I don’t know where you live but at least here in California and over in Boston pretty much every restaurant who has at least a reasonable serious wine list has a corkage policy on the webpage (or printed on their in-house menu). Alcohol is a key part of their revenues and so it is obvious that they have to make it very clear wrt policies to avoid any conflicts with guests
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If the restaurants are of the level you’ve reviewed on your blog, you’re more right than wrong. Otherwise, not IME do “pretty much every” restaurant advertises the policy up-front .
Yes of course, and corkage profits them without requiring them to open the cellar an inch. But it’s a good thing to disclose, bad not to.
At least in California it is not only at more upscale restaurants but on most levels - here are two random small Italian restaurants (nowhere even close to Michelin level and more your neighborhood restaurant)
You have a 'ways to go before you hit “pretty much every”.
Seeing what has to be displayed by law here in California which I haven’t seen in other places (in the US and much less in the rest of the world) it is very likely that there is a law in California that every restaurant who wants money from a corkage policy has to display it online and/or onsite.
I’m not licensed in CA, but I doubt it. I’ll ask a friend.
Oddly yes, I am replying to myself here. My sister and I got into a conversation yesterday about dining out with a group. She and my BIL went out with a group of people they had never dined with before. Theirs was a large group and the restaurant was offering a “BOGO,” so couples were deciding who was ordering what (it was a pizza place\Italian spot in the mountains where they own a vacation home. Apparently, people were ordering two dinners and then asking for extra plates. Yep, they were ordering two meals for four adults or one purchased entree for four people.
Apparently they were also very fussy figuring out what each person\couple owed towards the bill. Sis suspected they weren’t tipping very well (if at all). They left some extra bills on the table and never returned to the restaurant and haven’t eaten with that group again.
I guess the restaurant owns part of the problem–if their entrees are big enough for two, do not offer BOGO.
I might have to start counting on my other hand to tell how many largish ski resort meals have been ruined for me by this sort of stingy asshattery. If there’s not an ample pile of cash on the table as soon as the bill is read, madness usually ensues. We could have an entire thread on the theme variations. Calculators come out, empty wine bottles are retrieved from the bins, someone didn’t get dessert, someone got an extra side, gendarmes are summoned…
If my party is larger than 5, I always ask in advance for separate checks. That way I can just pay and depart without descending into that Circle of Hell.
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It was a regular feature of meals with my ex-colleagues. Usually meals to say “goodbye” to someone moving on or a celebration of a promotion. They should have been “nice times” but rarely were. I have a simple rule of how the bill should be paid - divided equally amongst the people dining. Nah, that doesnt work. Someone didnt drink alcohol but did have dessert. Someone else didnt have dessert but did drink like a fish. Whatever. It invariably meant that some folk would refuse to do equal shares. Money was thrown into the centre. It never, ever, added up to the bill total. And, never seemed to include any contribution towards a tip (OK not a mega thing in this country but there’s still a sort of old fashioned expectation). It usually ended up being a problem for whoever had been the dinner organiser (although, to be fair, most times, some managers would discreetly cover the shortfall)
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I’m glad that our friends / dining companions are decidedly on the opposite spectrum of that behavior. If the bill (or tip) is short, we all throw in more cash.
It’s not rocket surgery 
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I once worked at a place where a group of us lunched out every day. We always just split equally, figuring it works out over time (some days you’re in the mood for something pricey, the next it’s the cheapest). We always ended up with more than enough for the meal and an ample tip.
Except, of course, that one woman. If she had something cheap she’d say “well I only got this, so I only need to contribute x.” And of course x never included taxes or tip. And of course she never pointed out when she ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. And of course she always wanted to take any leftovers for her dinner that night. She had a good job and didn;t seem to live beyond her means
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There’s always someone. The turd in the punchbowl phenom 
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I am so stealing that phrase for future use.
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It comes in quite handy.
My riff on it at times has been to ‘not mind the turd in the punchbowl - drink martini instead.’
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When I was much much younger, I was of a mindset(and wallet) to pay what I owed. But I always calc’d a decent tip. Invariably, there was still a shortfall and most of us would toss in a couple more dollars to cover the bill and appropriate tip. There was always one or two who would have left at that point…and they were usually the underpayers. 
I quickly grew out of that mindset and just started splitting the bill X number ways. Rarely did anyone object when voiced early on.
And these comments again remind me of the famous Mooch and Hooch thread on CH. 
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That one must have passed me by, Linda.
Oh, there were several stories about the two. Doubt any of it was real, but - made up or not - peeps really got into the whole thing.
I personally know JanetfromRichmond, who related the issues with Mooch and Hooch. It was real.
Well, then. I guess ya just can’t make up some things
This reminds me of some italian handwritten menus where you have to deal with both unfamiliar dialect menu terms and eccentric handwriting.
I am surprised the list did not include a question about the menus you have to scan and read on your phone. Sometimes that is quite difficult.
