On a related note, are you obligated to pay whatever they say if they don’t tell you the price first? I mean Hampshire’s story as an example. What if they’d asked $100 when the highest listed item was under $30?
I went to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse with my mom when I was in high school (2004) and they gave me the menu with the prices and my mom the “date menu” with no prices. She told me that the waiter must have thought we were a couple. My mom looks 20 years younger than she is and was considered hot by my friends when I was a teenager; I guess it’s possible.
In Rome, we ate at this great restaurant near the collesium 2 nights in a row. It was so good the first night, we went back. Plus they had a waiter from Nepal that spoke both Italian and english. The second night, he said let me order for you. The bill was a million lira. Man that was a helluva awesome meal.
I was going to mention this, but figured everybody would say “well, drinks, OBVIOUSLY.” Unpriced cocktail menus seem to practically the norm. It’s a pet peeve of mine ever since getting a bill for a $16 Grey Goose martini. Which, I should note, was served in an unchilled tumbler.
There’s a place near me that operates on this principle on Sundays. You come in, you’re seated, and they serve you. If I recall, they don’t tell you the price unless you ask, but it’s on their website and you can only get a reservation by signing up through the website, so I think they’re operating on the assumption that everybody who cares, knows.
I think I’d be less angry about that, or at least expect it if it were a nice-looking restaurant. I’d certainly feel caught off-guard by a $16 martini if I were at Chili’s or something. Likewise, when I go to one of the places around here that specializes in having a lot of different, interesting beers, or brews their own, $5-6 is reasonable. But for a (I assume pint) of an American macrobrew? Puhleeze.
I used to work at a member’s only dining club that sometimes had menus and sometimes didn’t. Whoever the host of the party or table was would get a menu with the prices on it. All the other menus did not. That was a fun job, but that’s neither here nor there.
I bet he got a great tip.
It’s not the same as ‘if you have to ask you can’t afford’ but I’ve been to at least one dim sum place recently (and the same for sushi trains) where you don’t see the final price until the end of the meal. The serving staff bring the food around and you take what looks good, but there’s no menu and no prices mentioned.
Don’t many dim sum and sushi train places price based on the color of the plate or some similar criteria?
There used to be a bar called the Pump Room on Northwestern Avenue in Indianapolis, which typically had a stabbing or shooting at least every other night.
I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a date menu. In fact, a menu of any kind (not to mention a wine list) would have been surprising. 
Because that seemed like a reasonable option? :dubious:
Not sure about dim sum, but yes in Japan the standard pricing system for sushi trains is the color of the plate. Many places also have menus however.
That’s been my experience, and this usually pertains to things like Alaskan King Crab or Lobster.
That is, at a high end restaurant, MOST of the dishes will have the price listed, but the lobster dishes will frequently say something like “Market Price.” Presumably, there’s some seasonal fluctuation in the supply of some items, meaning the price may rise or fall more rapidly than the price of most other dishes.
Recently Panera’s has converted some of their locations to a “pay what you can” model. And they are actually profitable locations.
I’ve been a guest to a few of these clubs over the years (less than half a dozen). The member gets a bill at the end of the month or quarter.
When we were visiting a friend in London, he took my wife & I out to dinner at a restaurant called “Blake’s”.
It was the only time in my life I’ve ever been presented with a menu with no prices on it.
Our gracious host’s menu had prices, but ours didn’t. Also, it was the first time I ate souffle - the most amazing dessert ever known to man.
I have come across a number of restaurants like this (in my travels), and it’s not like I go looking for such places. They do exist. You just might not find one on every corner, however.
I got that shit pulled on me in a Miami restaurant thereabouts of 1995, and the main reason the waiter didn’t eat the no-prices version is that I didn’t want to risk jail.
The “prix fixe” places I have known in France and the “menú del día” ones in Spain have no individual prices on dishes, but that’s because you pay for the whole meal. A menú del día will include two courses, dessert, bread, drink and service (the drink is usually water or wine, anything else gets charged extra); the French version was the same with one course. I saw similar arrangements in Italy but can’t recall what they were called. In any case, those restaurants aren’t particularly posh and you still know how much you’re paying - it’s simply not per item.
I once went to a fancy restaurant that didn’t have a printed menu at all. The waiter recited all the options verbally. I don’t remember if he included prices.
See, I kind of like the idea of a host menu and a guest menu. If I’m taking someone out and paying for it–male or female–it’d be nice to have the option of giving them a menu where they need not concern themselves over the price of individual dishes and just order what they like.