14 of the Most Expensive Restaurants in America

Splurging on a good restaurant typically means ordering the special and some drinks. But America's most elite fine-dining restaurants take decadence to a whole other level, serving up meticulously thoughtful service and mysteriously delicious dishes. If you're looking for a culinary experience you'll never forget — or, at least, that your bank account will never forget — check out of some of America's most expensive restaurants. Have you had the opportunity to visit one of these restaurants or hope to one day? Let us know in the comments.

Prices are subject to change.

Related: 27 of the Most Expensive Steaks You Can Order

New York City
Masa serves sushi for lunch and dinner at a starting rate of $750 per person, not including drinks and tax. The menu changes regularly at this 26-seat restaurant, but that doesn't really matter, considering chef Masayoshi Takayama chooses what diners will eat each night. But many argue Masa is worth the price — The New York Times once dubbed it the "city's greatest sushi restaurant," and Travel + Leisure said diners will be "transported to an ethereal realm where chef Masa creates one of the premier dining experiences in the world." If you do visit Masa, don't try to tip; gratuity is included in the bill.

Related: This Is the Best Sushi Restaurant in Your State

Las Vegas
Located in Caesars Palace hotel's Augustus Tower, Restaurant Guy Savoy has earned two Michelin stars, the AAA Five Diamond Award, and the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Like its sister restaurant in Paris, this fine-dining spot is known for serving modern takes on traditional French cuisine in a minimalist setting. The restaurant is known for its artichoke and black truffle soup, sophisticated staff, and high prices — the most expensive tasting menu currently runs for $615 per person.

Related: Bucket List Restaurants in Las Vegas

San Francisco
Boasting three Michelin stars, Benu offers a fixed tasting menu of mainly seafood and vegetables, paired with a few meat courses and dessert. The Michelin Guide notes: “Dishes like barbecued quail with house-made XO sauce and an elevated take on traditional Korean beef barbecue convey a distinct personality and reflect a singular marriage between contemporary Asian influences.” Plan on spending a decent chunk of money and time for dinner at Benu; the tasting menu costs $350 per person, and the restaurant asks diners to set aside three hours for the meal.

Washington, D.C.
A couple can easily spend far more than $1,000 on dinner at Minibar, a restaurant with two Michelin stars that bills itself as a study in avant-garde cooking. “The creations combine art and science, as well as tradition and technique, to deliver an imaginative and progressive tasting menu, offered at a communal setting,” the restaurant’s website notes. Headed by chef José Andrés, who was listed on ​​TIME’s 100 most influential people of 2018, Minibar offers experimental dishes in a laboratory-like setting; “mostly it's a sensory experience,” wrote World-Architects.

Chicago
Alinea is not a restaurant — "at least, not in a conventional sense," it's been said. That didn't stop Alinea from ranking 37th on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019, or, in 2017, becoming the first Chicago restaurant to get three Michelin stars; it also earned three Michelin stars in 2020. If you ask those who've paid $465 for Alinea’s most expensive tasting menu, they might say dinner here is something like an interactive magic show — decorative objects around the room turn out to be edible, waiters inflate taffy candy with helium, and diners are asked to tour the kitchen, only to find the dining room has transformed when they return. "I feel that we have to perform in a theatrical manner; it has become our personality," chef Grant Achatz told the Chicago Tribune.

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The motto behind one of Boston's most beloved Japanese restaurants, o ya, has long been "Do it right, or don't do it at all," co-founder Nancy Cushman once wrote. And, by all accounts, Nancy and her husband Tim Cushman did it right: The restaurant has been so successful over the past decade that the Cushmans opened sister locations in Mexico City and New York (now closed). At the Boston spot, diners can enjoy approximately 20 rotating courses on the tasting menu, which at $250 is likely one of the most expensive in the city. 

Related: 20 College-Town Restaurants That Are Worth a Splurge

New York City
With three Michelin stars and four stars from The New York Times, Eleven Madison Park has no shortage of clout in the fine-dining world. This Manhattan restaurant used to feature a marathon 25-course tasting menu, paired with waiters who'd perform card tricks and tell tales of old New York City. But after a conceptual redesign in 2016, Eleven Madison Park began focusing more on creating an intimate, conversational atmosphere, with a new menu that represents a "streamlined return to European classicism," as The New York Times wrote. The pandemic brought even more changes. The restaurant has now moved to a plant-based menu and is also providing free meals to food-insecure New Yorkers (and in 2021 a food truck was opened to reach that audience). The dinner here costs about $365 per person, not including drinks or tip. But, as one Google reviewer noted, "you do not come to Eleven Madison Park for dinner — this is an experience." 

