Happened to me when ordering spider crab at a sushi place. Almost the same price.
I knew better.
The server said it was âperfect for sharingâ which I assumed was a larger version. Nope. Just the boned out version of the exact same ribeye as you mentioned. We had a tomahawk a few months earlier at another restaurant in town that was larger and only $58. So the other night we got complacent.
I like it when the specials are, or are also, printed on a card (or what have you) and accompanies the menu. I cannot recall ever not seeing the price when the specials are printed out. (Alternative version that I also like, although it does not work for every restaurant, is having them written on a chalkboard or something similar).
Meh. Caveat emptor. If you are going to be bothered by the price you should ask. Not asking and then complaining on a message board is rather petty.
My BIL sent this to me last week.
$155 Tomahawk
Caviar plate is only $130
If everyone did that, none of could enjoy vicarious outrage!
I just bought some 35oz grass-fed Piedmont tomahawks for about $80 each to have for a special occasion so I can easily see cuts like these costing $150 at a restaurant.
Similar thing happened to us with truffle risotto in Paso Robles which wound up being about 4x the priciest thing on the menu. Luckily we split it. When the bill came we were shocked and felt very stupid about not asking and also a little peeved that the waiter didnât tell us. It was such a great night and great meal for us that we didnât want to create a fuss and ruin the evening so we just paid. In the end it was one of the best meals weâve ever had, we probably wouldnât have ordered it had we known the price and weâve gotten to tell the story many times. So worth it in the end and weâve learned to lesson.
My feelings on it now are I donât feel the waiters need to list the price on specials when telling you about them, especially in a high end restaurant where that can create more of a âdinerâ feel rather than an âexclusiveâ experience. There will be people who will order it regardless of the price and the others should know enough not to order something without asking about the price first if theyâre worried about being surprised.
âCan I get the 58oz tomahawk with the micro salad?â
They misspelled BeringerâŠ
On the plus side, charging high entree prices may minimize their need to gouge only wine-drinkers
My shop gouges only people whose sole language is English.
The real prices are written on the wall.
Chinese version of KamaÊ»Äina discount but in NYC instead of Hawaii
IMHO, most restaurants should be charging more, so they can pay their staff better. Personally, I would prefer they do that on the food side rather than the beverage side, so that non drinkers or BYOB drinkers share the costs. Itâs possible that the market is now going to force that change if restaurants are experiencing labor shortages and have to offer higher pay to find staff.
Let me complain a little more. It only came with 1 side.
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A micro-greens salad?
I was at Quince (3 star Michelin in SF) a couple years ago for a birthday dinner with 2 friends. Weâd brought 2 bottles, but they have a great cocktail program so we spoke with the bartender prior to ordering a round of drinks before dinner. My friends were into bourbon but had never had any Pappy, so in this conversation I asked him if the restaurant gets any. He said that they had the 15. We file that away, and then a few hours later after an amazing meal one of my buddies is adamant that we get a round to end the evening. Ironically, this guy was the one in the group pushing it to afford such an extravagant evening. And he was the only one who had perused the spirits menu, after the fact he conceding that (a) the Pappy wasnât on the menu, and (b) the most expensive shot on the menu was $150.
When the bartender sent over complimentary âminiâ old fashions made with Weller 10 prior to the Pappy round, that should have been a clue that we were in deep. The cost for a shot of Pappy 15? $240. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
That round of drinks was almost as expensive as the incredible tasting menu! So yeah, itâs a good move to know what youâre paying in advance of your order.
I have to say⊠It has to be a pretty special steak joint for me to order the house steak.
After getting into dry aging my own steak at home, its hard(not impossible) to pay for steak when Iâm out when I factor in the Price delta of dry aging my own.
Wow, a two dimensional steak!
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First date with my wife as a lowly college student I was offered the Surf and Turf by the waiter at a nice seafood joint. I didnât asked the price since I was trying to impress.
It was $105. That plus her dish plus our appetizer was a whole week salary at my part time campus job fixing computers. Ha.
Verbal only specials seems very much a US thing. Blackboards are the most common here, or just a slip of paper in the menu.
The exception being the plat du jour - but thats fixed price.
It worked
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