Most EXPENSIVE meal?

Most EXPENSIVE meal?

• notyourmomma 16 years ago
  Have you ever just blown a paycheck or more on a meal?
  
  Flag
• tnacndn 16 years ago said:
  Nope, can't say that I have done that bad as I am a cheapy. LOL But some places were a bit more than I bargained for.
  Flag
• borinda 16 years ago said:
  This is the San Francisco area. We've not gone to the French laundry in Yountville but numerous friends have. Lunch is $250 per person. My guess is as long as I'm married to my husband I won't be experiencing that!
  
  Then there were our dinners at Le Cirque in Manhattan when they were still situated at the New Yorl Palace Hotel. We'd drive there and park at the hotel. Dinner wasn't cheap and the parking ran about $30 on top of the dinner and drinks.
  Flag
• krumkake 16 years ago said:
  Last year, after hearing for YEARS how great Morton's Steak House was (because my husband dined there several times on the company tab, but I was never able to join in on those occassions!), I told him I was ready to waste about $100 per person on dinner. My husband can make a pretty "mean" filet mignon right here at home, so I wasn't sure how they could top that. We started with an appetizer of scallops in a cream sauce, then tomato and blue cheese salad, then the filet (which was indeed better than our home version - tender enough to melt in your mouth) and green beans in a fried garlic and hot vinagrette, polished off with a chocolate souffle. With a good bottle of wine, the tab came to $185 plus a $40 tip...yikes!!!! I know there are more expensive restaurants in the chicagoland area, but Morton's was a real splurge for me. I've been lucky enough to travel with my husband on business trips where we have been wined and dined at some excellent restuarants, but I don't like spending that much of my own money on a single meal!!
  
  Flag
• notyourmomma 16 years ago said:
  Way back in the late 70's when "square grouper" were running up and down the Florida west coast like wild fire, we would get few of the high rollers come into the restaurant, usually last service on a Saturday night. Money was no object for them and they always ordered the best and most expensive items we had. My partner and I were usually beat by this time having turned our tables 3 times already but you knew when this group walked in, you had better sparkle and shine. Dan would decant each bottle of wine and we were as unobtrusive as possible, crumbing the table, keeping the water filled, empting the ashtrays. Doing what we were trained to do. This particular night, they drank three bottles of some of our best wine, each bottle getting progressively more expensive. Their total bill for the four of them was over $600.00. (Mind you this is 1979 or so, prices were much lower than they are now) We were exhausted, they were the last table in the house, it was near 1:00 a.m Food Service stopped at 10:30. But all in all it was worth it, my partner and I had $400. each from that one table alone, even after we tipped out the bus help and bartender. I had my rent for the month from one table. That was my most expensive meal ever and I didn't even eat!!!!
  Flag
• krumkake 16 years ago said:
  Whoa - now THAT'S a tip worth waiting for!!!
  
  Now I have to tell you this idea that I read about last year...I'd like to know what those of you in "wait service" think of it. A person wrote an article about how they "give" during the holiday season. This couple takes their charitable contribution right to the front line. Every holiday season, they find a local neighborhood-type restuarant. They look over the staff as inconspicuously as possible, then ask to be seated in the person's area that they have decided looks like a struggling waitress/waiter...I know this is a random selection process, at best, but you can usually bet that someone working at a small diner or cafe is NOT getting rich off the wages OR the tips. Anyhow, the couple proceed to eat their meal, and when they leave, they leave a holiday card on the table with a $100 bill enclosed. WOW! I thought of how that kind of tip would have changed MY holiday celebrations if I had received that when I worked in those small diners! Don't you think this would be a great way to brighten someone's holiday???????
  Flag
• notyourmomma 16 years ago said:
  I certainly agree with that practice. Especially the small diner type places where you struggle to make a decent wage. I always liked the idea of "pay it forward" and how random acts of kindness can mean the world to someone in true need.
  
