What is the most expensive dining out experience you have ever had?

[mauichef]

This idea came from Nick and I exchanging eating out stories on another thread.

For a couple of diners it would have to be Sushi Sasabune in Honolulu.
My wife and I racked up a bill of over $600, plus tip.
Easy to do there when you go á la carte and drink $100 bottles of Sake.
Brilliant place and the fish and preparations were some of the best I have ever eaten or seen.
But if you don't eat it their way, in every way, they get on you really hard! He is called the Sushi Nazi on Yelp
He had a beautiful Konosuke Honyaki Gyuto with hybrid handle in a box. Did not want to use it!

[STPepper9]

Alinea.. In 2012 (before they went to a ticket system).
For 2 people I think it was around $800 plus tip, maybe a little more with the wine.

[Anewknife]

When my wife and I eloped. We had dinner at La Mer in Honolulu. Fantastic views. Great service. Nice wine list. However food was okay for $1200 with a bottle of wine and champagne.

[arthurfowler]

Joel Robuchon in Vegas. It was about 10 years ago and I think the bill was around $800 for 2 of us with only one drinking alcohol. The highlight for me was the bread trolley which must have had 20+ varieties of amazing bread that they then took away and warmed for you once you had chosen the varieties you wanted.

[Nmiller21k]

Dinner 1) Marea NYC 2006, 3 people came to around 750. (FiL) joined us for anniversary.
This is perhaps one of my most favorite restaurants in the nation.
Dinner 2) Tru Chicago, before we went to Hamilton 950 for two. Arguably the best skate wing I've had.

[Kit Craft]

Does the thousands of dollars spent on food at my wedding count? No. Well then my wife and I went to a restaurant that was part of a four star hotel in Asturias Spain a and paid $150 per person (so x2) for food and another $100 on Cava. So $400. It was good, even great but I have had similarly good food for 1/3 the price. That was more or less a once in a lifetime thing. Wife and I normally budget for $50 each or less when we go out to eat. Actually normally it is closer to $50 total.

[Nmiller21k]

We budget as well usually 150/meal when we go out.
But that has to include booze.

Makes me miss my Bachelor Farmer discount.

I still day dream about Marea and their 90 day dry aged steak

[Kit Craft]

We budget as well usually 150/meal when we go out.
But that has to include booze.

Makes me miss my Bachelor Farmer discount.

I still day dream about Marea and their 90 day dry aged steak

My wife and I really like to go out for lunch and have a few favorite local places. If that were not the case and we went out less often we would probably budget more. However, we enjoy cheap but good food too and like enjoying it 4x a month rather than once. Then again my mother also taught me how to make the eagle on a quarter squeal when growing up. IE: I like having a huge surplus in the bank for 'just in case'. So I guess I am paranoid.

Now, another time we had an expensive ass meal my mother in-law paid. About $200 a head times 15 of us. Another once in a lifetime event though!

Oh, maybe I am a bit less frugal if it means I can get out and away. I have been known to drive a few hundred miles just to go to a diner...So yeah, $15 a person on food and $100 to get there. Priorities, right?

[Nmiller21k]

If it's a new restaurant we usually get two entrees to try so it bumps us up a little. Hence 150.
But if it's a place we love and go to frequently we replace an entree with some sides and share.

Yeah I'll drive or if I'm NYC train around for good food.
I don't care if there 2 dollar street tacos

[Nmiller21k]

I've made road trips to Iowa for beef jerky
Now they ship!

[arthurfowler]

Dinner 1) Marea NYC 2006, 3 people came to around 750. (FiL) joined us for anniversary.
This is perhaps one of my most favorite restaurants in the nation.
Dinner 2) Tru Chicago, before we went to Hamilton 950 for two. Arguably the best skate wing I've had.

Completely agree regarding Marea. I live in the UK but the last 2 times we have been to NY we have dined at Marea. I love everything about it.

[Carter]

We went to France on our honeymoon in 1990, and the trip was planned around restaurants and wine regions. We dined at 4-5 Three star restaurants, most expensive was Freddy Giradet approx $1,100 all in....was fantastic and would do it again (if he was still here), or more likely would do lunch for 1-2 less courses and less $$$. Best meal was at Le Esperance with chef Marc Meneau, I think it is also closed. The Three stars are fun and generally worth the experience, but the value in is the One & Two stars that are still working hard to garner another star.

For me Giradet's still holds the benchmark for fine dining, I like to eat and I much prefer to have 6-8 courses that have enough of the food item to really taste and appreciate the course. I don't really enjoy the restaurants that do a 20 course tasting, sure each of the little bites is good, but I find myself wanting a few bites more so that I can fully appreciate and understand what the chef has created. Last time I was at Eleven Madison Park, I left frustrated, sure we sampled some really cool and creative food, but none was really memorable because it was just one or two bites...I remember feeling glad I didn't pay for it, we were with another couple for the wife's birthday dinner. Must say I hit the mini bar back at the hotel room that night.

[Robstreperous]

This one's easy and it had a profound effect on how I've set my priorities ever afterward.

