What's the most you've ever spent at a restaurant?

For me, about $180 including the tip, lunch for two.

It was at a french restaurant in a Tier 2 city. The seating is very luxurious and comfortable. The food (frog legs, escargots) was excellent. We ordered steak fries. For dessert was crème brulee which was the tastiest I’ve ever experienced. On top were golden wine (Sauternes) and coffee.

33 Comments
 

Pastis in the meatpacking district - I didn't pay but it was around 400 for three people. Drinks, appetizer, ribeye and desert. 10/10

 

TECHNICALLY I dropped $2,800 at a DC steakhouse, but can’t really count it. Easier to put drinks and meals on one card for 15 people. They all Venmo’d me after, so I only paid for my meal.

Honestly, I just wanted the Amex points. The game must be played!

 
Funniest

$6,538

The bill for the food came out to about $38 (2 Denny's Grand Slams + tax), but I got taken to small claims over the property damage resulting from what my date and I accomplished in their bathroom.

Worth it tho

 

I recently had my most expensive meal ever. There is a fancy sushi place inside the fancy mall at Columbus circle.

1k a person for omakase.

Honestly, I feel like after a certain price level of like 200 a person, I can’t really tell the difference in sushi. Was excited while eating and then later in the day felt embarrassed I spent that much on one meal. The crazy thing was the place was kind of full on a random weekday lunch. Although everyone else was over 50.

 
Smoke Frog

I recently had my most expensive meal ever. There is a fancy sushi place inside the fancy mall at Columbus circle.

1k a person for omakase.

Honestly, I feel like after a certain price level of like 200 a person, I can't really tell the difference in sushi. Was excited while eating and then later in the day felt embarrassed I spent that much on one meal. The crazy thing was the place was kind of full on a random weekday lunch. Although everyone else was over 50.

That place is called Masa, I’d recommend many sushi places in nyc above them, especially for value (Noz, Nakazawa, etc). Or fly to Tokyo and get legit stuff. 

 

Yes, that’s it. Masa. I guess the chef is super famous cause when the meal was done he walked over and started posing for a picture lol.

I was like wtf is he doing, but wife told me to just take a selfie and shut up. The sushi was good don’t get me wrong, but 1k a person is f*cking insane.

Thanks for the other names, I love sushi and never heard of noz. I’ll add that to my list. My favorites for quality but also reasonable price are shinn East, 13 water and icca.

 

Dinner for 2 at Jean Georges NYC, $850

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

That I've actually paid for? (excluding expense accounts, etc.) $350 for two at Gramercy Tavern.  It was a birthday lunch for my SO.  Honestly, unless you are made of money there are diminishing returns to nicer meals.  There are many other things that I'd rather spend a day's pay on than an obscene dinner.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

Ignoring wine, the most expensive I’ve done is Masa (with his two supplement dishes). This was arguably closer to “worth” it at his pre-covid price; now it’s highway robbery in a city full of wonderful omakase, as theATL mentioned.

You can go (a lot lot lot) higher by adding wine spend. These days, I usually will buy lots at auction and pay corkage instead of buying off an NYC menu. Markups here have gotten too high to reasonably pay.

 

Last night for the appetizer had oysters with sushi grade tuna and wasabi cream topped with white and black sesame seeds… straight fire 🔥.

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Quintonil in Mexico City and Gaggan in Bangkok were $300 a person, but have to be two of the best meals I've had in my life. Would go back to both without hesitation. 

Array
 

For two?  Maybe $350 with a single drink each, real personal money.  A few instances of this as Las Vegas steak and/or seafood places.  

For three?  $1700.  Entirely wine driven in Las Vegas, fake corporate card money.  Pretty sure my meal and app was $50.

For a large group?  About $5k for 15 people at an italian spot in Naples, fake corporate card money.

Lesson learned - drink beers and cocktails, stay away from bottles.

 

Confused? Are we excluding client / business dinners?

I've had half a dozen business dinners or so in the $11K - $18K area usually with 10 to 15 people.

It's always the wine folks....always the damn wine.

 

$3K for two near Bordeaux, but 70% of that came from the wine (which was sadly not miles ahead of cheaper bottles).

Otherwise a few 2-3 star restaurants, always end up paying 600-800 per pers. if you include the wine pairing.

 

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