My uncle recently took a couple of members of my family out to dinner. I was unfortunately busy, but they went to a very fancy restaurant, Michelin stars and all. Needless to say, the bill was in the high 100s, maybe 200 or so per person. Personally, I'm not one to go to fancy restaurants, so I can never see myself spending 200 dollars for a good dinner. The highest I've found myself willing to pay is about 50 dollars per person to this Brazilian steakhouse called Fogo de Chao. They are a chain, but don't let that fool you, the food is amazing. Suffice to say, I don't go there more than maybe once a year. What about you, how much are you willing to spend?
I would anticipate spending close to if not over $100 for a good meal for myself - that would include a dry aged steak, which by itself costs $35 or so right there. Sides are usually $8 each, so that's another $16 for a couple sides, then a few glasses of wine can easily run you about $40. If I'm splurging I may as well have some appetizers and desert, both combined would put another $30 on the check. And if I am really looking to tie one on, I may finish the whole thing off with a cocktail, such as a Negroni, to "cleanse the palette" a bit (it's a bitter orange cocktail). I look at it this way, there have been many times where I racked up bar tabs that were nearly that high - sometimes it's better to lay off getting hammered on cocktails, and enjoy a nice meal instead. I think we all owe it to ourselves to treat yourself to a nice meal from time to time, and take a break from worrying about work and bills and saving money all the time. In fact, you can often put money aside for nice meals like this simply by cutting out other bad habits draining your wallet dry - such as coffee at Starbucks each day, or buying bottled water all the time, or over paying for your car insurance, premium channels you don't really watch, etc...
It depends on the a few things for me, although spending $200 per person seems like way too much! I think if you are getting a great service as well as outstanding food and a good vintage wine, I would probably say around $100 per person is acceptable. I have seen restaurants charging up to $250 per person for average food and bad service, I sometimes cannot understand how they can charge so much and people still eat there, it doesn't seem right! I do not mind paying more for the wine if it accompanies the food well though, that is probably what I would spend the most on!
I don't care what the scenario is, unless I am rich and endlessly financially stable, of course. But as it stands, right now, I am not and cannot see it happening in the foreseeable future. So, spending anything above £20 to £30, for a meal, is unacceptable to me. No food is that good that I will pay that much for it, and feel good about my finances and self at the end of the night.
