My wife and I went to a fancy Italian restaurant that recently opened near us for our Anniversary last night. I ordered the ‘Chilean Sea Bass on a Bed of Broccoli Rabe’ from the special menu-- highly recommended by the waiter, and my wife ordered Risotto with Salmon. Here’s what we got:
My Sea Bass was about the shape of a Snickers bar, but smaller. Maybe a 4oz. piece of fish. The ‘bed’ of broccoli rabe was a few tiny greens, and there were exactly 4 cherry tomato halves. It had a piccata-style lemony caper sauce all swirled on the plate. I mean, the presentation was pretty, and it tasted good, but it was like the trope in 80s comedy movies where someone orders a meal in a fancy restaurant and a tiny piece of food comes on a huge plate.
My wife’s risotto and salmon was, at least, a portion size that would prevent starvation. She doesn’t eat much and she shared a little of her risotto and salmon with me. The risotto was utterly bland mushy rice, and the salmon was overcooked and dry. She had to ask for salt for the risotto (there was no salt and pepper on the tables; apparently one trusts that the chef will perfectly season the food at a restaurant as fine as this) and the waiter brought her a little sea salt in a tiny cup.
Now, it’s not as if we are Philistines who don’t appreciate good food. I make risotto pretty often, and mine is, in all honesty, miles better than what my wife got. Risotto, for one, is supposed to be al dente like pasta, with a little bite to it, not mushy. This, in addition to tasting bland, had the consistency of mushy oatmeal. I also make piccata fairly often, and though the piccata-style sauce on my fish was good, I’d say mine is better. All told, two entrees, no apps or sides, with a single glass of wine for me (my wife stuck with water) came to $160 with a fair to generous tip. We can go to our favorite Thai place and get plenty of much better-tasting food for about a quarter of the price, and have leftovers for lunch the next day.
You either went to a restaurant that wasn’t great, or they had on off night, or fine dining isn’t for you (which is totally fine). Some fine dining is absolutely amazing. And well crafted fine dining should make you full, though probably not stuffed.
Well, it was a Monday, which is probably the most likely day for a restaurant to have an off night. We chose it because it was our actual Anniversary date, plus we figured it would be easy to get a reservation (which it was).
As for whether fine dining is just not for us, my wife often says she’s spoiled by the quality of my cooking. And with no false modesty, I enjoy cooking and I am really good at it. So I feel like there’s this spectrum for us when it comes to dining:
First, ethnic restaurants like Thai, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc., that are really, really good, reasonably priced, and generous portions, that I might not ordinarily make at home (though my Thai and Indian cooking is pretty good). This is what we do 99% of the time we eat out.
Then there is sort of a ‘middle tier’ of ‘fine dining’ like the place we went to last night that’s expensive but nothing better than I can make, and often worse. Then there’s the upper stratosphere of really fine restaurants, a realm we haven’t experienced much. I was saying to my wife last night, when we expressed disappointment in our meal, that I want to try a real Michelin-starred restaurant sometime, just to see what real fine dining is supposed to be. I think Chicago is the closest city for that, so a weekend trip to the Windy City may be in our future.
I think I agree - generally the most enjoyable restaurant meals I’ve had are hole in the wall ethnic places run by immigrants, especially in immigrant neighborhoods (like Annandale, VA for Korean food).
We weren’t ordering from a tasting menu, we ordered two entrees. I understand that, in higher-end restaurants, everything is à la carte. If you want bread or sides, you order them separately. It ain’t bottomless breadsticks at the Olive Garden, I get it.
But when the waiter said the Sea Bass came on a ‘bed’ of broccoli rabe, I expected a human-sized portion of vegetable matter. Basically what I got was an appetizer-sized piece of fish with a tiny smattering of vegetables that were basically a garnish.
But at least mine was good. My wife’s, again, was a reasonable portion but inferior quality.
There is a local chain of maybe 3 restaurants here in the midwest owned by a man who is a sort of 22-calibre local celebrity. The foyers of all his restaurants all feature photos of him with rich and or famous people. A typical dinner for 2 is > $200.
In an interview he said this:..“If you want food you can get it at Kroger. If you want a dining experience you come to one of my places” The food is good and well prepared. They seem to purposely enlarge part of the portions, as most clients leave with a large bag emblazoned with this corporate logo. It is my opinion that people want to be seen having dinner there and wish to tell everyone that they had a meal there.
So there it is.
Not exactly a scam but really not a choice you would make because you were hungry.
You said it recently opened - either it’s still working out the kinks, or it’s going to be one of the 20% of restaurants that fail in the first year. I’ve been to fine dining restaurants that were amazing, and still were gone within 2 years.
I assume fine dining to be for people who “eat with their eyes” and want to pay for that.
I eat with my mouth.
It also mostly seems to be fish or seatood which often is not prepared in that way in many places, so there’s that preferences.
But I assume small portions, and that’s the third reason why I avoid such places. I will say “this looks nice, let’s have a look at the menu, oh nope, it’s fine dining”.
I eat in places about like the OP’s example several nights a week every week. Pretentious descriptions, pretentious presentation, and pretentious prices.
What I almost never encounter is the comically skimpy portions. I usually eat about 2/3rds of what’s served and leave the rest.
