What’s the most expensive dinner out to eat you have paid?

[skives]

Wife and I are going to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a week and half for a couple baseball games. On the way back there is a restaurant (Boston Fish Market) that we saw on YouTube from a guy we watch and the dish he had costs $195. It’s seafood pasta with 3 jumbo shrimp, 3 jumbo scallops, 3 lobster tails and 1.5 pounds of crab legs.

I figured total this meal will cost roughly $250 for the two of us. Has anyone here ever spent that much on one dinner? We have the money and I have always wanted to eat at a place this guys eats at and recommends.

Am I overthinking this and you only live once or am I being stupid spending $250 on one meal even though we can afford it?

[Jluke]

Asking this on a day like today with the stock market falling….

im going to say go for it.

[myrdale]

I didn't pay, but Pappadeaux I think is probably top of the list for me. It was $70 or so around 2008.

I did eat at The Angry Crab for the first time over the weekend. They had items in the range of $150+, similar to what you describe. My fish and chips were much less at $17 maybe.

[myrdale]

Am I overthinking this and you only live once or am I being stupid spending $250 on one meal even though we can afford it?

I'd list it in the Luxury category of my budget. It isn't going to be an every day affair, but once or twice a year probably isn't out of the question.

One story about my grandfather is he bought ice cream cones for my father and himself for a dime a piece. Afterwards he said "I wish I had my dime back". I am all for saving money and being frugal, but once you've gotten past the necessities of survival and your budget in order, and have all your investments funded, spend it! Live a little.

[bjl584]

Maybe $100.
I've never really been to an upscale restaurant

[Fishindude77]

I'd say go for it and have fun.
Nothing wrong with splurging occasionally, and everything doesn't make financial sense.

[ua_guy]

IMO, nothing wrong with enjoying nice things if you can afford them. It's not "just" food, it's the experience too.

You won't get out of a nice steakhouse around here without spending hundreds of dollars per person if you go with a steak, couple of sides, and a couple of drinks. My most expensive dinners are typically on the company, or paid for by a vendor!

[kork13]

I've very rarely gone to fancy restaurants that charge wild-high prices. I've definitely done a few in my life, maybe around $100-$150 for DW & I .... But we don't do it even once every 3-5 years. I understand the argument of "it's the experience", but what experience is it? Being waited on more attentively? Enjoying a higher quality & smaller portions of food? Showmanship on the part of the chef? Oddly, although i love cooking, i don't put much value in any of that.

However, I can confidently say that the most expensive dinner out that I've paid for was my wedding night -- we were small, but had 20-25 people all together in a restaurant for our "reception", and I picked up the bill of ~$1500.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Fine dining at Top of Binion's steakhouse $75 Porterhouse, $10 baked potato, fabulous views from the 24th floor of the city of Las Vegas. Or another fine dining restaurant at Redwood Steakhouse at the California hotel in Las Vegas. $55 filet mignon 10 oz, $10 mashed potato, $12 French onion soup. Actually all of the above were comp'd meals. Wonderful experiences. Closed since COVID was another fine dining Las Vegas restaurant was Second Street Grill at Fremont hotel, RIP.

[disneysteve]

We enjoy fine dining and have absolutely spent over $200 on a meal multiple times. We were in Atlantic City last month and dinner one night (with one cocktail each) was $175.

For many years there was a restaurant in Philly called Le Bec Fin. It was consistently rated one of the top 5 or 10 restaurants in the country. We had the pleasure of dining there numerous times. They had a fixed price format. I don’t remember exactly as it’s been years but i think dinner was $110 or so per person. And that’s going back to the 1990s so put that in today’s terms.

So yes, we drop big bucks on meals fairly regularly.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Years ago when living in Hawaii some fine dining restaurants I tried were Ruth Chris' & Hy's steakhouse. Fine dining on cruise ships usually feature 1 night out of 5 - 7 nights where formal wear is recommended but no extra charges and included with the price of the cruise can be a very nice experience on the high seas. I'd like to try Lawry's prime rib in Las Vegas someday.

[jenn_jenn]

It’s not an every day thing, you’ve been wanting to do it, and you can afford it. My vote is go for it and enjoy!

Our most expensive dinner out was $600 per person (with drinks, after taxes & tip) at Le Jules Verne at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was on a post-deployment vacation with my now husband who was in the military at the time and a gift from my parents so we technically didn’t pay for it. It felt outlandishly expensive and fancy and we had so much fun - it is still one of our favorite memories!

Not as expensive per person but we’ve picked up a few $1500 dinner tabs. The most memorable was taking parents to a steakhouse that my dad had been wanting to try for literally years. My dad was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s last year and physically struggles to eat. We couldn’t do a dinner together like that now but I’m so grateful that we did when we had the chance.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Las Vegas has some of the best fine dining places but too rich for my wallet. Morimoto's or Joel Robuchan's at MGM Grand, Bellagio's Prime Steakhouse, Peter Luger at Caesar's Palace. Genting Palace at Resorts World, Golden Steer Steakhouse, Strip Steak Mandalay Bay, SW Steakhouse Wynn Las Vegas, Barry's Downtown Circa, Oscar's Steakhouse Plaza, Hugo's Cellar 4 Queens, etc. I've heard every woman gets a single rose at Hugo's Cellar.

[disneysteve]

Las Vegas has some of the best fine dining places but too rich for my wallet. Morimoto's or Joel Robuchan's at MGM Grand, Bellagio's Prime Steakhouse, Peter Luger at Caesar's Palace. Genting Palace at Resorts World, Golden Steer Steakhouse, Strip Steak Mandalay Bay, SW Steakhouse Wynn Las Vegas, Barry's Downtown Circa, Oscar's Steakhouse Plaza, Hugo's Cellar 4 Queens, etc. I've heard every woman gets a single rose at Hugo's Cellar.

The problem with a lot of places like that is that you pay a premium based simply on location. Not to say the restaurants aren’t top notch but you can find equally good meals for less in more mundane locales. Of course location and setting and view are part of the experience so it’s not necessarily a bad thing. And chefs open high end restaurants in those places because there is a market for them.

I think there are people who appreciate great food and would enjoy a meal at places like that and then there are people who just aren’t into it and the experience would be wasted on them. Nothing right or wrong about that. Everybody is different. And it’s not about the money either.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Some people might argue why pay for a $100 slice of steak at a fancy restaurant when you can get that same steak at your local store for $15. It's not the same steak. The fancy restaurant uses a higher quality steak and they age the steak (ie, dry or wet age) which intensifies and concentrates the beefy flavor. And like disneysteve mentioned the location & settings and views are part of the experiences which adds to the costs. Those experiences at the fancy restaurants have made an impression on me which make it worth the higher costs and this coming from a guy who is more of a diners, drive-inn & dives kind of guy.