Originally Posted by
JBord
Interestingly, last weekend, my wife and I made a
value judgment based just on price without knowing the product!
At dinner, we were presented with a menu (no phone scan
) and one of the options was a 5-course prix-fixe menu. We asked the waiter if there was a separate menu, and he said it's a "blind tasting". The chef selects 5 courses inspired by the ingredients used on the regular menu, but creates a different meal. For $80/person (+$45 for wine pairing), we took our chances and were very pleased. I don't recall taking that chance outside of a Michelin-starred restaurant ever before, but at the price point, we felt it was worth a try.
Not too new. Over a dozen years ago, Cue at the Guthrie in MSP used to do this (as did the sister restaurant towards St. Paul). I think both dishes per course were different too. Another restaurant relatively close to my current location offers only such a menu on the first working day of the week (restaurant is only open 4 or 5 days a week, afforded by the fact it's in the middle of nowhere relatively speaking). Bargain at ~CAD 54 p.p. for 5 courses. Different dishes per course for a 4 person table too.
Back to no prices on (chain-wide) menus, I guess that is to allow for local pricing conditions. Very low-brow "dining" but some site I frequent has people complaining about different prices at McDonald's in the same metropolitan area.