We go out to very nice places quite a bit, both at home and when we travel. But understand that if I am paying more than $50 per person (no booze), I want very good quality food and great service.
I am hardly ever disappointed.
My wife and I went to The Fort in Morrison, CO (just outside Denver) for our anniversary. It was great! Excellent food & drinks (mmm… prickly pear coolers…) and the view was incredible.
Fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been to was Applebees. We had a coupon.
I couldn’t imagine spending more than twenty bucks on a meal for two, but I’m sure it’s nice.
I don’t go often enough. Too many of the people I’m with just couldn’t care less about food in a way. McDonald’s is as good as the best steakhouse because you get more, cheaper, at McD’s. At least they don’t try to take me to HomeTown Buffet anymore. Sorry if anyone here likes HomeTown, but ours is just a mush of greasy, bland, overcooked stuff and the atmosphere is ‘dubious cleanliness.’ Not a bargain at any price.
Price and place don’t matter too terribly much to me. Best place for seafood was a shack in Yachat on PCH1, nothing cost over six bucks and we were afraid to stay and eat, but we love the idea of finding a jewel in the rough.
Dressing up and trying new and interesting things from a great chef in a pretty place with service so good they almost disappear, is lots of fun as well. After the first time of being a bit nervous (at 18 it was the first time I’d been without my parents), I haven’t been intimidated. It just depends upon what you feel like doing, though I admit I’ll always be up for fancy if that means the chef is fantastic. I want to go to the French Laundry like some people dream of going to Disneyland.
I eat at nice places on business but not very often for myself. Usually a vacation will have a trip to one nice place. At first I thought I would feel uncomfortable in those places but when you are paying that much for a meal, the people at the restaurant are really nice.
It’s not. You’re paying for a pretentious atmosphere and only marginally better food than you’d get for a lot less moneysomewhere else.
I go to high end restaurants fairly often for work and I despise it. There is absolutely nothing in those places that justify their prices, except the fact that some people are willing to pay that much for the experience.
One of the nice things about living in Las Vegas is that lots of high end restaurants have set up shop here. For the most part, there is not a dress code although it is expected you at least wear casual business attire for some of those places.
My SO and I go out someplace nice once a week. But we don’t go to the top of the line places, like here as from what I have been told, $100, per person, is about average for dinner.
But we have been to some pretty amazing places and as neither of us drinks wine or alcohol (during dinner), so our bills usually are about $40-50 tops for a really nice dinner in some pretty great restaurants. Vegas has changed a lot in the last few years and celebrity chefs are bringing so many restaurants to town, the competition has made for some great deals - even in places you would never guess could be so affordable. Also, if you want to try a really good restaurant but are on somewhat of a budget, simply go for lunch. Usually the same menu as dinner, but half price and a somewhat smaller portion…and that is fine with us.
I’m not surprised. There seems to be a class of restaurant that sort of bills itself as “fancy”, the sort of place where people who don’t dress up and go out to dinner can dress up and go out to dinner. High-end dining for people who don’t know any better. Unfortunately, it can be hard to know that a place is like this without going there.
My favorite restaurants in this range are the ones with a more relaxed ambience, just because I prefer that setting to a more formal one. It also seems to me that places like this put more effort into good food and creative presentation.
My father says stuff like this all the time, too and it’s like pulling an arm and a leg to get my parents to go out for special occasions. I think it’s b/c he has to go so often for work that he has just gotten bored of it. Also, he’s a fastidious health food freak with dietary restrictions (religious + health) and complains about how little he can eat because of it.
I think it’s alright but there’s definitely a saturation point above which the allure no longer exists. I think for me it was after interviewing season when I bitterly realised I had to go on a massive diet to get back into my clothes.
Wow, I’m sorry that has been your experience- it hasn’t been mine.
Do you live in a yucky area?
I go to really ritzy places now and then like Tetsuya’s where the 10 course degustation menu costs $175. But it is consistently voted one of the top 5 restaurants in the world so it would be silly to miss it. I go on my own (only have to pay for one) and dress like I would if I was going to Maccas…no one seems to care.
I live in DC and our conferences are often in cities like San Francisco or Seattle, so the high end restaurants I’ve been to are some of the better ones in the country. I’m not saying they aren’t nice or the food isn’t good. However, these benefits cannot justify their ridiculous cost. Paying four or five times what you would pay in another restaurant for marginally better food makes no sense to me. Paying two or three times the price for the same liquor is completely ridiculous. You are paying for the atmosphere when you go to these places. You are paying for the privilege of defining yourself as a connoisseur and one who enjoys the “finer things in life.” Personally, I can do without those labels.
Well, high-end in Athens, Georgia is probably vastly different than high-end in New York. There are a few places that are high-end here. My husband and I go out to one of our high-end places once a month or so, and for special occasions- birthdays, anniversaries, etc. My favorite is The Five and Ten, the chef, Hugh Atchenson (spelling may be off) is a genius and the wine list is small but great, and they have an excellent selection of single-malt scotches. Plus, if you love one of his dishes and ask for the recipe, he’ll give it to you.
Yes, indeed, from time to time. BTW, although McCormick & Schmick’s is an excellent restaurant, with wonderful FRESH seafood, it’s not what I’d call high end. You could go in there any time without a jacket and tie (if you’re of the male persuasion).
Several years ago we went to Windows on the World at the top of the NYC World Trade Center. They had in the past been accused of being just atmosphere and not much on actual food excellence, but had just decided to switch focus and had a new chef (whose name, to my chagrin, escapes me now). It was fantastic, expensive and worth every penny.
Being close to NYC without having to actually deal with it on a daily basis is one of the reasons I like living where I do. Although there are an increasing number of fine dining establishments on this side of the Hudson, too.
If I can’t go in clean bluejeans, clean boots, and a clean untucked shirt, then I’m not going.
I just made reservations for my birthday at the Salish Lodge outside of Seattle. I have a 40.00 off coupon though! I’ve been there once for brunch and the place is gorgeous, I’m really looking forward to it.
Neither of us has been to such a place.
I just asked my wife, and she figures we haven’t eaten anywhere where it cost more than $60 for the both of us. We go out to the very few middle-scale nice places here on birthdays and our anniversaries. Once we were going to go to a fondue restaurant, but the cost was so exorbitant, that the only thing we could afford was $20 to dip $1.50 worth of fruit in $3.00 worth of chocolate.
Neither of us could, in good conscience, spend a month’s worth of grocery money on one meal. We’re both pretty good cooks, and we eat well at home. We’ve been to restaurants where we’ve commented that we could make better food at home.
Besides which, I don’t own a suit and/or tie.
Well, aren’t you nice! Things have been busy but OK, save for a situation at work I could certainly live without. Thanks for asking.
I’ve eaten at high end restaurants a fair number of times on the company dime, and I feel the same way you do: the food is very good, but overpriced. And it’s not that I don’t appreciate good food. But in my experience the correlation between the price and the quality of restaurant food is inexact, at best. There are a lot of midrange and even some low-range restaurants that have one or two dishes they do really well.
Yeah that reminds me. I have a $2000 bill from Angelo & Maxis I need to submit at work tomorrow.
Fortunately for work I get to go to a lot of high end restaurants.