Cost of a restaurant meal

[splitwdw]

Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, PA about $300 a couple in 1999. We had to stop at McDonald's to get the guys more food because they were still hungry.

 

[rodi]

Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, PA about $300 a couple in 1999. We had to stop at McDonald's to get the guys more food because they were still hungry.

In the same time frame (late 90's) we wanted to try Le Bec-Fin. Fortunately, a friend tipped us off to the fixed menu lunch option - I think it was about $60/person (exclusive of wine). Fabulous food. No way I could have spent the dinner prices. If I had to do it again - I wouldn't do it.

 

[harley]

There was a thread here a little while ago about the Inn at Little Washington. DW and I ate there for our 10th anniversary back in '89. As I remember, the bill was about $250 including wine. It was a fabulous meal, and possibly even worth the cost. A special day and evening. But that was our record. Tomorrow is DW's 30th 29th birthday, and we're going to Carrabbas. Got a $50 gift card ($45 worth of Discover points), and that will probably cover the entire bill since she doesn't drink and I don't drink in restaurants.

 

[scrabbler1]

I live alone so I don't go out to eat other than a pizza lunch. When I do go out to eat with my ladyfriend or my dad, the bill comes to $35-$55 including tip. We don't buy any alcoholic drinks nor do we get any desserts so that keeps the tab low.

 

[MRG]

My most expensive was our honeymoon, 99 cent 6 pack of Gennesse Cream Ale and a $1.99 frozen pizza on a dock. All the rest stems from that one.

My wife's favorite restaurant is on a lake and not cheap. We probably dropped $250.00 there. It's pretty much for aniverseries only. Fun to think where we came from.

Corporate spending was fun. The best game was in airports, musical tabs. Many of the road people traveled to the same area though the same airlines and gates. The first group there would start a tab and start eating and drinking. If you were lucky someone else you knew would show up and you'd invite them for a drink. Then the fun began, oh I have to leave will you give the bar your corporate card so I can make my flight? The game goes on for many groups till finally someone is stuck paying for $600.00 food and bar tab. The accounting people didn't see our humor.

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[RetireAge50]

Not at all interested in expensive restaurants. My idea of the perfect restaurant is fish and chips take out and eat it on the sea wall by beach.

 

[growerVon]

SkyCity is revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle, in Seattle, WA. DW and I took the 2 kids, my Mom, sister and a visiting sister-in-law out for a splurge in May last year. We didn't go crazy, but did have several drinks, desserts, etc. Just under $600. Yeah, I had to breathe deep but knew what I was getting into. Not *that* bad for 5 adults and two kids...

 

[audreyh1]

I forgot to take into account the meals we've paid for in Euros. Somehow that seems like a different dimension.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The most expensive check I ever saw was for a business dinner at a French restaurant in London and, in inflation adjusted dollars, before tip the bill was $2K for a group of maybe 8. An IT consulting firm doing business with the company I worked for at the time picked up the tab.

 

[robnplunder]

Geesh. $200 - $400/person a meal can go a long way to feed a family of 6 in a 3rd world country.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Geesh. $200 - $400/person a meal can go a long way to feed a family of 6 in a 3rd world country.

On the trip I was on with the huge bill a couple of us actually started skipping dinners with the sales staff and going to a Pizza Hut salad bar. We just couldn't sit all day in meetings and then have 3+ course meals late at night like that multiple nights in a row (though none of the other bills were nearly that large).

 

[gcgang]

$700 at Joel Rubuchon MGM Vegas for the 16 course (sixteen?!?) degustation (disgusting?) menu and wine/drinks and tip. The food only was about $450. Probably could feed all of Zaire for that.


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[Sunset]

I cannot think of when the 2 of us have broken $100 for supper. Course we don't order booze so that helps a lot.

Partially I cannot understand why someone would want to pay the extravagant rates charged by fancy places. Just watching the chef shows you see how they constantly handle and place the tiny bits of food on the plates, and then wipe them with their handly (dirty?) cloth.

Just the other night I cooked up 1lb of large shrimp (were 17 in the 1lb), cost was $10 for the shrimp, same thing in a restaurant is about $40.

Being RE, we are free to eat when we want, so if we go to a fancy place, we go at lunch, the prices are much cheaper sometimes 1/2, the crowds are less and the decor is the same

 

[robnplunder]

$700 at Joel Rubuchon MGM Vegas for the 16 course (sixteen?!?) degustation (disgusting?) menu and wine/drinks and tip. The food only was about $450. Probably could feed all of Zaire for that.


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That's obscene. Did you have to throw up time to time to taste more food?

 

[gcgang]

http://youtu.be/HJZPzQESq_0

Yes, even got film of it.


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[gcgang]

That's obscene. Did you have to throw up time to time to taste more food?

http://youtu.be/Zx0ME65y72E

Sorry, this is the one that reflects the pause before the 12th course.


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[LoneAspen]

About once a month or so, friends and I will hit up a nice restaurant in San Francisco, and it probably averages about $75 to $100 per person by the time we count appetizers, entree, dessert, and coffee. My friends are really into wine and they always bring a very nice bottle, so although we do have to pay for corkage, we're not actually spending big bucks on wine from the restaurant.

