Should we use a common standard for giving prices of meals?

[Dave Hatfield]

After today’s wonderful Saturday lunch at Le Repaire de Cartouche (featuring a seasonal terrine of wild hare with chocolate, scallops with cabbage, grouse breast wrapped in cabbage with yet another cabbage preparation, piping hot clafoutis and a moelleux of (? apple) vanilla with caramel sauce for a gentle 105 €, no extra charge for expert waitressing by Rodolphe Paquin’s  5-yo daughter) it occurred to me we have a lot of overlapping topics on weekend eating.  Therefore, I’ve merged some weekend eating topics which I’ve made note of here.

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John, Very nice, but ...

How many people? With or without wine? Coffee or no?

Total price per person?

?? Should we have a convention when stating prices? p/p/p? Menu price? Food only price? You name it?

Makes a big difference. A 35 Euro menu quickly runs up when you add an apperitif, some wine and coffee Plus, maybe, an after dinner cognac.

Opinions? Suggestions?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Should we have a convention when stating prices? p/p/p? Menu price? Food only price? You name it?

....Opinions? Suggestions?

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Please.

[Dave Hatfield]

Should we have a convention when stating prices? p/p/p? Menu price? Food only price? You name it?

....Opinions? Suggestions?

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Please.

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Your suggestion?

[John Talbott]

Full disclosure sounds reasonable to me: I try in my monthly reports to give same but occasionally forget. And in the Digest, the authors are quite specific about menu prices and a la carte costs. It does indeed annoy me when any people say that the meal is 35 E (not stating the amount and quality of beverages consumed). Worse is omitting any amount.

My readers have indicated in PM's that they appreciate the bottom line.

Of course, as with today, one could order the 19 E wine or the 77 E one. Or elsewhere have the 18 E/doz oysters or 36 E ones, I could go on.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Should we have a convention when stating prices? p/p/p? Menu price? Food only price? You name it?

....Opinions? Suggestions?

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Please.

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Your suggestion?

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Me? I'd like to know the base menu price, beverage charges and the total. e.g., one menu at 30€, one at 35€, 3 wines by the glass, 2 coffees, totally 99€; or 65€ for food, 6€ for coffee, 28€ for wine. Rough estimates would be fine as long as we got a sense of how the diner ordered in order to arrive at his stated total.

[Dave Hatfield]

Think I pretty much agree with Margaret.

At a minimum I'd like to see the total price of the meal and the food only component of that.

Further breakdown into food, wine and other would be helpful as well. The other component (aperitifs, coffee, water, ...) can add significantly to the total, especially in the more upmarket restaurants.

As John points out wine can be difficult as there's such a huge price range on a given carte. Given that its hard to quantify I'd like to see the reviewers general opinion as to how the wines are priced in that particular restaurant. Although subjective I think that most who eat out regularly have a pretty good feel for the overall pricing of wines on a list. (My example might be Belcastel where their list is very fairly priced to a Michael Bra's where the wines are exorbitantly priced.)

Finally, on the food I'd always like to know whether the cost was for a set menu or a la carte.