Dave Smith wrote:
> 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.

OK... so you are uncomfortable with the way your niece and her husband
eat. That leads me to ask.... why invite them out for dinner or lunch
if you disapprove of their dining habits? To celebrate a birthday or
whatever, you could have just bought them a present and been done with
it. Probably would have saved some money. "Sorry we couldn't be there
and our schedule is too busy to make lunch plans, so instead we are
sending you this gift in celebration... yadda, yadda, yadda." The
present could have even been a gift certificate to one of their favorite
restaurants. Then you would have paid exactly what you wanted to spend
without having to watch them order while you ran a running total in your
head.

And why did you choose THAT restaurant? If you knew they were going to
"take advantage" of you. it would have been easier to choose a cheaper
place. Obviously the price of the meal is important to you (she chose
the "much more expensive" salad). If your relationship with her has a
price tag, then take her to a place that fits the amount you are willing
to spend.

I'm thinking you went into this with a bad attitude and it became a
self-fulfilling prophesy.

George L