Same here. Although I’ve never actually paid for both meals when eating out with one other person, that’s how much both meals would cost together.
I don’t go to expensive restaurants because I don’t have much money (and yes, this time I’m actually going to resist the temptation to whine about how most Dopers are more well-off than I am ), and also because even if I did have a lot of money, I don’t like most foods, so an expensive meal would probably be wasted on me.
Every once in a while I’ll splurge and get some nice chicken at a restaurant, which is the most expensive take-out or restaurant food I usually eat. Usually less than $20 for me, one person.
I gave my mum a dinner for two at Tetsuya’s for her 60th birthday. Around $400 for a ten course tasting menu. My dad is not a foodie so she took an old friend, who paid for the wine, another $200. She loved it, both the food and just the experience of it, so it was well worth it from my POV.
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$450-500 for three of us at Chef Geoff’s in Tysons, twice. Not even the top restaurant in DC, but we go there and try everything on the menu, and get a lot of wine. Even on half-price wine night, it adds up.
Apparently it’s as least better than Little Washington.
Probably about $50 or so, based on almost $100 for four people. I don’t think I could justify spending more than that, even for a special occasion. I can’t fathom food for which a momentary experience is worth more than that. Experiential memories fade, so all I’d wind up remembering is “I ate some food and I liked it.” And I can get that for probably $35 for two.
The Herbfarm is a little dearer now… we paid $195 per person when I went in May. Depending on the menu it’s 9 or 10 courses, 5-6 wines (including dessert), and some of the best food you’ll ever eat. All the food is local and seasonal, and the menu changes about every 2 weeks. They don’t include hard alcohol or different wine pairings in the price if you want something different than what their pouring, but with the free-flowing wine from the pairings you don’t really need it.
We go maybe once every 5 years. Someday I’m going to do their 100 mile dinner, where everything - and they do mean everything - is grown or foraged from within 100 miles of the chandelier in their dining room. They’re still looking for someone who makes salt…
We have a favorite restaurant here in town that’s our go-to place for ‘celebration dinners’, where we can routinely spend ~$200. We went once while **Rhiannon8404 **was pregnant, and since she wasn’t drinking, I didn’t either. With appetizer, entrees, and dessert, but no alcohol, we got out for around 80 bucks.
Major anniversary celebration, about $900. Alinea in Chicago, I would call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I plan to go back. It’s a set 19 course tasting menu for a bit over $200/person, plus the wine pairing was $175 I think, then tax and tip.
That, however, is an extreme anomaly. Once a year or so, we go to a nice place and spend about $300-$350.
We do $200+ multiple times per year. $200ish isn’t very hard to reach at an upscale place - $15 starter, $30 entree, $15 dessert x2 is already $120. Plus at least $50 in wine, add tax and 20% tip and…there you are.
I will note that we drive older, basic cars, don’t have cable TV, have a house significantly less expensive than we can afford, don’t do designer clothing, etc etc. Food and travel are where our discretionary money goes. I can’t imagine having a $100/month cable bill, or a car that costs over $30k, different priorities.
Facetious answer - $3000 for the plane tickets, not sure of the cost for the rental SUV, $750 for hotels and stuff, and about E20 for the Popeye’s Fried Chicken …
[mrAru and I had been talking with my Romanian buddy Jin’Ente about how Popeye’s is better than KFC, and noticed that they had a location on base in Ramstein, and mrAru had a week of vacation he needed to use or lose, so we splurged on tickets with some of the last of the money from my Dad’s estate [he had told me to get something frivolous and not use it all to pay bills] and met jin in Frankfurt and did a banzai run to Ramstein for chicken and cinnabon.]
We do about $100 per person every year for our mutual birthday - either Ruth’s Chris or the local all you can eat lobster place. It is about the only time I actually kill my diet and drink more than one drink. Since I am normally the designated driver, we arrange for someone else to drive us so I can drink to excess if I feel like it. Paying for a meal for the third person frequently ends up cheaper than getting a hotel room. Though back when mrAru was in the Navy, we used to get a room wherever the boat had their Christmas/New Years party more because I didn’t want to drive with other drunks on the road more than me wanting to et my hair down and drink.
About $420 USD equivalent at Le Train Bleu, Paris, around 1996. I was paying off a Super Bowl bet I’d made with a friend.
I have a general recollection that it was excellent food, wine and service, but I can’t even remember what I had any more. That’s pretty much why, much as I’d be tempted, I don’t usually blow wads of cash like that on food. It’s only been a handful of times that I’ve spent more than $50 per person.
Something like that for me too. I have no desire at all to go to an expensive restaurant, in fact I actively do not want to. Not too long ago a guy asked to take me out to what he called a really nice restaurant, and I said I don’t like nice restaurants. Also I thought it was a total turnoff that he seemed showy (and he did turn out to be showy…he bragged about his car too. Gross).
Neither my wife or I have expensive tastes, and she rarely drinks when we’re out so there’s not much in the way of wine on the tab. We’ve probably topped out at about $100 or so a few times.
However… We have enjoyed some meals at some upscale all-inclusive resorts that probably would have been in the $300-400 range if we’d gone out to a similar restaurant. Very good, but probably lost on us.
Several years ago I was invited to dinner with three friends, a total of 5 people. I don’t know what the check was, but an around 15% tip was $280.
It was the nicest restaurant I’ve ever been in. Each person had their own waiter, plus a sommelier, a dessert guy and a cigar guy.
The food was good, but I’ve had as good for a lot less.
Even then, my wife would divorce me if we spent that much on a meal. At least toward the upper end of that range. We’ve probably come close to the US$100 mark, but I don’t think we’ve actually broken through the barrier.
), and also because even if I did have a lot of money, I don’t like most foods, so an expensive meal would probably be wasted on me.