  Freddie is such a tightwad and he would never tip well, he has just given up trying to pay our dinner checks because he knows that if I think the tip is too low, I'll just walk back to the table and give the wait staff a bit extra. So rather than getting me mad and then tipping more than I usually would, he just hands me the check and asks "how much, this time dear?" After 24 years, we have it down to a science, he quits squawking and I don't squander. Fair enough.
  Flag
• sweetwords 16 years ago said:
  My first husband (insert appropriate adjective) wouldn't tip well if the waiter sat in his lap and fed him with a spoon. I always had to carry money to make the tip worthwhile. My husband now (good man) gives a little for bad service and overtips for good service, which is all fine with me.
  Flag
• sweetwords 16 years ago said:
  The most expensive meal we ever had was actually by accident. A year-and-a-half after our son was born was the first chance we'd had to spend some time just for ourselves (worrying and calling, you know how it is). A friend of ours kept Kyle, and we headed to the big town of Jackson, MS to eat a nice dinner, catch a movie, spend a night at a good hotel. Alas for best-laid plans. We ate at a nice Mexican restaurant, saw the movie, checked into the hotel, he got a migraine, I got food poisoning, and we just packed up and went back home. Over $100 for a nothing-special dinner and a movie. We haven't had the courage to try again!
  Flag
• krumkake 16 years ago said:
  Sweet, I hope you try again one day - not necessarily for an expensive meal, but just to have some nice "us" time...next time is BOUND to be better, - how can it not be?!?
  I hate inadequate tips, too (assuming the service was good, of course) - even though I never worked in anything but small town diner and cafes, there was no worse feeling than bustin' your buns to please a customer, only to be left a 10% tip or less, or even nothing at all, My husband also tends to be the "cheap one" when it comes to tipping, so he just hands me the bill and I pay it. He doesn't have to see what I put down for a tip, and I can hold my head up as I walk out the door rather than trying to run before the waitperson picks up the payment on the table! Sweet, I gotta tell you, I did enjoy that little comment about your first husband and his tipping habits!!!!!!
  Flag
• notyourmomma 16 years ago said:
  Message from Notyourmomma to Sweetwords, give yourself the respite inspite of the bad outing the first time. Take it from one who knows, being housebound and a caregiver for fifteen years, it can take a lot out of your soul and you need to connect with others, even if it is a diner for a cup of coffee with a friend. I was most grateful when someone would offer us the gift of a qualified nurse to care for Ty and we could take a few hours to reconnect and unwind. Try it again and don't stop posting here. Keep your options open and find the time for yourself. All of you will benefit. Hindsight is 20-20 and I would have been a kinder better mom if I had allowed myself a few hours off once in awhile. When you are worn out and tired, you will regret every harsh word you spoke out of frustration and it will haunt you. Believe me, it will be worth it for you. Hugs. NYM.
  Flag
• borinda 16 years ago said:
  Sweets -- get out of your home ASAP and take that man along. Trade kids with a friend and baby-sit theirs another night. Take along a good bottle of wine. Get a life before your kid needs constant car-pooling and life gets faster and even more complicated. It will happen soon.
  
