Pretty much this. My lady and I don’t drink, but we still spent $120, pre-tip, between the two of us at the ‘nice’ independent restaurant ‘The Creek’ in Boerne, TX:
Are they the sort of people that think cars still cost $400 and always talk about how gas was a dime a gallon? Anything more expensive than fast food is going to be at least that much no matter where you are in the US. Heck, that’s not super expensive at some fast food places (Five Guys, looking at you).
Gah. They did that trope on an old episode of Frasier. I find that kind of thing completely obnoxious. A lot more obnoxious than any so-called snootiness.
And I’m sure it’s been noted that location matters. I’m in San Antonio, TX, a city not known for its cuisine. It has gotten better over the past 12 years - more mid-range restaurants akin to The Creek above - but nothing, really, akin to NYC, Chicago, LA, or even Dallas/Houston.
I’m a little surprised at people calling Outback a “nice” restaurant. It’s mostly decent (I’ve had both good and bad food there), but I don’t think of it as anything but a small cut above the average chain restaurant. Olive Garden is horrible.
One of the biggest inconveniences of the shut-down for me was no restaurant dining. I love going to new places, and I love good food. I’m dyin’ reading about all these restaurants!
If I go to a “nice” restaurant, especially for the first time, I’ll always order an appetizer (often shared), entree, a side or two (also often shared), and dessert. I don’t drink as much as I used to do as I’ve aged, so I usually only have a glass or two of wine. For all of that, I’d expect to pay a bit over $100 for my share.
Would they (try!) cutting the tie off this guy? How about him? 
Maybe this fellow?
There is probably an element of that – I think their idea of how much dinner for four should cost comes from the four of us going to dinner as a family in the 1980s and 90s when my sister and I were kids, and based on that frame of reference seeing a three figure restaurant is shocking to them.
But also, like someone else’s parents discussed earlier in the thread, they’re the type of frugal midwesterners who don’t do “fancy”. Their idea of going out to dinner is going to a lower end “family restaurant” similar to Denny’s. They never order appetizers or dessert, so they’re typical bill for the two of them would be just for two entrees and soft drinks, for a total bill of probably like $35-40. So they probably expect the bill for four people to be more like $70 or $80 at most.
I guess I’m misunderstanding your point. If I’m going for fine-dining, I’m very interested in the head chef. Depending on how fine the dining is, I’m expecting them to be a virtuoso, or at least a virtuoso conductor, orchestrator, or choreographer, whichever term best fits the analogy. So I can name several chefs where their restaurant is destination dining. Thomas Keller in the US and Heston Blumenthal in the UK are a quick two to mention.
Below fine-dining, and in the “nice” dining realm, I know lots of restaurants where I can name the chef. Often, it’s because the restaurant is very good, and the chef is receiving critical acclaim. I guess it’s more widespread internationally than I realised, which is why I made the post about the Conde Nast WDC restaurant list. But there are plenty of very nice restaurants where the head chef isn’t publicly known. I guess my definition of publicly known is smaller than I anticipated, given that you were able to find contra-examples to the restaurants I mentioned. But if the chef isn’t a draw for the restaurant, and isn’t even being promoted on their website, then how much of a criteria is having a named chef of being representational of a “nice” restaurant.
I concede your point that the two restaurants I mentioned have head chefs whose names could be found from an Internet search and not on the restaurant’s website. But if finding their names is
then what benefit is it to the restaurant? Obscure references don’t help a restaurant
Washington DC~no contest
As I’ve explained–the point is a nice restaurant has a head chef, and generally the easy way to tell that is–does it mention that person’s name on the website? Menu? Maybe on marketing materials? Is it mentioned in the local newspaper review?
You may not understand this but a lot of casual dining restaurants do not have head chefs, they serve menus that are mostly frozen food heavily cooked in microwaves, and for large chains these meals are all standardized with no customization or creativity put in by the person running the kitchen, who usually will just be a kitchen manager or similar title.
Even some really good restaurants food-wise, that aren’t what’d I’d categorize as “nice” don’t have head chefs. There’s some killer diners for example that don’t have head chefs because that format of restaurant frequently doesn’t. It doesn’t mean you can’t find killer food there, but a diner is a different experience than a nice restaurant, and the kitchen is ran differently (diner kitchens are typically small, usually a couple line cooks.)
Tonight my wife and I are taking her father out for dinner to celebrate his 90th and my 65th. We are going to El Gaucho, a small chain of premium steakhouses in the Seattle area. I have checked the menu and know what I want, without tax or tip my bill is going to be $115. I expect the total bill to push $400 when we are done.
DC has improved immensely in the last 10 years for sure. Also I was just at Bresca a couple weeks ago and it was the worst meal I’ve ever had in my life, taking cost and expectation into account.
I’m curious what you recommend as far as DC’s that are “no contest” compared to NYC, SF, Chicago, etc.
I’m not saying there are none or that they have not improved in the past 10 years. It’s just been my experience that they are few and far between.
I’ve heard that and it’s a little depressing; I’m going out, paying all this money and I’m getting essentially a microwaved frozen dinner? That’s often what I eat when I don’t go out.
I’ve never eaten at a “nice” restaurant in Orlando per se other than the Doubletree downtown, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Occasionally before a concert downtown I’d try to book at seating at a place that looked promising only to find them booked. So downtown probably has some nice places.
Disney World on the other hand does have several well-regarded restaurants. My meal and drinks at the California Grill were only barely north of $100 but was the most expensive single meal I’ve had, and was not only great, the atmosphere was great too. The wait in line for my seat was the smoothest I’ve had, since the bar was uncrowded, right in the waiting area, had an extensive wine list, and it was not a problem at all to walk right to your table when it was ready.
I was counting Disney World & Universal as Orlando, I think most people would.
Thanks… it wasn’t meant to be comprehensive, just a representative listing.
And it’s entirely possible to have fantastic high end restaurants in unusual places. Skogen Kitchen in Custer, SD is one of them. If you’re in the neighborhood to see Mt. Rushmore, I highly recommend it. Probably one of the top 5 places I’ve eaten.
I think he’s saying DC rounds out the top 4 after those 3.
With a head chef, your dinner may still be frozen— flash-frozen using liquid nitrogen and shattered, that is, among other things done to it.
Yes, but at least that’s not something I can do at home. I usually wouldn’t order something like spaghetti in a restaurant, on the theory that if I can easily make it at home, why pay for it when out of the house?