The most expensive meal I've had was probably at Cyrus in Healdsburg, CA. They've since closed, but at the time we visited, I believe they had two Michelin stars. That was truly a "destination" meal, and was incredible. I think my portion was around $120, but can't remember for sure. It was definitely worth it, but being so extravagant, isn't something I would do frequently. Maybe once a year or so.

Food aside, the most expensive bottle of wine I've probably brought to a dinner was around $350. The same good friend of mine had just gotten a new job, so to celebrate I brought the wine that time, and found an older vintage of Silver Oak (Napa cab). Again, not something I'd do often, but for a special occasion, it was fun for us to share that.

Couldn't eat or drink that way all the time. But it's fun to inject a nice dinner once a month or so into an otherwise pedestian course of fast food and mac 'n cheese

 

[pb4uski]

This thread reminds me of the first time my wife and I went to Europe together, about 1985. My wife had gone to our local credit union and withdrawn $300 and converted it to American Express Travelers Cheques denominated in French francs. There was another young couple seated next to us on our plane who had visited Paris before. As part of our conversation I asked roughly what a nice dinner in Paris cost. They responded with an amount of francs that was about what we had received from the bank. I then asked, you mean it costs $300 for a nice dinner in Paris?

As it turns out, they meant about $30, and the clerk at our local credit union had slipped a digit when doing the conversion and given us only $30 worth of francs. When we arrived in Paris, we barely had enough for a cab from the airport to our hotel and had to walk around a bit to find a restaurant that accepted credit cards so we could have dinner.

Not sure if you heard this one, but recently there was a story of someone having dinner at a restaurant the they chose a bottle of wine that the waiter had said was 'Thirty seven fifty". They were shocked when they got their tab and the wine was $3,750.00 and not $37.50. They paid. I'm not sure that i would have.

http://www.mix96live.com/index.php/customer-orders-3750-bottle-of-wine-thinking-it-costs-37-50/

 

[MichaelB]

DW and I enjoy dining out, this is one area where we are definitely not frugal. Nonetheless, even our most extravagant meal can't compare with what I saw while working. In my experience the truly expensive meals are those where the tab is picked up by business.

Do meals on expense account qualify? How about meals someone else paid for?

 

[donheff]

I'm in the same boat as Midpack. DW and I have eaten a couple of times at the Inn at Little Washington (~$300/head) and have hit similar stratospheric costs in NYC and Europe (years ago). We don't bother with $300+ three star restaurants anymore but we will occasionally head out to $100+ restaurants if they are really good. We tend to skimp on the wine. I can't appreciate $100+ bottles but I can appreciate world class meals. We have already made it three times to Roses Luxury, a nearby restaurant rated as the 2014 best new restaurant in the US by Bon Appetit. But it was a frugal $100 each with tip and incredibly good.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Twice we spent about $100 for two and both were gift certificates. As a wedding present, DH and I received a gift certificate for Chez Panisse in Berkeley. That was back in the 80s--it was an excellent meal. About 5 years ago we went to the Melting Pot--again on a gift certificate. We occasionally have a glass of wine or a cocktail in a restaurant, but to us it seems like a waste of money due to the huge mark up for alcohol in restaurants.

$25 per person for an entree is about the most we'll tolerate to spend on people. One rare occasion last year we treated a friend and a relative to a weekend trip and somewhat high end meal but that was a special occasion.


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[Midpack]

So, the question: What's the most you've ever paid for a restaurant meal?

I thought the OP was clear, not expense account meals or paid for by others.

 

[jerome len]

One of my most expensive meals that I paid for was around $700.00 for 4 people. The other couple ordered everything......and I paid! DW and I have favorite chinese, italian and mexican restaurants where our average bill is about $25.00.....including tip. We avoid booze except when with others.....that saves us a bunch. And, we really like our "cheap" meals, love the food, leave 20%+ tips and are always welcomed back. .....most times we leave tips in cash......just get reward points for the bill, not the tax or tip. Overall, we eat out twice a week, average $200 a month at restaurants.

 

[Bestwifeever]

There are so many good restaurants everywhere with innovative chefs who have a passion for cooking that don't charge premium prices for great food that no one " has" to spend megabucks for fine food anymore.

Before this era, way back when French haute cuisine was the only game in town, DH and I celebrated our first two anniversaries at French restaurants in Chicago. I can't remember the price (it was 40 years ago) but the meals and wine were expensive and we were counting pennies being newlyweds and DH being back in school after the Army. Walking home from the second anniversary celebration back to our apartment in a yet-to-be-gentrified city neighborhood, DH said he felt sick and a block later deposited his expensive meal in a corner garbage can.

It was a looong time before we spent a lot of money on a restaurant meal again, and by then much less expensive Italian food beyond pizza and spaghetti had taken over.

 

[FUEGO]

There are so many good restaurants everywhere with innovative chefs who have a passion for cooking that don't charge premium prices for great food that no one " has" to spend megabucks for fine food anymore.

+1

I'm thinking if our portfolio ever gets to stupid high territory, we might start trying more $50+ per meal restaurants just to verify.

In the past, after trying expensive restaurants, the response is usually "yeah, that was good, but not THAT good". Perhaps our taste buds are gustationally challenged.