Hengen Jizai. 変幻自在

Went for the first time to a "wine dinner" arranged by the owner and announced via mixi. Nice lineup of Rhone wine, 50 ml pours. The "course menu" was mediocre at best and I could have (and often do) prepared a better dinner at home. After going through all the wines each bottle had maybe a third left in it, yet the owner made no move to offer them around. When I asked what the plan was for the remaining wine he told me there was so little left that it would be difficult to share them the the 9-person group fairly. Why he didn't do the original pours so that we wouldn't have the "difficult problem" of leftover wine is beyond me.

In the end we paid 6500 yen for maybe 2 glasses of wine and a wholly unremarkable "meal," and when we left (feeling pretty dissatisfied) the 6 bottles--wine in each one of them--stood in a line on the counter while the glasses of those still seated sat empty. All in all I'd say the dinner was a rip-off. We won't go back, and I recommend you give the place a miss as well.