You're attempting to exaggerate the price of this magic pasta by throwing in a bunch of other crap like coffe, dessert, bottles of wine, etc. Just look at the main course. How cheap do you expect a restaurant to be able to serve a plate of pasta? Forget about all the other crap? I assume you're talking past with sauce, right? Maybe some decent sauce like a fra diavolo, or pesto, not something from a jar. If you stayed home, it would cost you $1 for a box of pasta, $6 for a jar of higher end sauce, $4 for some sort of prepackaged salad in a bag, $2 for a loaf of bread. So that's $13 for a dinner for 2. It would take you about 1 hour to prepare. What is your time worth to you? $20/hr? $40/hr? <BR>So this meal may really be worth $33 to you and you complain about paying $40 at a restaurant where you get to sit on your cheap ass and have someone else serve you??? <BR> <BR>You can find plenty of places in NYC where you can get a la carte past for $12 a dish, but those places make $$$ nickel and diming you on everything else.

Additup: <BR>When I make pasta at home with meat sauce , my cost of making enough to feed 8 people (8 very large servings) is less than $10. I make my pasta sauce from scratch, not out of a bottle. I never pay more than about $.75/lb for the pasta. And believe me my pasta rivals anything you can get at a restaurant.

Fed up, let's go back to those early IQ tests, which you must not have done very well on. You're spending $100 a couple for pasta. Each plate of pasta costs $20. How much are you spending on "other stuff"? $60, just as my post said. Do the math. It's easy.

additup, maybe fedup doesn't think a plate of pasta is WORTH $20, but maybe he thinks a nice rack of lamb is worth $28. Or maybe it's just the type of restaurant that he doesn't think is worth $100 a couple. Maybe he'd rather spend $150 a couple in a different type of restaurant. Better value. It's not necessarily all about pasta per se.

Italian-American you're right, the portions at the type of restaurants I'm talking about are generally small, that's how they get you to order appetizers and desserts. A pound of pasta will serve a minimum of 4 in a restaurant, translation $20 x 4 = $80 for 4 plates of pasta which cost 75 cents for the main raw material. That's my point. I used pasta as the example exactly because it is so inexpensive.

I'm with you Fedup! My husband and I love to cook as well and do so most of the time, but once in a while you just want to go out, look at a menu and be served, not to mention not having to clean up. I don't think the issue here is cooking in versus dining out, I mean it is beyond obvious that it will cost less to make pasta at home, isn't it? <BR>Restaurants where I live have gotten so expensive that unless you go out for pizza, you cannot spend less than $ 100 for 2 and that IS with one glass of wine each, not a bottle. Last week we went out for tapas and a pitcher of sangria. We didn't even have entree's for crying out loud and the bill was $ 100. When we got home my husband made a sandwich. Once again we agreed not to go out because it's such a ripoff, but in about a month or so the memory will fade and we'll get burned again. <BR>The idea not to patronize these places only works if everyone is fed up. Apparently they are not though because all the restaurants are packed! <BR>If any one knows of any reasonable and good restaurants in Fairfield County, CT please, please clue me in!

It's hard to believe anyone so dumb has the money to afford $100 meals. <BR> <BR>1. Restaurants, like many other businesses, pay far more for labor than raw materials in the dish. The raw materials aren't irrelevant, but they don't totally explain the cost. <BR> <BR>2. You have to pay your share of the overhead. If the restaurant serves 100 meals that night, you have to pay 1 percent of all of that overhead (insurance, utilities, salary), no matter what you order. <BR> <BR>3. If you don't want pasta, don't order it. If you don't want to pay, stay home. <BR> <BR>4. The size of a pasta entree in a typical "run-of-the-mill" restaurant ranges from normal to huge. Order one pasta dish and split it. You'll lose weight. <BR> <BR>5. Why are you complaining about frills like liquor and dessert? Again, if money is no object, order these things, enjoy them, and pay for them. But don't whine to me about them. <BR> <BR>6. As an alternative, consider asking the restaurant to bring you a package of dry pasta and bill you $2 (plus tax and tip, of course).

I just had to add this. A few months ago we went out for our anniversary to a fairly new restaurant that has gotten good reviews. We knew it was not cheap, but it was described as very casual, good food on the waterfront (There were many people there in shorts and jeans - we aren't talking formal and pricey here). The entree's ranged from $ 26.00 to $ 38.00. Now here's the kicker, if you wanted a vegetable or potatoe it was $ 6.00 extra! I think that is incredible to charge that much for an entree and not even throw in the damn potatoe! The amazing part is, the place was packed. We won't be back but obviously some people aren't bothered by this extreme nickel and diming! Just had to vent, sorry.

Oh come on. I live in a high-cost area (D.C.), and I can go lots of places for a nice meal for less than $26 for an entree without side dishes. Where did you go? Ruth's Chris?

The name of the restaurant is The Beacon in Stamford CT. Please feel free to call and ask the price range of the entrees. (perhaps they have a website as well). I am NOT exaggerating. D.C. is considerably less expensive than Fairfield County. I'm quite sure that can be verified easily if anyone cared to go to the trouble.

