What are your thoughts on a high end restaurant without a web site?

Maybe I am a snob, but I feel like any place that wants to deal in high end dining should at least maintain a basic website.

My reasoning is if I am to go with someone, I want to know we will both enjoy the menu and if I am treating, I want to know a general amount it is going to set me back. But that's only because I am cheap.

What do you guys think?

I agree. Hate to get that surprise anywhere so unless there's a site or someone gives me a ballpark figure about a place I've never been, I'm very unlikely to try them without that info.

That would be nice, but I really don't do high end dining.

I think it's more "snobbish" if a place thinks they're so exclusive that they don't have to provide basic info to the general public. J. P. Morgan is supposed to have said, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Fuck you, J.P.

Alan Smithee wrote:I think it's more "snobbish" if a place thinks they're so exclusive that they don't have to provide basic info to the general public. J. P. Morgan is supposed to have said, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Fuck you, J.P.

That quote has always fascinated me, Al. Well, I shouldn't say "always" just after Jay's business took off. There are so many in his social circle of snootish men who say that. It doesn't necessarily piss me off, but it always made me feel bad.

Whatever. Some places still do business on word of mouth rather than being online or trying to keep up with the internet age.

Honestly it hasn't been an issue. Most of them will be listed in some kind of internet directory with some kind of review. That's enough for me.

i admit.. i DO like to know a menu.... mostly cause im such a picky eater... no cheese no fish. I went to a restaurant once that there was only ONE item on the entire menu that did not have cheese... REALLY?

I do use the internet a lot to check out restaurants, and I think it's just dumb for those who don't post menus.
But I'll tell you what I really hate, and that's restaurants that do have websites but don't provide the prices on their menus. Sorry, but I do not patronize those.

I don't really ever do true "high end." I believe a good business should have a fairly helpful website in today's day and age. But at the same time, we had decades of high end restaurants doing just fine before the age of the Internet. Odds are, if they've been around long enough, there should be SOMETHING on them online. Even if it's just reviews.

RedBedroom wrote:Maybe I am a snob, but I feel like any place that wants to deal in high end dining should at least maintain a basic website.

My reasoning is if I am to go with someone, I want to know we will both enjoy the menu and if I am treating, I want to know a general amount it is going to set me back. But that's only because I am cheap.

What do you guys think?

It is odd that in this day and age that any high end business wouldn't have a website. In situations like this, though, perhaps the lack of one is an attempt to maintain exclusivity.

Bluesmama wrote:I do use the internet a lot to check out restaurants, and I think it's just dumb for those who don't post menus.
But I'll tell you what I really hate, and that's restaurants that do have websites but don't provide the prices on their menus. Sorry, but I do not patronize those.

Oh, Blues, that's the worst...I do not like the few times I found myself looking at a menu sans prices. Has not happened often, but I don't want to be wondering what the damage is going to be.