How much is too much to pay for dinner?

Culture, Media, General
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There is a recent thread where some have commented that prices on a menu were high. Made me curious as to what is the limit that people would pay for dinner. Not a special occassion. Let’s call it just a Thursday night out with your SO.

In NYC a typical neighborhood place that has good food and service, appetizers are in the $20 area. Mains will be mid $30s. Dessert again around $20. A decent bottle of wine is hard to find for less than $50-60. So for two if we each order an appetizer and main and split a dessert with a bottle of wine ((2x20)+(2x35)+20+55) = $185. Add 20% tip and taxes and total is close to $240. Sounds right to me for dinner for 2 in NYC these days. Could easily be more.

Would you spend that much for a non-special occassion dinner? If not, what is standard for you?

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Not even close. We live in a cheaper city, and we don’t order that much food. We generally split one appetizer ($10-15) and one entree ($25-35) and maybe one dessert ($10), and each of us will get one cocktail ($12-14). With tax and tip it might come out about $115, often less.

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I don’t have much trouble keeping it under $100, although not that much under $100. Looking back at recent restaurant checks, I paid about $100 for dinner at Theodora (I went with a group that shared everything), $80 for Rice Thief, $70 for bbf, $80 for Porchlight. The discrepancy between our estimates is probably because it’s very rare that I order a bottle of wine (I usually have a cocktail and a glass of wine) or dessert.

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That would be a special occasion! Dinner out for us typically means a forty minute drive to a restaurant in Napa, Sonoma or SF, and it’s an event. I can always count on HO for perspective and a bit of vicarious city living.

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We were out for dinner this week with another couple. It’s a neighbourhood place we go to maybe three or four times a year, which about as often as anywhere. We all had three courses. Two had a couple of glasses of wine each, the other two stuck to sparkling water and three of us had coffee. Bill came to just on £250, including a 10% service charge. So, say, £125 ( 163USD, 222CDN, 148€) per couple which would be about the going rate for one of our neighbourhood places. FWIW, we have recently culled one of the “Modern British” neighbourhood places from our list. Prices have crept up and it was now not good value in comparison with the three similar places that remain on the list. We’re considering whether we need to have a cull of one of the three South Asian places as well.

I f we go to one of the more upmarket places in the city - still not special occasion, but maybe visiting only once or twice a year - that £125 would more than double.

As ever in the UK, Value Added Tax, at 20% is already included in the menu price.

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I expect responses will be all over the place, depending on where the poster lives. NYC or San Francisco or other major U.S. (or European) cities will be priced much higher than smaller towns outside of a major city or in the Midwest farmlands.

Also depends on the type of restaurant. High end French or seafood vs. a comfy local Italian, Mexican, or Vietnamese neighborhood place? Price points are going to be completely different.

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Difficult question to answer objectively.

Generally, I don’t like paying much for eating out because 1) I’m a good cook myself, so I can regularly make things just as well, and 2) I visit good restaurants for work all the time, which lessens the need for repeating the experience. Plus I live in a mid-size European city where we don’t have the same amount of great restaurants as in say New York, Paris, London and so on.

So, for a non-special occasion I’d probably choose something simple, but things I don’t cook at home, like pizza, Thai, neighbourhood Portugal restaurant, and so on. With two people, we would probably spend 50-80 euro.

If I’d live in Manhattan, and doing the same job as I do now, I’d probably make a lot more money. And work longer hours, so less time to cook at home. Plus I’d be tempted by the NY buzz… :slight_smile: So, yes, I can then see myself spending 250 dollar in Oceans, and doing it quite often too.

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That, but mostly their disposable income. Philly is phar cheaper than NYC, yet I immediately excluded a very good-sounding omakase place from a list of places to try, bc it’s $178 for their 21 course meal. It’s BYOB, so in that regard it would likely save us another $50-100, but… $360 for a meal — even a celebratory one — is simply not in the cards. Not now, not maybe ever. The most I spent for a meal was $240/person at wd-50.

's ok. We can eat pretty well for around $100-150 total (tips & tax incl.).

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Nope. My ex and I had a usual hangout. Sometimes we’d get an appetizer and other times we’d just get sandwiches or entrees. We did always have drinks and tip well. Never in a zillion years would it be that much for just a mid-week meal here at the Jersey Shore.

We wouldn’t think twice about spending $200-300 for dinner in NYC for a special occasion. But just for a random night out? Hell no.

