[El Diablo]

All,

All this discussion is great, but let's get some more reviews here!

So, general thoughts first.

The high-end restaurants that Cit is talking about are places that when it's all said and done are gonna be more like $125+/person restaurants, and often $150+ (of course wine can easily take this far higher). In the US, chef's tasting menus at high-end restaurants are generally $80-120. That's the kind of restaurant we're talking about in this thread.

So what do I want/expect:

Food: Main thing I want is to think that nothing put in front of me is so-so. Now, I might not like a certain taste, that is fine. But if they are serving chicken, I never want to be like, well OK that is just like the roasted chicken at that neighborhood rotisserie place.

Service: AM summed it up pretty well. I want the waiter to be attentive, but not intrusive. Let us control what's going on in the dinner. He should provide info, but not be pushy or pretentious. It's all about taking cues from us. Being knowledgeable about what to recommend based on asking us a few questions is huge. At a place that is not a fixed menu, being able to suggest the appropriate amount of food to order is very important.

Ambience: I don't want tables to be too close together. I don't want it to be too loud. I want all the little things to be right.

As for the styles cit described, I am a fan of both styles. The "best of class" restaurants where they do some style that exists at a lower price point, just really really well (places like Delmonico's or Craftsteak for steaks, Nobu for sushi, for example) or places that are more creative and the chef is going to town with a tasting menu highlighting all sorts of differnet foods/techniques. Some places fall sort of in the middle with a few courses that you mix and match between. I like them all.

Here are a few of the ones I've been to relatively recently that I'll review in this thread if nobody beats me to them.

Nobu (Vegas/NYC/London, sushi)
Dining Room at Ritz Carlton (SF, tasting menu)
Gary Danko (SF, hybrid)
Quince (SF, hybrid)
Delmonico's (Vegas, steak)
Craftsteak (NYC, steak)
Michael Mina (SF, tasting menu)

Of these, I was very impressed and highly recommend the first four. Craftsteak was very good, but only the steak was really noteworthy. The sides and starters were all very good, but did not blow us away like I expect at a high-end place. Michael Mina was a disappointment and the only one that I would not recommend.