  Tips -- several months ago we had dinner at a very nice local restaurant with another couple. We brought along a good bottle of wine and expected the customary corkage fee. Our waitress was very pleasant and so we invited her to have some of the wine but she declined, was familiar with it already, and it was early yet for her. When our bill came my husband noticed there was no charge for the corkage. He motioned her over and whispered that she'd undercharged us and how. This sweet woman explained she'd been out a few nights before, her day off, and they'd also taken along a good bottle, they'd not been charged a corkage fee, and she had decided to pay it forward to her next nice diners who brought wine. You can be sure she had a very generous tip for both fine service and the good will.
  Flag
• sweetwords 16 years ago said:
  Thanks for the encouragement, y'all! We do get the occasional few hours, just not a whole night away. You know, a couple times a year we get five hours out - whether we need it or not!
  Flag
• notyourmomma 16 years ago said:
  Many many years ago, when Tyler was just a tot and went to a preschool that brought him home at the dot of 3:00 p.m. We had to get very creative in finding ways to connect as husband and wife. (We worked split shifts so someone was always there around the clock to care for Ty because he didn't sleep much and he needed full on hands on care 24/7 so Fred did graveyard, I was 7-3 or 3-11 on rotating basis.) But one day we decided to go out to lunch together and just have a little down time. We had a super lunch, peel and eat garlic shrimp, soup and crusty bread, and drank some wonderful wine to unwind. It wasn't terribly expensive and we were not looped by any means, we were just happy we had time together and we laughed and discussed how well we seemed to be handling the day to day stuff and occasional crisis better than we did before. It was relaxing and we felt good. We had talked about therapies and were brainstorming ways to try and get Tyler to use his arms more and stretch those wire tight muscles, the wine helped here.....you'll see. We were happy and as we were leaving the restaurant, we happened to pass by an adorable Pet shop. We stopped and looked and there was the most gorgeous ginger colored Persian kitten just staring us down. Hmmmm, Tyler could have a pet and he could learn to move his arms by petting that pretty fur. Let's get the kitty. Many hundred dollars later we were the proud owners of Princess Ginger Lily who has a better lineage than my personal Heinz 57 pedigree. We take the Princess in to Tyler, he is ecstatic. He reaches for her, she cuddles against him, She sits on his lap and he gently rests his hand on her fur. All is well, until he can't breath well and we are at a loss what could have changed his breathing to be so labored. Of course you know the rest of the story, our boy was highly allergic to Princess and she was sadly given away to very kind home. So in a nutshell, that lovely lunch turned into our most expensive meal ever.....we bought the cat and broke the bank. But I wouldn't trade those few moments of pleasure I saw on that boy's face for anything in the world. He ended up getting a few more pets down the road, no worries.
  Flag
• sitbynellie 14 years ago said:
  Hi folks, Nellie here! I just joined this group and I hope you'll bear with me whilst I maunder on about my restaurant experiences.
  
  A few years ago Tom booked us a table for Valentine's Day evening at a restaurant in a hotel belonging to a well-known chain, and as his mum's birthday also happens to be February 14th, we were a foursome along with a family friend.
  
  Now, most cooks/chefs will accommodate me, if I ask nicely (which I always do!) being diabetic and lactose-intolerant. I think it's a sign of a good cook, who can think on their feet, in a busy kitchen, change stuff willingly and make a dish look and taste good so that I can dine alongside my pals and not feel like a freak. On this occasion, I looked over the menu. Ok, starters... all I could have was the melba toast and pate. Main course... nothing. All full of cheese, or sweet sauces, or cream. And of course no dessert possible on either count.
  
  I fancied the scallops so I asked the waitress, a really nice woman whom we'd known for years, if she'd ask the chef if he could do something for me. She was as embarassed as I was when she brought our meals - I got a huge dinner plate with four tiny scallops, naked, huddled together and shivering in the middle of the bare plate, no sauce, no veg, no nothing.
  
  Now the restaurant was not busy - it was 3/4 empty and any other diners there were, were grouped nearby us, and they were falling about laughing. Tom, who was shelling out for the meal, was rather annoyed given that the Valentine's special menu was £39.99 per head for 3 courses (that would have been over $80 per person then).
  
  Even after sending the poor waitress back with the quite reasonable complaint that this was not good enough for the price we were being charged, back came my plate with two more bare scallops and the message basically 'take it or leave it'. The chef would not come out and speak to us, and the manager was completely unsympathetic, stating that as the other members of the party had had 'adequate' meals that it was basically my fault for having health problems. We gave the waitress a tip, secretly - she'd done her best and been apologetic - and told her to keep the money to herself. We left nothing on the table.
  
  That place went out of business not long after - I wonder why?
  Flag

Have a comment? Join this group first →