LAGuide

25 Restaurants Where Corkage Is Under $15

Want to BYOB but don’t want to BTB (break the bank)? Check out these 25 spots.
25 Restaurants Where Corkage Is Under $15
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photo credit: Holly Liss

Whether you’re a wine guy with a massive cellar and strong feelings on a chewy tannins, or just the proud owner of a fancy bottle of malbec that you keep in your kitchen, you know there’s nothing better than rolling up to a restaurant with your own wine.

The catch? Most places charge $30-50 to uncork that wine, and at that point, you might as well just buy their bottle. The good news is, there are restaurants with low corkage fees all over Los Angeles - you just have to know where to look for them. Or, you could just grab that malbec, and the nearest brown paper bag, and head to one of these 25 spots with corkage fees of $15 or less.

FREE Corkage

American

Downtown LA

$$$$Perfect For:Big GroupsBreakfastBrunchDinner with the ParentsLunchPre-Theater Eats
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Back when Bottega Louie opened in 2009, it was the de facto ruler of Downtown Los Angeles. And while it’s since slipped a bit in the DTLA pantheon, we’re always more than happy to eat our weight in colorful macarons and drink a bottle of wine here - especially when there’s no corkage fee for the first bottle.


Located on the same stretch of road as a vegan bistro and a pilates studio, Blair’s is exactly the kind of restaurant that comes to mind when someone says “Neighborhood spot in Silver Lake.” The Italian-heavy menu lends itself to a few glasses of wine, so you’ll be happy to learn that they don’t charge a corkage fee. If they did, they wouldn’t be on this list.


With its leafy, cozy patio and free corkage policy, Speranza is an Italian spot that feels like it could be in your backyard. Except that your backyard probably isn’t bringing out bowls of squid ink pasta, and definitely isn’t filled with Silver Lake locals who look like they just came from a pottery class. Which is probably for the better.


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If the words “$300 tasting menu” don’t immediately make you think BYOB, we don’t blame you. Easily one the most extravagant options on this list (and in this town), Providence is known for their ridiculously fresh rounds of seafood, roaming cheese cart, and - believe it or not - free corkage on Mondays.

Corkage Fee: Free on Mondays


Although LA has no shortage of excellent pasta places - or guides that talk about them - Colori Kitchen is one of those casual, family-run Italian spots that you wish you saw more of in DTLA. The menu is solid, and filled with all of the red-sauce-and-carb combinations your heart could ever want. But the best part? You can bring your own bottle of riesling from home.


photo credit: Holly Liss

Whichever side of the Chicago deep-dish pizza debate you fall on (and there is a correct one), we can at least all agree on something - no corkage fees on wine are great. Plus the pies here take a while, and there’s no better way to pass the time than with a bottle from home. That’s science.

Corkage Fee: First bottle free, $15 thereafter


If you’re like us, and spend a lot of time wondering what kind of restaurant Buffy the Vampire Slayer would open up with a few hundred thousand dollars and a prime Beverly Hills location, The Stinking Rose is the answer. Part Italian restaurant, part haunted house, and part lifehack garlic peeling video, The Stinking Rose has everything you want from a place named after the “pungent herb,” including a non-existent corkage fee.


The food at the Water Grill isn’t going to blow your mind, and it’s generally the kind of place you only come when your parents are in town - and paying. But it does offer free corkage on your first bottle, and with locations in Los Angeles and Orange County, perhaps that’s enough to make you reconsider.


$3-$14 Corkage

Eating a bowl of pasta and drinking wine is one of life’s greatest combinations, up there with sleeping in and Sundays, or Dev Patel and any pair of eyes ever. But with its low corkage fee and casual atmosphere, Fritto Misto in Santa Monica does the impossible - it takes the combo to new heights.

Corkage Fee: $3 per person


Casa Bianca is a flat-out Eagle Rock classic. Maybe the secret to their success is their thin-crust Sicilian-style pizza, or the scores of adorable couples who have been going on dates here since the ’60s. Or maybe it’s the fact for just $8, you can bring your own bottle of pinot noir. You decide.

Corkage Fee: $8


Bossa Nova has a huge Brazilian menu filled with favorites like Portuguesa pizza and estrogonofe de carne (Brazilian beef stroganoff) and locations all over LA. But whichever outpost you decide to head to, make sure you’re bringing your own bottle of wine - the corkage fee is only $8.

Corkage Fee: $8


LA does Thai food better than any other city in America, and Jitlada is the best of the best. It’s the spiciest of the best. Its decor is the kitschiest of the best. And most importantly, its corkage fee is the lowest of the best. This restaurant doesn’t just set the bar for LA Thai food - it’s constantly raising it.

