Many years ago I heard of restaurants for the very wealthy that do not have prices on the menu because, “If you have to ask how much it costs, then you can’t afford it.”
So, are there, or were there places like this, or was it made up?
There aren’t very many restaurants for the truly wealthy just because it is a poor business model. Lot of people go out to fancy restaurants for special occasions even if it is infrequent for them but it still makes up the highest volume overall. I don’t doubt that someone has created a menu like that somewhere but it isn’t common. I have never seen it and I have eaten at many of the most expensive ones.
What is fairly common in very fancy restaurants is for the menu to be written in whole dollar amounts with no cents or decimal attached. Those menus tend to be very short on selections and don’t encourage substitutions or even give long descriptions. You may have a choice of beef, seafood, or chicken with a whole dollar amount listed as the price. Most of the dinner is preplanned according to chef’s choice. You order wine and drinks and sometimes desserts separately. The most extreme version of this is called a Prix Fixe menu but different restaurants use variations on that idea.
I don’t think there were ever restaurants with a “No prices, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” policy.
However, old school higher end restaurants did used to have menus without prices - to be given to the dates or party guests of hosts who might find the idea of not revealing how much they were spending to be “classier”.
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/disappearing-ink/
When I was young (back when restaurants still served dinosaur steaks and the like), it was quite common for better restaurants to have a “ladies’ menu.”
Gentlemen would get a menu with the prices listed, while ladies would be given menus without prices.
Apparently it happens.
…or the opposite: Pay what you can.
It wasn’t even that long ago. I remember seeing “date menus” as late as 1994 in some of the nicer, old-school restaurants (the Pump Room at the Ambassador East is the one I remember in particular.)
The only restaurants I’ve been to without prices on the menu are prix fixe places.
I have seen restaurants with certain items unpriced. IIRC, it was just a couple very high-end things. Basically, the stuff that might say “Market Price” elsewhere but didn’t bother to say it.
Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that maybe I’d fallen for an urban legend or something like that.
Years ago I heard about a place like that (or maybe even that exact place, I don’t remember the name).
Anyway, if they can stay in business, then wow. More power to them.
I guess you didn’t read the article linked?
It’s not about “restaurants for the very wealthy that do not have prices on the menu because “If you have to ask how much it costs, then you can’t afford it””; but the much more mundane practice of restaurants not listing prices on their drinks menus or for their specials.
Well, true, the reason for not printing the prices is different, so it turns out that that part is true, but,
And,
Doesn’t mean they are the only menus without prices. Just the biggest offenders.
And anyway, I know it’s very rare, but I’m just glad that what I heard is at least based on some truth, instead of being made out of whole cloth.
Places with “guest” menus are still about. Private clubs are another example, where the club member will simply have the cost of a meal added to his monthly account. Guests of the member will receive menus with no prices. Similarly for drinks, even at the bar.
There is an old antecdote, usually credited to J.P. Morgan, about a wealthy man who was trying to sell a yacht. When the potential buyer asked about the price the seller said “If you have to ask you can’t afford it”. Could this have been the origin of this urban legend?
I have been to one restaurant where there were no prices, but it was also a kind of “the chef will put together a custom tasting menu for you” kind of place. You weren’t really choosing from a menu (and it also wasn’t a traditional prix fixe tasting menu). You just told them if you had any dietary restrictions, and they went with it. I had no idea what it all cost until the check came. It definitely wasn’t the most expensive meal I’ve ever had in my life, but I’d say it was in the range that if price is an important factor to you in choosing a restaurant, you probably wouldn’t want to eat there.
I’ve never seen a restaurant menu with absolutely no prices, unless you count cruise ships. OTOH I’ve been in a few restaurants that operate on the price fixe plan–you just pay a set amount and then order a choice for each course. These places, IME, are usually somewhat upscale, though I suspect the amount you pay in the end works out the same as in similar restaurants that charge for each item separately. Among others, I’ve seen price fixe dining rooms attached to museums and concert halls. A century ago Price fixe arrangements used to be common in inexpensive restaurants more or less corresponding to a Norm’s or Denny’s today. You paid your seventy-five cents or perhaps a dollar and got a whole meal with appetizer, entree, and dessert, accompanied by a drink.
The even-dollar-amount pricing schemes seem to be getting more common. I can’t understand people getting worked up about it; if you’re that upset that they’re asking $26 for your New York steak instead of $25.50, then you probably don’t want to spend $25.50 for a restaurant entree in the first place.
I’ve been in them in Japan, and they are very expensive. And, i must say, very good.
I’ve always heard the phrase in relation to high end clothing/jewelry/handbag stores, this is the first place I’ve seen it referencing a restaurant.
As a mini-rant, drink menus! This happened to me the other night, roommate wanted to go out to Olive Garden, and I inquired about the price of a beer, and completely balked at paying $5.50 for a draft beer. I got a $2 Diet Coke instead.
That’s a non-profit. I remember a few years ago, the Wall Street Journal had an article about a for-profit restaurant that removed its prices, and started a “pay what you think it was worth” policy. The article said it was a smashing success. There were a few customers who paid nothing, or close to it. But the average customer paid MORE than what the old menus had listed, and the restaurant was making more money than before.
I screwed myself over one time for not asking “how much?” when the waiter mentioned the special.
It was a restaurant where entrees were priced starting at $9 and the highest priced was about $18. The waiter mentioned a “surf-n-turf pasta” that has shrimp and steak in it. I figured “how much could it be? $20…$25?” when the next closest entree was $18.
The bill came and they socked me for $37. Lesson learned.
Last time I went to Chilis there were no drink prices. I don’t mean alcohol, I mean tea and soda. IIRC it was $2.50 or so for sweet tea that probably costs them 5 cents. I’ve noticed that trend at several other places too.