Picking a Restaurant
 

Wife’s cousin’s birthday so of course we go out to dinner to celebrate.

Long story short, he picks a local Steak House.

I’m not generally a fan of steak houses to begin with but it’s his birthday.

I thought it was a bit of an odd choice because his daughter (Violet, 7) is an extremely picky eater and my son while not as picky also has a limited palate which the cousin knows as we tend to eat out together often.

This place was $100 a head when all was said and done. Now i don’t really mind paying for a quality meal but i find steak houses in general a rip off. I’ve only been to a few that lived up to the hype.

So the question, when you pick a restaurant when you won’t be picking up the whole tab do you consider the cost or if the offerings are suitable for all?

I also got no sleep last night from the agida, wife and i were both tossing and turning all night and my stomach is still a mess this morning so i’m really grumpy.

Anyway, just had to vent. Rant off.

We have multiple great steak restaurants her in OKC. We just don't go very often as is so easy to grill a better steak at home. Easy to prepare, and serve, at 1/5th the cost.

There are so many other fantastic restaurants that make meals that would take hours in the kitchen to make.

So yea, I understand where you are coming from. And $100 bucks a head is an expensive meal. One of our favorite places has fantastic prime rib. Prime rib is a chore to fix at home unless you have a large group. To get a fantastic center cut rare prime rib, we go to a restaurant. For a porterhouse, T-bone, or grilled steak, we stay home.

Sounds like it was a lot of money for food that wasn't well prepared.

Anyway, there's no way to know how a meal will sit with you when you go to a new restaurant. If it's just me at a new eatery I get something simple. A dish with which I'm familiar. If they get that right I'll go back. I do check out prices before I go in.

You didn't have that choice so...you spent time with family and had to endure a crappy meal. c'est la vie mon frere.

I know how this will sound, but in my experience it's all part of the "roll the dice" aspect of going out to eat vs. staying in and doing it yourself.

There are so many things out of your control when you go out to eat.

But to answer your specific question.....for me cost is always a factor in most decisions I make but for a social gathering I think sometimes you have to consider stuff like parking, logistics, safety, and appeal of consumer product to the Gruppe as a whole and just bite the bullet for the sake of the collective.

Pepto Bismol works wonders, BTW....

Y'all don't have an Applebees in yer town :D?

We had guests come to town that were living in Europe at the time. There were 4 of them, and they all wanted a great American steak, and they were buying!

Great, we took them to Cattleman's steak house down in the Cowtown area. It is an old restaurant, in business for 100 years now.

https://cattlemensrestaurant.com/

They all loved the steaks, and Cattleman's does have really good meals.

Exactly. I've been to a couple that were amazing, but I've also not been impressed at several.
To me this means that they aren't great steakhouses. If you can easily do better at home for 20% of the cost, then they are a crappy steakhouse.

High end steak houses in Chicago exceed $100/head with drinks, sides, and tip. If you want steak, I'm presuming a chain type restaurant is more in line. Personally, I don't order steak at a restaurant - it's pricey and I can cook this at home.

It also depends on the group: is it all adults or are there kids? Makes a difference in a restaurant choice.

A considerate human being would. Your wife's cousin sounds like a self centered ass hole.

i have never ordered steak in a restaurant in 51 years. i can’t imagine a more boring thing to eat personally. my wife can cook a good steak in a cast iron pan better than anyone and even that, i eat under protest

and yea i consider everyone’s taste and the $ if we go out somewhere with more than just me and the wife

cook a nice steak, slice it thin and make a taco out of it.

Well my point was really not about Steak Houses in general.

Last week was my sons birthday, my daughter was also in town so we were 4 instead of 3.

Of course cousin was invited and came.

We picked a very nice Italian Restaurant that we all like and frequent. It would be excellent even by NY standards.

It was half the cost.

Again, I don't mind paying for good food, not in the least. I spent $150.00 a head for Mothers Day brunch for my wife and was happy to do it for her.

But I'm not going to ask others to do the same just because.

One of the "high end" places I will not even try is reputed to have great food, but even a meal with no alcohol is going to cost $120 per head. It is the place to go to impress other people. I can't care less about impressing other people. It is easy to spend $200 per head there for a meal and some drinks. No thanks. And the have a "dress code" of coat and tie for men. No friking way am I wearing a tie just to pay a lot of money to be seen eating there.

We can buy a large prime steak for 30 bucks, and split it between us. An ear of corn each and done!

I can make a steak at home that equals what you get in a good steakhouse, for a fraction of the cost, and have fun doing it. So, I almost never order steak.

Pat steak dry, sprinkle w/ salt, leave to air dry in fridge for a couple days.
Sous vide to desired temp and time (for my usually 125F, 4-6 hours) with preferred add-ons (I like butter, rosemary, a little horseradish or wasabi).
Pat dry, air cool to room temp.
Coat lightly w/ butter, maybe a little flour w/ salt and garlic powder.
Get cast iron skillet very hot (pre-heat skillet on burner at max flame for 5 min).
Range hood fan on high (or do this outside).
Add oil to skillet (small amount and carefully, initially it can/will vaporize and flame).
Sear the ***** out of steak edges and one side (that will be "up" on plate), give a lesser sear to other side.
Pat of butter on steak and serve immediately with creamed spinach w/ Amaretto, cream corn w/ Gran Marnier, string fries, or other preferred sides. Be sure to include three leaves of lettuce and a drop of vinagrette, for a healthy salad.

I don't really like fine dinning cost considerations aside. Too stuffy and dishes that are complicated rather than delicious.

Give me casual and authentic ethnic any day.

Why would anyone take young kids to a high end restaurant? I doubt they have a children's menu and the kiddies would probably prefer MickieD's.
We go to a restaurant for the service and kids get served everyday!
Ya I would have said something.

Let me know if you're going to be in the bay area when my birthday pops up in April. I like what you like.

I've posted before about my experiences eating out. Every time the Wife and I eat at a restaurant, we both look at each other after the meal with a kind of "meh, it was okay but we can cook better food at home".

We both like to cook so we eat out maybe once a month if that. When we do go out with friends and it's a restaurant I'm not familiar with I'll usually order a few items off of the appetizer menu for my meal. For me it's a great measuring tool for the quality of the restaurant.

The only places that I'll eat out at as opposed to cooking at home is Sushi and Mexican. It's cheaper and easier to get a great meal as opposed to buying a bunch of ingredients that i don't usually stock at home.

But when it comes to kids and picky eaters we used to frequent Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes for the salad bar/ buffet experience but Covid put the kabosh on those around these parts.

You haven't lived until you've taken me out to a $100 per person steakhouse. And I think the food tastes better when it's free.

One of our favorite places has the great prime rib, and other great choices, no kids menu at all. It is not a cheap place to eat, and it seems whenever we go, they seat a family next to us with the kids that love to belt out a top of the lungs scream or cry regularly.

I remember the bad old days when restaurants had a "smoking" section as if the stinky smoke stayed over there. I wish restaurants had a family with screaming obnoxious kids section. Put them all together in a walled off section away from adults trying to have a conversation.