped the price from $3,750 to $2,200, which he split with the two others who drank the bottle.

Borgata executive Joe Lupo pointed out to the Star-Ledger that the server and the sommelier both confirmed the bottle with Lentini, a fact that Lupo said is confirmed by surveillance footage.

“Due to these factors along with very detailed accounts from multiple sources regarding the incident, Borgata is confident there was no misunderstanding regarding the selection,” Lupo said. “We simply will not allow the threat of a negative story that includes so many unaccounted and questionable statements to disparage our integrity and standards, which Borgata takes great pride in practicing every day.”

Lupo also said that the host of the dinner — the one who told Lentini to make the perilous selection — asked staff about the price of the bottle during the meal, and the unnamed host confirmed this for the newspaper. But the host claimed he didn’t make a stink because the bottle was either empty or nearly empty, so it wouldn’t have mattered.

We’re guessing Lentini won’t forget to wear his glasses the next time he goes to a fancy restaurant.