fine dining - classic or dud

often, though, "fine dining" is a complete waste of money and you're far better off in a more downmarket restaurant with fresher ingredients and less of a stick up its ass. for me, the experience has to be about the food and the cooking, and nothing else. having a poncified dining room, a git's wine list and an unnecessarily trendified menu with amusingly titled soup and chips on it is not enough. i'm not naming names, but glasgow is packed with such places and they can fuck right off.

Classic when done every once in awhile.

that's not bad at all!

My friend had a $100 gift cert to Nobu in Malibu and I said I'd pick up the balance, which, after 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes, 2 martinis and desert, was $80 including tip! (Still, it was definitely worth it).

Worst experience was a bachelor party in Vegas at a steakhouse in the Mandalay Bay where 12 guys ended up paying over $2K because one as*hole kept ordering expensive wine. Imagine paying almost $200 for yourself to be in the company of only guys. I have since sworn off all bachelor parties forever.

br14n maul3 at the ch4rdon d'0r for a start. indeed: almost everywhere on st vincent street. all those poncy places that started off with (the now defunct) eurasia and spread outwards. "oh, we're so upmarket." no you're not. you're a restaurant in an office building, and the food reflects that perfectly.

z1nc can sw1vel too. average food, worst service in town. i've not eaten at 3tain yet, but i have low hopes.

if you like proper italian food, cooked exquisitely and served in the best atmosphere ever, the b4ttlefield r3st is the place to be.

x-post: that's one serious asshole. wow.

I'd pay top dollar for a high class takeaway.

Spencer, you know Vegas is an easy town to disappear someone in, right?

otm! not to mention the people in the group who duck out without paying, or who only stick a few bucks in the pile when the check is going around.

*half the guests at the table avert their eyes down to their plates*

1) That's at Morimoto in Philadelphia.
2) My friend Ge0rge Taka3da.
3) Because I briefly wrote blog entries for Pumpkin Publog by the good grace of Tom (and still have Blogger permission to do so, I guess) before I turned into a wastrel. The Morimoto piece was longer and had a bunch of pix and Tom made it an FT-homepage feature, er, late 2003 or early 2004?

YOU ARE NOT DUMN. ONLY FROM MISSISSIPPI.

The WORST - and I think I've raged on this before - are people who only bring plastic to big crew meals. You have three prepared people who throw down the perfect amt, and three babyballer dorks who put down their cards - SOOO humiliating watching the 'math' go down - "okay, we'll split up the cash, and uh, shit, one of those is debit, right? Okay TO MAKE THIS CONVENIENT we'll split the cash three ways then we'll get three separate equal bills, cool?" Poor server.

I SWARE ALL OF MY EYE-CUE PROBBLEMS COME FROM TEH ANAHEIM PART OF MY LIEF.

check out the site - chef morimoto pops out on his rollover button like a minature digitised jackie chan - spot on!

THANK GOD FOR ANAHEIM doesn't have the same ring to it.

i get the annoying obsequiousness at downmarket restaurants too. especially ones that are empty and the waiters have to do anything to look busy.

For the food though? oh my god, oh yes.

PS I'm not saying the staff were unfriendly with it either - they were bloody marvellous, from helping Vic out when she stumbled on entry right through to bringing us a second plate of sweeties when I expressed an interest in one of them and asked how it was made (a liquorice jelly of allthings - I hatte liquorice but this was beautiful)

Of course, if you're dining at a true luxury/foodie establishment money should probably not be an issue. Either you purposefully saved up for it, in which case the money is already set aside, or you are Richie Rich enough that you don't have to check your balance to decide where to eat.

Porkpie this must have been a Very Swish Place if the runner brought the food out to the waiter, who then handed it to you??! Never seen that.

Anyway, can we use this space to talk about DUD "classy" restaurants? i.e. SPICE MARKET