It seems so when it comes to drinks. A Latin American restaurant in Vancouver, WA (suburb of Portland, OR) serves $22+ drinks that some people seem very impressed with. The selling point appears to be that they come served in a bird cage. Another drink comes served in a Tiffany and Co box. The box and cage are not the drinking vessel, the glass comes in it. At least the icecube serves a purpose. I decided not to check out the restaurant. I might be wrong, but I feel that a place doing such gimmicky things is not likely to be focused on making good food.
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No, I think that’s different. Just my opinion, although if I was paying $32 for an espresso, I’d just about go ballistic if somebody put more water in it, I’m not gonna lie.
Your mileage may vary.
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I also want to add to the incredulity of a $32 Manhattan.
Any bourbon/rye pricey enough to bring a Manhattan to $32 probably is not one you should use in a Manhattan to begin with.
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I tired one when the trend first started years ago. I have never been much into sweet drinks except an occasional Margretta or Mojito in the right setting/mood. The whole thing in over my head. They look pretty. I wish I could enjoy them more. I think there is so much profit in it that many restaurants are putting so much focus on that, that they are neglecting to make a more creative menu. But I don’t eat out enough to be a good judge of that. My opinion comes mostly from browsing menus in search of a place that will interest me.
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I’m out a lot, drinking a lot, and I have not once been charged for ice. Can you cite me 5ish places in NYC where this is a thing?
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What happened to these things?
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Wow, I used to have those. A set of four in a fancy wooden serving tray. They were really cool for a while. Then I guess I got tired of storing them. Wonder where they are now? A friend’s bar? A thrift store?
ETA: Never charged my guests extra for the ice (which, IIRC, had to be small cubes or crushed).
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This. It’s a “rocks” charge for a bigger cocktail.
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I think I had 2. Too hard to store. Don’t know where they are now. But a great idea.
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They were a great idea . . .all the benefits of ice with none of the dilution. Too bad they were such a PITA.
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Off the top of my head, Bemelman’s at The Carlyle Hotel and Flatiron Room at NoMad, Lantern’s Keep and Brandy Library. I believe Up & Up does as well.
Both The Darby (NYC) and Second State (DC) did. Both are now shuttered, however.
Brandy Library charged you for ice? Ditto Flatiron room? Were you mean to them?
I second @small_h — in many years of drinking in nyc, I’ve never encountered a charge for ice, even at specialty cocktail places that are chipping ice to order off a giant block.
The reverse every so often, if the ice was supposed to water down a cocktail and you ask for it straight up. Come to think of it, that’s only ever happened to me at Mexican restaurants.
I checked the Yelp pages of Lantern’s Keep and The Up and Up and The Brandy Library and The Flatiron Room and couldn’t find any evidence of an ice charge, not on the pix of the menus, and not in recent pages of reviews (where people frequently noted the high prices). So absent some kind of proof, I’m calling bullshit that ice charges are common.
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Even the swanky bar in Philly we go to a lot & where one actually needs to make a rez and where drinks are easily around the $20 mark, not once were we charged extra for ice. Nowhere, ever.
#anecdotesarentdata
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The cost of appearing hip today. And we wonder at the level of average credit card debt!
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Not being snarky, but I have to be able to say that I’m not surprised.
Some of those sound good, but I probably wouldn’t order one.
We’re Manhattan-ites, so we take notice when one is among the house’s proudest suggestions.
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