The point isn't whether the cost was $26 for an entree as you say. I believe you. The point is that most cities are full of restaurants serving cheaper meals that are still plenty good. If you are going to pick someplace for a splurge, why on Earth complain about it later?

Happy to tell you why - It wasn't worth it! They charge NYC prices and believe me, the food was just O.K. We don't mind paying big bucks for outstanding food or a very special ambience but this place had neither! This also was not considered a "splurge". We would have gone to any multitude of excellent places in the city if we wanted that. We were actually trying to go a little conservative as we were leaving on vacation soon and didn't want to spend a lot. The service was also so bad that I didn't realize that the waiter neglected to tell us the specials until I overheard him telling the next table. I'm complaining because we left feeling totally ripped off and IMO making someone pay for a potato when you charge outrageous prices is just tacky. At least other readers of this forum are forewarned.

How many of these silly posts are we going to have here? Yes, I don't have to read them, but they drive the worthwhile posts to the next 50 in a hurry. BTW, L, that would be "mangia, mangia", yes?

I see I have stimulated some conversation. Sorry I was gone for a few hours, had to have a fix of that $20 pasta for dinner (just kidding). The entire issue is VALUE! Where is the value? Who is going to object to spending $100 per couple for a good dining experience? We recently went to a restaurant that served a great meal for $50 a head, the $25 entre was 5 of the largest beer batter shrimp I ever saw, and it came with a salad and baked potato. We added soup, cocktail and coffee and it was a great meal. <BR> <BR>Curious: We have eaten many a turkey sandwich after one of those meals. <BR> <BR>Next Time: Sounds like I've hit a sore spot, in the restaurant business are you? Probably charging $20 for marinara sauce. Ultimately the customer is looking for bang for the buck and as the economy cools that will become more apparent.

I don't get it. <BR>I am from Manhattan. <BR>You are telling me that you can get pasta for less than $20? That must be a magical place.

Well Will, If I've saved just one fellow poster from throwing their money away on a mediocre meal then I consider this a worthwhile post. And so you know that I don't object to spending a lot on a good meal, I had a fabulous meal at American Seasons in Nantucket last month. Was it is expensive? Very. Was it worth it? Every penny. The food was incredibly delicious, great atmosphere and service. Can't wait to return next year. In fact it was more expensive than The Beacon. We didn't mind though since it was a memorable meal and worth the expense. You at least felt you were getting value for your money, as Fedup said. And Jeff, it is amazing that we live in an area with such high prices that people actually don't believe you! I've got a tip for you though, go to Lupa. Great food and very reasonable, the pasta may even be about $20!

Just another vent: <BR>In the past on special occasions(eg birthday, anniversary) I have gone to some of those "romantic" French restaurants. Everything is ala carte and you spend about $100 or more per person for a nice relaxing 3 hour meal. I especially like it when they bring out the dessert cart crammed full of lucious looking deserts for about $9 a piece. When you finally select one, they cut off about a 1" wide slice. And I wonder, since there are only about 15 people in this restaurant and its almost closing time what are they going to do with all that stuff left on the cart? Oh well. I just leave hungry having been told that you are more appreciative of the food if you leave a little hungry and not over-full. But, invariably, I have had to stop on the way home at a buger joint or someplace to satisfy my hunger. And while there I can get a whole pie for the cost of one little piece. <BR>These days, I just skip the French experience and go strait to the burger joint. <BR>At least pasta is filling.

My answer to all this high-priced resturant food is: A SPECIAL MEAL AT HOME. I cook up a skillet of cornbread (w/1 tea spoon sugar)and fry 3 pieces of sowbelly. Next I fill a large tumbler about two thirds with milk then crumble about a quarter of the cornbread into the milk and CHOW DOWN. Beats any fancy dish that I have had in a resturant and I don't have to tip a fat ugly waitress which I always do when I eat out. I take that back. Louisiana's crawfish et-too-foo is as good.

I'm with you on the pasta scam. Pasta and seafood like salmon are the major money-makers for restaurants. Beef and the fancier salads (not just greens and tomatoes) cost them, usually. <BR> <BR>I also don't know why people who aren't carbo-loading for a marathon eat pasta in the first place. It's starch, people, bland at that. And it's usually loaded up with something that'll add fat. Olive oil may have some bennies for you, but then there's that cheese, those pieces of salami or pepperoni, or whatever. Italians eat it but in much, much smaller portions, not as their major entree. <BR> <BR>When I go to an upscale restaurant, I usually pass right over the pasta part of the menu (unless I'm having a carbonara fit!). <BR> <BR>Ah, yes -- and let's not forget the $8. tiny ball of sorbet with a sprig of mint. Just fruit juice into the sorbet-maker and you've made a fortune.

Have to agree with Fedup and Ess. The $20 pasta plate is just indicative of all the trendy pop-ups during our recent great economy. People had money to burn. But now I think we'll see more and more of these places going under, as people become more cautious and seek better value. I'd rather pay $100 per person, than $100 per couple to receive a lot of the garbage I've encountered lately. I like Gerry's idea the best!