I won't give the actual number but it was a 6 person business dinner a couple of decades ago at a pretty well known Italian place near Greenwich Village. It still makes me shake my head when I think about it.

I was a junior member of the team present and the guy picking up the check. The wine flowed a little too freely as did the truffle shaver. I won't say the behavior was beyond excessive --- but it certainly strained at the reins of the celebratory standards of the times.

One of the items I needed to cover was table linen. Somehow someone decided to take notes with their fountain pen directly on the table cloth as well as their napkin. As the most sober individual at the table the maitre looked at me and I just shook my head and pointed to my wallet. A couple of minutes later on my way to the mens room he and I reached an understanding which involved some nice bottles of wine for 3 of the tables around us along with my apologies... 1 of which was refused ... as in they made a point of refusing it.

Don't mean to come off as sour. Have had plenty of pricey -- enjoyable and well worth the price -- meals since then...

First wedding anniversary at Sign of the Dove in Manhattan set my wife and me back maybe close to $1000. We probably shouldn't have spent so much but in retrospect well worth it. Funny how the first thing I remember is the way she smiled. Second thing the blini. Third? Signing for the check. Four hours in such a beautiful space and such a wonderful memory.


I guess money doesn't buy happiness and if you throw it around it'll make you cry but spending it wisely? Wealth beyond measure.

[Kalaeb]

Can't say I have ever kept track. Never been super high end (Alinea, Gaggan) or anything like that, but it often gets into the 100-200 range with drinks/tips etc.. Of course I also really enjoy the cheap dive places. Had some great Mexican for lunch a few days back that only set me back 8.00 and I have been craving to go back since.

[Nmiller21k]

We went to France on our honeymoon in 1990, and the trip was planned around restaurants and wine regions. We dined at 4-5 Three star restaurants, most expensive was Freddy Giradet approx $1,100 all in....was fantastic and would do it again (if he was still here), or more likely would do lunch for 1-2 less courses and less $$$. Best meal was at Le Esperance with chef Marc Meneau, I think it is also closed. The Three stars are fun and generally worth the experience, but the value in is the One & Two stars that are still working hard to garner another star.

For me Giradet's still holds the benchmark for fine dining, I like to eat and I much prefer to have 6-8 courses that have enough of the food item to really taste and appreciate the course. I don't really enjoy the restaurants that do a 20 course tasting, sure each of the little bites is good, but I find myself wanting a few bites more so that I can fully appreciate and understand what the chef has created. Last time I was at Eleven Madison Park, I left frustrated, sure we sampled some really cool and creative food, but none was really memorable because it was just one or two bites...I remember feeling glad I didn't pay for it, we were with another couple for the wife's birthday dinner. Must say I hit the mini bar back at the hotel room that night.

I'm a firm believer that small plates like EMP style need to me three bites.
So that you can taste it, ponder it, and then confirm worth your third bite.
I hate single bite or two bite tasters.
At The Herbfarm we did 9 course menus, 3-4 oz of food per plate.

[Carter]

I'm a firm believer that small plates like EMP style need to me three bites.
So that you can taste it, ponder it, and then confirm worth your third bite.
I hate single bite or two bite tasters.
At The Herbfarm we did 9 course menus, 3-4 oz of food per plate.

#1 NIck

[Nmiller21k]

Food is a journey one bite you've just punched in your gps.
A three bite journey is much preferable to a 1 bite.

[loco_food_guy]

Most expensive meal was Bartalotta Ristorante de Mare at the Wynn about 13 years ago. $800 and something dollars for a 2 top and that is only food, no beverages. That was such a great restaurant. When I was fresh in the industry I used to love going to very expensive restaurants. After cooking professionally for over 30 years my enthusiasm has diminished some what. Not because I don't enjoy amazing food with flawless service but because I find that quite often both are lacking. Its amazing to see what has happened with the dining scene in this country over the last 30 years and even more so the rapid growth that my home of Las Vegas has experienced but its a shame to see how many high end restaurants fail in the quality of their product and or service regularly. I cook at home regularly and I am rarely disappointed.

[Jeff B]

I'm a cheapskate when it comes to dining out, I am a man of modest means. Used to go to a nice French restaurant here in town a couple times a year when my cousin was the head chef. Those meals used to run us around $150+tip for two. There were a lot of "compliments of the chef" items hit the table though!
Other than that I generally tend to keep the meals under $100 for two. Have never gone "super high end" like most you guys.

[Gregory27]

Chef's tasting menu with wine pairings at Le Bernardin. Somewhere close to $800 for my wife and I, pre tip. It was our honeymoon, and we registered on honeyfund.com, or something like that. Basically, instead of "stuff" that we already had, we got money to do fun shit in New York.

There were a couple of wines that we LOVED with that dinner, so one year for Christmas, we decided to refill our little wine cooler, and we inquired about a those wines. Turns out, both of them would have been more than our entire budget for 12 bottles. So... we have not had a chance to have one of those again. Nor, unfortunately, are we likely ever going to.