As a separate matter, there is so much competition around here for the expensive dining dollar that a place with disappointing quality of food (mushy flavorless “risotto” that’s just rice with a pretentious name) dies quickly.
I don’t know where the OP lives, but I think they found a restaurant that will adapt or die; they’re doing it wrong now. Trying to deliver an true upscale experience at a upper-mid-market price point in many areas is simply a no-hope proposition for the restaurantuer. Although they usually don’t realize that when they open. In those areas there aren’t enough people willing to spend like that often enough to make it go. And they end up skimping on ingredients or chef skill or service personnel to try to make ends meet. It (probably) won’t work.
sounds like you had a bad experience at a mediocre restaurant. It happens. I like fine dining, I like food that takes real skill to prepare correctly. I don’t always get that. Sounds like you didn’t either on this occasion. I usually write off those restaurants and don’t go back. I find that the best fine dining is usually in stand alone restaurants. Those that have a captive audience (those located at resorts, or even attached to hotels) are usually (but not always) inferior.
If the quality of the food is bad, that is unacceptable at those price levels. That is an issue separate from the size of the portions. I’m not sure I understand the concept, but if the idea is that you order a full menu (three courses or its equivalent) I actually appreciate if you do not get massive portions, as otherwise I’ll have to leave most of it untouched.
The size you describe is maybe at the small end but not entirely unrealistic if it is part of a full meal. But it also depends on the other courses and whether there are amuses and/or bread in between. To be true, though, if that was the main course I might in your position also gripe about the amount of food. But I wouldn’t have expected an entire fish, that would be far too much.
I used to do a lot more fine dining back when I lived in London, and have kind of grown out of it - so many mid market restaurants are now doing great cuisine and I tend to prefer a more casual atmosphere.
Having said that, I don’t agree with the idea that it’s a scam. Take a look in the kitchen of any fine dining restaurant and you will see an army of chefs, making a a great myriad of time consuming preparations. Plus there tends to be a much larger waiting staff. All that costs a lot of money.
Back in lockdown, I tried cooking a meal from a very cheffy cookbook (The Hand and Flowers by Tom Kerridge - it’s the name of his 2 michelin starred pub). Each single course recipe took two double-page spreads to explain, and two full days to make (literally)*, because of all the jus making, reductions and marinading that went on. That’s what you’re paying for.
*I haven’t made anything from there since. Life is too short.
Good point. If the assumption is that a meal consists of an appetizer, a soup / salad, then an entree, the latter being 4-6 ounces of protein plus some smallish amount of a fancy form of veg or starch makes a lot more sense.
When GF and I go out, we typically share an app, share a salad or occasionally soup, then have separate entrees. If it’s just me it’s just one of app or salad or soup, plus entree. Lest I be wasting stupid amounts of good to great food.
I think there are a few different issues here, but I agree with this. You can almost always get a larger quantity of high-quality food from sources that would not be described as “fine dining”. And of course the price-optimal way to get large quantities of food you like is to prepare it yourself.
But that doesn’t make fine dining a “scam”, at least in the literal sense. I would imagine the restaurant you went to had plenty of reviews online (both from individuals and from publications). You probably could have even seen pictures of the different items you could order. Unless what you got didn’t match the description is some factual way (for example the sea bass was really some other fish or something like that) then I don’t think it’s a scam.
A lot of what you are paying for is the ambience, the service, and the ability to get a variety of high-quality food that you couldn’t reasonably make for yourself at home.
Eating is kind of secondary to tasting when you spend that much on a meal. Portion size is pretty unimportant to me in places like that. Quality, on the other hand…I won’t go to an expensive restaurant unless it has managed to stay in business for at least six months. Restaurants with bad food, especially if it’s expensive don’t last that long around here.
We ordered two entrees. As mentioned, the menu was completely à la carte-- if I had wanted a starchy side for my sea bass, or if we had wanted bread, that would have been extra. Which was fine, and I understood that. I don’t mind a low-carb entree. But I expected at least that the ‘bed’ of broccoli rabe would reasonably serve as a vegetable side, rather than barely a garnish. And again, the greatest disappointment wasn’t even the portion size of my meal, but the inferior quality of my wife’s.
I’ve been looking at some Michelin-starred Chicago restaurants out of curiousity, and yes, they are extremely expensive meals, but at least they seem to have multiple courses (each one very small, I understand, but all together will presumable make a satisfying, varied meal).
Yeah, like I said, I spoil us. I love jus making, reductions and marinading at home. When I use stock for Piccata or risotto, I use home-made chicken bone broth, and I’ll often reduce that further to a rich demi-glace.
Yes, and I get that, but the portion size of my entree seemed almost comically small for what it cost. It was good, but not ‘wow’ good. And again, that wasn’t even as disappointing as the quality of my wife’s entree.
If you can’t sea bass tonight, you can’t sea bass at all.
[Note there is actually no such thing as “sea bass”; it can be a lot of actual species, such as cod or toothfish, which in the latter case yeah isn’t exactly the most marketable name.]
Yep, there are definitely places like that. The best defense patrons have is just not going back. Some places do live up to their billing, though, and those are the 5-star restaurants that stay on my list.
