Review - Rainbow Room
 

Since some of you seemed interested, here is the report. Rainbow Room itself is only open to the public on Friday nights. It costs $150 per person, plus drinks, tax and tip. The menu gives 6 appetizer, 5 main, and 4 dessert choices. Drinks start at $17.00. Six of us had 1 round of mixed drinks and 3 bottles of wine at approx $40 each (the best deal there). Total bill came to $1250 plus tip. Dress is black tie, or as close as you can get (dark suit ok) and formalwear for the ladies. The atmosphere is very Laurence Welk to start the evening, and then gets livelier as the night goes on. The band is great, view is great, and the food is below average. We observed that it isn't about the food or even the view. It is ALL about the dancing! Moving to part 2:

Everyone there is soooo serious about the dancing. They seemed like all professionals. No one smiled, they just got up from their tables like robots and performed - waltzes, tangos, swing, whatever. But hysterical people watching. Everyone of them like a character out of a Fellini movie. So, we drank up, and hit the dance floor. Not worried about looking professional, we had a great time. The music was all across the board later in the evening - disco, rock, 50's, etc. So, if you are willing to spend the money, at least go with a bunch of people you can have a good time with. Otherwise, very stuffy evening. Oh, and the best things on the menu: Seafood Guazetto (spicy fish soup), the lobster (pretty small though), the sorbets and baked alaska. Service was pretty bad considering the price we paid to be there. The Grille bar area had much more atmosphere, was more casual, and seemed to be filled with more tourists. The Rainbow Room was mostly locals (really, we asked), many of them regulars for their once a month ballroom dancing fix.

Thanks for some very useful information. This kind of thing is what should be on this forum.

Ellen - <BR><BR>Do you feel that you got your moneys worth? An evening out at approx. $210 a head is a bit too rich for most Americans.

That's kind of a silly question.<BR>If Ellen has an income over $1 million per year, then dropping $210 for an evening is not even worth a second thought, and it won't take an extraordinary evening to make it 'worthwhile'.<BR><BR>If she had to save for a year, but got substandard food, substandard service, and everything was priced out of proportion with the real world, I doubt she'd think it was 'worth it'.<BR><BR>But whether Ellen's financial situation and yours are similar has more relevance than whether Ellen thought the RR was 'worth it'.<BR><BR>If Ellen simply answers 'yes, it was worth it', that does not really increase the likelihood that YOU would think it was worth it, if your financial situation were to make it difficult for you to afford, while hers might be the opposite.

With the tip, it came to about $500 per couple. Worth it? Certainly not the food or the service. Not really even the view because I live here and see that all the time (and it is free at the Empire State Building). If I really knew how to dance and enjoyed getting decked out and waltzing with my husband, then yes, it might be worth it. But then again, you can come in there after 10 pm for $20 per person and just dance. So, the only thing that made it worthwhile was the company. It isn't something I'd recommend to anyone unless they danced. If you are strapped for cash, this is really not worth it. If you have a lot of money, go eat some place with great food, and then go up there for dancing. You can get away with a dark suit and a fancy cocktail dress for that.

Ellen, I just finished reading this to my husband and we both got a real kick out of it! Lol, one of the men that he works with Looooves the Rainbow Room, he and his wife go every year on her birthday which is also Valentines Day and they are soooo serious about their dancing! So this was a hoot to read!<BR>Thanks for the chuckles, I can see them twirling around now!Lol..

Oh yes, very serious dancing. I have never seen anything like it. People were actually applauding &amp; yelling bravo as they were dipping to the tango! 60 &amp; 70 year old women with their 25 year old escorts, very stiff older couples, and some young couples who came there for a romantic evening and had no idea what they were in for. Lucky for us, the dance floor revolves so we just stood there and swayed during the slow songs. While we looked like we were moving, we were actually staying put--and off each others feet!

ttt for recent query