Related: The Bucket List Restaurant in Your State

Yountville, California
As the first Bay Area restaurant to get three Michelin Stars, The French Laundry has been a regional star in the restaurant world since 1994, serving fine French cuisine on two tasting menus that change daily. Dinner for two — which might include dishes such as Royal Ossetra Caviar, Wolfe Ranch White Quail, and Sweet Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster, to name a few — can last several hours and cost about $620, not including tip or drinks. After finishing a $10 million renovation in 2017, The French Laundry's "dishes are more exciting," the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "and the service staff under longtime manager Michael Minnillo is reinvigorated." 

Related: 19 American Restaurants That Revolutionized the Way We Eat

Las Vegas
Named after and founded by the late chef Joël Robuchon, this French restaurant serves the most expensive dinner in a city where decadence is the guiding ethos. Awarded three Michelin stars in 2008 and 2009, Joël Robuchon is known for its tapas-style dining, opulent interior design, and meticulous approach to classic French cuisine. Many diners praise the bread cart, with one Yelp reviewer writing she was in "awe" after enjoying "saffron brioche, fluffy milk bread, a gruyere puff, and even a mini croissant with their salted, creamy, imported French butter." Prices range at Joël Robuchon, but expect a tasting-menu dinner for two to cost more than $1,100, after tax, tips, and drinks. 

Related: 20 Bucket List Restaurants in Las Vegas 

New York City
Located next to Manhattan’s Brooklyn Fare grocery store, this Michelin three-star restaurant offers Japanese- and French-inspired dishes, mainly fish and shellfish “with one or two meat courses and a variety of desserts,” the restaurant’s website notes. The courses here rotate to include seasonal ingredients, but examples of past dishes include ​​trout roe tartlet, chawanmushi with foie gras, and Hokkaido uni with black truffle. The tasting menu typically includes about a dozen courses for $430 per person, which doesn’t include the cost of wine you could order from Chef Table’s 7,000-bottle cellar.

Washington, D.C.
Shortly after Pineapple and Pearls longtime Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema called it "a superlative restaurant — dare I say world-class? — and worthy of as many stars as I can give." Other reviewers tend to agree that the $325-per-person cost, which includes approximately nine courses, drinks, tax, and tip, is well worth it. As one Yelp reviewer noted, the dishes at this Michelin 2-star restaurant are inspired by a variety of cuisines: "One looking for a consistent theme or a certain 'flow' in fine dining may be disappointed, but keep an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised."

Culver City, California
Vespertine bills itself as "a gastronomical experience seeking to disrupt the course of the modern restaurant." This description, according to most reviews, rings true of both the food and the physical space, which are often described as extraterrestrial, or like nothing else diners have ever seen. The food here is virtually unrecognizable, presented in strange, sculpted containers, and it's often unclear what's edible and what's not. But don't let that — or the approximately $250-per-person price tag — throw you off, because the late legendary food writer Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times once called Vespertine the city's best restaurant, though he added that the strange experience will "drive many of you insane." 

Related: 22 Unusual Theme Restaurants Across America

San Francisco
Awarded three Michelin stars in 2014, Saison is a modern American restaurant that emphasizes wood-fired cooking and locally sourced ingredients. "We work with a small group of fisherman, hunters, gatherers, ranchers, and farmers to find and follow microclimates that produce specific tastes from wild foods," the restaurant's website says. For all that hard work, diners pay $298 for a multicourse dinner in the main dining room, with dishes ranging from uni to halibut, and bison to wood-smoked vegetables. "This isn't a pretentious place," one Yelp reviewer wrote. "You feel like you're in someone's home and are welcomed with lots of smiles and warmth."

Related: 20 Free and Cheap Things to Do in San Francisco

New York City
Per Se serves New American and French cuisine in two nine-course tasting menus, one of which is vegetarian. In both menus, “no single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal,” the restaurant states. Amid Central Park views and the renown of three Michelin stars, Per Se serves specialties like Hawaiian heart of peach palm bavarois, herb-roasted Scottish langoustine, and banana gelato with dulce de leche. If you plan to indulge in the restaurant’s most expensive options, expect to pay about $850 per person.