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as many have mentioned… a big $$ factor is “location”
CA / NYC / Chicago / DC / et.al… everything and anything is going to be much more expensive than “SmallTown, USA”

as a rule, we “eat in” - but using fresh vegetables/fruits/fish . . . costs more than HungryMan frozen stuff…

we make a point of eating out once a month - not Fri/Sat/Sun - we’re retired, so no need to get into the hyper-competition for a table…

I split up the cost-to-value thing in a couple of categories -
[[ note: this is based on our personal experience and tastes; your mileage may vary . . .]]

(0) “fast food” - don’t do that. only when driving ‘distances’ and don’t wish to engage in risky digestive behavior at the local greasy spoon . . .

(a) “local diner” - we have 2-3 that are not fancy but serve up really good food.
no wine list. most don’t have a bar, you might get a beer . . .

(b) “national chains” - Texas Roadhouse / Applebee’s / Bonefish Grill / etc . . .
unpredictable quality - keeping talented kitchen staff seems to be a really big issue.
sometimes it’s good, same place next month, not good. the absolute worst fish I ever had was Bonefish Grill’s “wood-fired grill” Trout. the fish was innocent, the cook - not really . . .

(c) “local independents” - we have several in the area - some specialize, seafood/steaks/Italian/etc.
these can be good, really good, or so mediocre they’re just not worth it . . .

(d) “upscale name/no name” - celeb chef’s are on a tear opening very expensive places.
but there remains top-tier locals ‘not a tv famous chef’ which offer superb cuisine & service.

has things gotten more expensive?
yes - across the board.
the local diner - was $10-15 per head; now $20-30
national chains - were ~$20 per head; now $40-50 per head
local independents - were $50-55 per person, now $70 and up
“upscale tv chefs” - now in the minimum $300 per person and up.
$500-600 per person - is not unheard of . . .

oh, none including any kind of $100-$300-$1,000/bottle wine . . .

I keep a scan of the tabs - mostly for when DW asks . . . "What did we have at . . . "
so a wandering-memory is not a factor here.

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I pay more attention to “did I love it” than “what did it cost”. I take disappointing food as a personal insult. Especially when the restaurant doesn’t even realize that it’s bad. I expect to pay around $100 for 2 courses and a glass of wine. Of course, much ethnic can be a lot less, or not.

Problem is I can turn out a heck of a good meal for $100 a person at home!-

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Currently I’m dissuaded by $50+ entrees.

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I can turn out a very good meal for under $20, but I don’t pay the overhead a restaurant does, and nobody has to tip me… tho it’s welcome :smiley:

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We ‘splurge’ twice a year at the restaurant we visit for an overnight at the hot springs we go to.
Two appies, usually two entrées, two adult beverages consumed by one and rarely dessert. Our last vist was $130, including a generous tip. Entrées $26 to $47 usually.
I’m sure the items will have gone up on our next visit; the accomodations increased by 30%. An overnight with lodging, soaking, room tip and two meals (one dinner in the restaurant, one breakfast in the tavern) usually comes to 500 clams. This is a worthy splurge for us.

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Maybe it’s the difference between the big city urban lifestyle and normal places. NYC is stupidly expensive. I’ve also spent some time working in London which was even more expensive if you can imagine that and it made NYC feel reasonable. We have a place outside the city and when we go out there prices are probably 2/3 of what we spend in NYC for a nice dinner. Living in NYC does sort of warp one’s perception. When I got my first apartment after grad school my friends from back home were stupefied when they heard what I was paying for rent.

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I think your cost is a reflection of your choice of restaurants - and that bottle of wine.

I can easily hit $100 if I’m choosIng a eurocentric place with an app-main-dessert-drinks menu priced as you describe, and there are plenty of them around me.

But it’s rare that I do — it’s not the food or atmosphere I’m seeking out on a normal weeknight.

So ending up between $50-100 is not unusual, especially if I choose not to drink alcohol (even if the other person does - a bottle of wine is not a “Thursday night” standard.

I also don’t know a lot of people in my age group who want coursed meals in their personal lives (vs business dining). So more often than not, we may share a couple of apps / small plates and a main / large plate, eschew a main, or just do large plates depending on what appeals. Plus a glass of two of something — or not.

That’s a normal Thursday night, not a 3-course meal with a bottle of wine.

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That’s the thing. Yesterday, dinner at my home was a dozen finest quality French oysters, some bread with pesto, a green salad with store bought preserved artichokes, (small) entrecote steaks, and a bottle of sauvignon blanc from the Loire, Quincy. Coffee and chocolate as dessert. That’s less than 50 euro.

If I had had that meal at a restaurant, it would have cost around 180 euro.

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This made me laugh, and also realize that I do as well.

Maybe not an insult, but as a failure of choice of location or dishes.

I can as well, but it’s a false equivalence.

People eat out for many reasons, most don’t have to do with their cooking skills.

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It’s funny but I couldn’t agree more of this.