Corkage Fee: $10


One of the oldest Indonesian restaurants in Los Angeles, Ramayani is filled with everyone on the Westwood spectrum. From locals that have been coming here for years to scattered UCLA students looking for a reprieve from the dining hall, the best thing to do is order the nasi uduk combo platte, bring whatever bottle of wine sparks the most joy, sit back, and take the whole scene in.

Corkage Fee: $10


We’re not sure what kind of person steps into Chez Jay, the 60-year-old nautical-themed landmark in Santa Monica and thinks “This would be a great place to drink my sauvignon blanc.” But if you really feel like the perfect pairing for your butter steak or bowl of peanuts is hiding away in your chilled cellar in the Palisades, then with a $10 corkage fee, there’s no reason not to bring it.

Corkage Fee: $10


Gingergrass is the perfect Silver Lake one-two punch. First, go to the Whole Foods 365 up the street with every intention of cooking dinner for yourself tonight, then get disappointed when they’re inevitably out of every piece of produce. Second, buy a decent bottle of chardonnay and head over to Gingergrass. Their corkage fee is low, and nothing screams “It’s OK to try again tomorrow” quite like a hot bowl of pho.

Corkage Fee: $10


With locations in Inglewood and Del Rey, Coni’Seafood is easily the best Mexican seafood restaurant you’ve never heard of. Not only because everything on the menu is good (focus on their marlin tacos, camarones borrachos, or grilled snook), but because for just $10, you can bring your own bottle of wine. We suggest you do that, immediately.

Corkage Fee: $10


Le Grande Orange Cafe isn’t the most memorable meal in town - or even in the fully functioning train platform it’s located in (that honor goes to its neighbor, Luggage Room Pizzeria) - but it is one of the only places within a 10-mile radius with a very reasonable corkage fee. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

Corkage Fee: $10


It’s been said many times, in many ways - LA is not a BBQ town. That’s what makes Gus’s all the more special. One of our favorite BBQ spots in the city, you can’t go wrong with the St. Louis spare ribs or Southern fried chicken, and you definitely can’t go wrong with bringing your own bottle of syrah to go with both. Well, we guess you could, but that would be on you.

Corkage Fee: $10


This spot is Permanently Closed.

While Mohawk Bend has no shortage of things to drink (hello, 72 taps of California beer), that bottle of gamay has been sitting on your shelf since before Y2K, and it finally deserves a night out on the town. Between the good vegan food and killer cast-iron chocolate chip cookie, this old Vaudeville theater might just be the perfect setting to gather with friends and talk about how silly all of our turn-of-the-century problems seem now. Sigh...

Corkage Fee: $10


Laurel Tavern is kind of like Cinderella’s carriage - except instead of turning into a pumpkin at midnight, every day at 4:30pm, it transforms into Studio City’s number one spot for after-work drinks. The bar food is solid, the corkage fee is low, and everyone’s heart is just wishing for the traffic on Laurel Canyon to die down.

Corkage Fee: $12


$15 Corkage

We’re sure you’ve heard the news - it’s the future now, and in the New World Order, all plates of food are meant to be shared. At some places, that caveat seems like an afterthought, or a gimmick, but at Open Sesame, a traditional Lebanese spot in Beverly Grove, all of the dishes are large, and designed to be split. Whether or not you split that bottle of wine you brought is up to you.

Corkage Fee: $15


Los Angeles has quite a few breweries that specialize in vegan food and very low corkage fees. It’s kind of a strange Venn diagram to be in, but one we don’t question too hard. Especially when we’re walking from Echo Park with bottles of wine to split over a spicy mac and cheese and a fantastic vegan margherita pizza.

Corkage Fee: $15


If you’re looking to BYOB, but vegan breweries in Echo Park just aren’t doing it for you, head to Taylor’s Steakhouse. The LA staple has been around since the 1950s, and serves giant cuts of meat in an old-school environment (get ready for big red booths). And if you want to get really vintage, bring your own bottle of red bordeaux - the corkage fee is only $15.

Corkage Fee: $15


Taix French Restaurant is located in that Danish-style building on Sunset that you always thought was some sort of Solvang-inspired motel. And inside is an even more puzzling scene - an elaborate dining hall with multiple rooms, extremely French food like ratatouille and frog’s legs provencal, and an almost unbeatable corkage fee.

Corkage Fee: $15


If you’re in the South Bay, Tin Roof Bistro is undoubtedly the move. A fantastic patio, semi-regular bocce ball tournaments, and a very low corkage fee all add up to one of the best places in Manhattan Beach to spend a summer day.

Corkage Fee: $15


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