It turns out the "Bring Your Own Wine" Program isn't as desired as us Torontonians had thought. Almost 500 Ontario restaurants had signed up for this program, but there's been a very slow take-off as per The Toronto Star.

I guess the BYOW really applies to high-end connoisseurs who have a $300 vintage in their cellar, and want to impress their friends while at Scaramouche or Susur. This isn't quite on par with my idea of a $12 bottle, no cork fee and some greasy Chinese food on Spadina.

Now, why is this such a dud in Toronto, and adopted as a staple in Montreal? Gee, could it be the ridiculous corking fee that exists here? I haven't experienced this first hand, but have heard the cork fee averages between 18-35 bucks. As I recall, there's NO cork fee, if any in Montreal.

Like so many programs the city implements, this one should eventually take off, just lower that cork fee, please!

For a list of participating restaurants, visit here.