In restaurants that offer a three or four course meal for a fixed price, they will often ask for all three or four to be chosen at the beginning. One can usually put off ordering dessert at that time, but it’s encouraged. If after your savory courses you decide you don’t want dessert the bill is calculated at the a la carte prices for each of the courses you did order, rather than the fixed price for the entire meal.
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How about that. I don’t do a lot of prix fixes. I guess this is why. Would rather up the prix to avoid the fixe.
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Totally understand. But at these places, it’s about the chef, the food, the wine, the staff, the ambiance. You are part of it, not an adversary. You go there to share THEIR vision, and expand yours, not impose yours.
Just different strokes…
At my meal at Eleven Madison Park, we had an early seating. After our dessert, we got a tour of the kitchen. When we came back, they had cleared our table, and reset it. They offered us seating in the lounge, plus a complimentary after dinner drink. It was all very smooth, and handled beautifully. We were not asked if we were ready to leave the table, the staff simply made it happen.
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I weigh about 95 lbs. My vision is that it’s not right to waste food, so don’t put too much of it in front of me. We’re kind of off the topic of pre-ordering dessert, no? Because it seems like what you’re talking about is a tasting menu, where you don’t get to make any choices at all.
Got it. We too are put off by a ton of food plopped in front of us.
No, not a tasting menu but a menu that offers a selection of starters, mains and desserts, each priced out separately. They allow you to choose one from each section for a given price, say $50. Some may have a supplement charge, eg., sweetbreads or pigeon. If you decide you do not want dessert, your bill will be figured on the a la carte price of the plates you chose.
Prix fixes are not uncommon in Manhattan. But I think the early-decision dessert definitely is. Like you said upthread, desserts that need a lot of advance warning are pretty rare. As I noted earlier, you might be asked to pick your dessert at the start of the meal during some sort of promotion, like Restaurant Week. And you also might be given two prix-fixe options - two courses or three.
The first time we ate at Lameloise – don’t get too excited, we’ve been there twice, 20 years apart – there was a dessert on the menu that had to be ordered at the beginning of the meal. I ordered it. It was an extremely simple apple tart, a round of dough, apples laid out on top, and some sugar. It was delicious. It was worth ordering it in advance. These days I don’t eat desserts, so there’s no problem.
This is an interesting thread, and I haven’t read all the responses, but timing is something we have been thinking about.
It is usually just 2-4 of us (husband and I, with or without our adult “kids”, usually in SF or Napa, (and lately Bull Valley), and have never felt rushed. We usually study or know the menu, know what we want, and I am more irritated by long times between appetizer and main.
Once my brain has time to register “you have had enough!”, It is hard for me to enjoy it.
Extra points for menus and service that let me continue to enjoy “to go”.
