I have made out very well plowing snow these past two weeks and we had a little unexpected kid free time Thursday night so my wife and I decided to go into Philly for dinner at a high end restaurant. I’m a steak lover and she’s a seafood lover so the restaurant Ocean Prime works out pretty well for us. We had an amazing surf and turf appetizer, I had 4 beers, she had 5 martinis. I got the 16oz ribeye for $54 and she got some sort of fish with lobster. She loved loved loved her meal. Mine was good but nothing great (we raise our own beef so my standards are high). We also each got a side which was extra. Total without tip was $290. I have no problem treating ourselves once in a while but have never had what I would call a truly amazing steak at any high end restaurant and for those prices, I want to be blown away. So, dinner for 2, what’s the most you spent and was it worth it to you? I would go back again down the road because she enjoyed it so much but I’m not in any hurry.
Had a few expensive meals, but not sure I ever hit $290,00 for 2 dinners. Nice to treat yourself every now and then! Hope you got lucky when ya got home
Most I ever spent on a meal for two was $103 in Brussels. That was in the mid 90's, and I was somewhat shocked. No drinks except water., hardly any food either. I haven't spent that much on a meal since, though the way inflation sneaks up on you, I imagine I will beat it before I am dead.
We are both good cooks and enjoy what ever the other prepares. I guess it is because of that reason, I cannot bring myself to enjoy overpriced food/drinks. It all ends up the same anyway. The whole while I'm having an expensive meal, I'm thinking of what else the $$$ could be used for. Matter of fact, I'm going to go have a burrito now! jrider , I'm glad the two of you had a nice evening. Does she expect another one on the 14th now?
I think the most we’ve spent on one meal is around $125 but my wife enjoys a couple bottles of wine with her supper occasionally ♂️♂️.
Drinks is where the bill adds up. Especially martinis, but your beers probably were marked up quite a bit too. What kind me is when I see the wine list and they charge 100-150% of what the bottle actually costs. I get it, but when we got a whole bottle, there's actually less work than getting a single glass. Steaks? 16 oz ribeye for $54. I know beef has gone up in price recently. I have 2 boneless Ribeyes that I'll be grilling tomorrow. They were $10 a lb. I have a very difficult time paying restaurant upcharge for something that I do better at home. Sounds like you've got the steak covered at your house. So what we do when we go out for dining instead is order entrees that we either don't or can't make at home, for the most part. For my wife's birthdays, she loves to go out for dinner, at least until this last Fall we've been to many James Beard or other award winning restaurants and sometimes we are really left disappointed. To be honest, we usually get the best meals from places that just do what they do, and what they know and are unpretentious. I'm spoiled as my wife is an amazing cook. I like to do controlled burns on food usually on a grill, So it works for us.
We usually do authentic Mexican when out and we can’t come close to replicating that. We also couldn’t match the seafood she had. Me and my over priced steak was just a compromise of taking care of her.
The wife and I have gone a little over $100 once or twice. Doesn't happen often but the last place was right down the road from farmer steve at Sydney Tavern. We frequent the Dobbin House too and we can't get out of there for under $80, w/o drinks.
So after all these years, it's still like the first date huh? I can't touch $290, I don't believe I've ever been over $100 for the 2 of us...but that's without alcohol though too...
Sidney used to have a special on stuff on Thursday's. Not a high end dinner but their special cheeseburgers are killers. That and a couple drinks was Stihl $50.