Michel Boucher wrote:
> Dave Smith > wrote in news:4b9c2bb4$0$3976
> :
>
>> So lunch for 4... $142. ouch.
>
> That's 35,50$ per person. Pretty standard around here if you want to go to
> a decent place. My father groused about paying that much at Inigo Jones in
> London in 1973, but times have changed.
>
> The children bought us a dinner at the local trattoria down the street. It
> was for 100$ and we ended up paying 6$ more. And I had no alcohol, never
> do, and we stuck to the table d'hôte which is excellent anyway.

This was lunch, not dinner. I knew that these two had appetites. As I
pointed out, meals included a side order... soup or (garden salad, but I
was wrong, the niece's meal did. His did not. She ordered the soup, but
also ordered, not the garden salad but the much more expensive Caesar
salad. He ordered two sides, the Caesar salad and the soup.

It was not my idea to take these two to a restaurant, because I know
that they will take advantage when someone else is buying, and I think
that ordering extra side dishes is taking advantage. I would not do it.
However, I have to admit that it was not as bad as I expected. Thank
goodness they are both on diets now. It could have been a lot worse.