I got to got to a place like that as a perk for work once. Impressive wine list. Tantalizing menu, I wanted one of everything. Beautiful place. Great service. Food beautifully presented. Very expensive. The shocker was that the food wasn't very good. I'm not that picky and I appreciate all kinds of food.
This was about five years ago, and a glass of water did cost about ten bucks.
More disturbingly there are ordinary looking restaurants that sell stuff ala carte. I went to one recently to meet a friend for dinner and I had a small salad, a ham sandwich, split an appetizer with my friend, and had a coke and a cup of coffee and a small piece of pineapple shortcake. My friend had pot roast, shortbread, and coffee. No alcohol. $105 including the tip for dinner for two, nothing fancy. I'm used to paying about forty for better food. I don't go to restaurants often, and this sort of thing guarantees i will go less and less.
