Just for Dinner?

Well, that is a little better. For some reason I was thinking it was $500/person. That said, we have the same sentiments about the burger/beer with people we know and like vs the upscale meal and ???

To clarify, the dinner is $580/ couple. Not sure if that's including tax and tip, but if so, that's pretty close to what a meal in a fine restaurant would be BEFORE wine. Since most restaurants like that start their wine lists at $100, if the meal is indeed at the level, it's a relative bargain.
Whether it's at a level is another story.
Value is also relative. I'll be the first one to admit that I'll take a burger and a beer with good friends over the finest meal in the toppest restaurant with people I don't care for. But again, depends what it comes with. Desire resorts were not the only ones I've paid $1000+/nt for, but by far the dumpiest.
Can't wait to go back though.

We did ballroom dancing for a number of years and enjoyed the black tie/gown dress up affairs. I own 2 tuxes and got to use them, and most of the events we went to were vanilla charity affairs. Nothing crazy like $500/person though.

I am also not a big wine person. We both cook fairly well so there is little in the way of a meal that would impress us enough to spend that kind of money. I realize that the wine and a good cigar alone could easily account for half (or all) of the $500/person price tag, but those are not things that interest us. The total package might if we actually got to meet people that were there to play, but totally get how nobody could guarantee that short of hiring hookers, which would also not interest us.

The bottom line is still the bottom line, and we can do a boat load of partying and playing for $1000.

We went through their approval process. This part of the long-story, short...we were approved.

Our issue is that if you visit the website, marketing pretty much knocks it out of the park in terms of billing it like it is a must-do, can't miss, exclusive event. But once we were approved, the "operations" side of things really fell flat. We signed up for an event on a particular date at a particular city. I started receiving emails for wrong dates and later wrong cities.

We couldn't shake the feeling that it simply wouldn't live up to what the videos billed it to be. I was then informed there was a snafu with their email servers which caused the multiple emails. Then was told it was fixed...but it happened again.

Then we met couples who have actually gone. They did say they had a great time and would do it again. I also ended up talking to an out-of-state gentleman who has attended several. An earlier post is accurate. You aren't seated next to your partner, you are seated across. It sounds like it works and by the accounts told to me, you get to know others immediately rather than sitting back and getting the temperature of the room.

I was also told "a glass of wine per course" was not accurate. They told me your glass will never be empty so plan transportation accordingly if you're not staying at that hotel. So that's a good thing.

We have planned on checking them out again if one of the events fit our schedule but who knows?

It'll be hard to judge if the price tag is worth it until you go, I guess. We love dress-up events. Being that I'm not much of a wine guy, not sure my lady would make up the difference and I don't know if it is otherwise open bar for those who don't drink wine.

I don't like dismissing things out of hand, but I also don't care for pretentious people or events. My initial impression was it was pretentious exercise in conspicuous consumption for elitist snobs. The idea of paying $500 for dinner (no matter how amazing) seems over the top no matter how amazing the meal. For some reason it made me think of "The Freshman", the Marlon Brando/Matthew Broderick film where people pay outrageous fees to dine on supposed endangered species, but they turn out to be mundane food that, like the Emperor's New Clothes (to mix a metaphor), are trendy only in the eye and palate of the beholder.

Feeling a bit ashamed of my knee-jerk reaction, I deliberately took the time to check out their website. For those that haven't checked it out, the marketing is "For those in the lifestyle who appreciate a slender ankle in a red-soled pump, the hand-stitched interior of a classic German automobile and a 2007 Insignia, this is for you." Apparently it's not for me since I had to look up what an Insignia was. (It's a brand of wine, and it's $160.00 a bottle at retail) Restaurants mark up wine 2-3x, so just one bottle is worth the price of admission I guess.

Being the internet sleuth that I am, I also took the time to search for the posters of the reviews. Yes, some of those are actual screen names on LS sites that we're members of. The ones I could find pretty much fit the bill...lots of pictures of trophy wives, a few with the obligatory shot of an old fat guy with her but those were rare, many pictures appeared professionally taken and/or airbrushed. The profiles emphasized "fit", "athletic", "good looking", "upper class", "classy", "attractive", "hot", "professional" but I didn't see a man that was any of those, just the trophy wives.

All the effort led me right back to my initial impression: I'd never ask for an invitation, if we won one we wouldn't attend, and we probably won't enjoy hanging out with anyone that did. That's not our tribe.

"There may be people who can tell the difference between a $200 bottle of wine and one that costs $20, but I'm not one of them."

I've always thought that for 99% of the wine drinking population, once you hit $50 per bottle, no one can really tell the difference, and anyone who claims they can is almost certainly lying or deluding themselves. As evidence, I'd encourage you to look up the "Judgement of Paris" wine tasting from 1976, where a bunch of PROFESSIONAL French wine critics couldn't tell the difference between the top French wines and those upstart Californian wines. When the results were revealed (the Californian wines won EVERY category), the French were so pissed off that they banned the Brit wine seller who organized the tasting, even though he only sold French wines and had set the tasting up so that he could prove that French wines were superior. Oops.

should be *good wine... not hood wine... although it depends... Is "terroir" French for "hood"? :)

We recently went out with a couple who had attended the dinner.
They said the dinner was nice, good food hood wine... Couples were seated across the long table so that they spoke mostly to people seated next to them.
As for the other guests being "elitists", they were anything but.. Same people you'd meet at other m&g events, but better dressed for the night. They weren't sorry they went, but they didn't make any new friends there.
We are still considering. It doesnt sound like a SNCTM party at all, but apparently they do have it them for members...

Once upon a time, before the dotcom bust, I was a corporate wife and spent a little too much social time with investment bankers and the like. There may be people who can tell the difference between a $200 bottle of wine and one that costs $20, but I'm not one of them. Plus, conspicuous consumption gives me hives.

This isn't an attractive proposition for me either.

There are some that view the "finer things in life" as being synonymous with "expensive". They are, but there is a distinction. There are people that will like a $100+ bottle of wine simply because it's $100+. and not because of what it tastes like. They drive expensive cars as much for the status as they do for the quality of the ride. I see this as a target market for these types of parties.

I have known some people like this in life. They are driven by a need to impress anyone that will listen to them. While we don't shun anyone unless they are rude or mean, we find they are generally not our type of people so we personally would have little interest in something that would attract these kind of people.

The people we find way more fun are the ones that can easily afford these luxuries but you would never know it to talk to them. I admire "humble" as do many people here as seen in the number of profiles you'll find "down to earth" in.

I know of the promoter and they are very successful in there target market.... $500 for dinner is not in our budget.... but for those that have that spare change.… I have heard it is a wonderful evening. 5 Star + food, wine, privacy and smoking hot cocktail dresses. Sounds like a good time to me.

Mr.

We just watched SNCTM on Netflix, so we are envisioning something like that...The reality is likely to be disappointing, but we are ever the optimists...

Maybe I should do a lower cost version and call it, "Just for bowling". It's $30/couple for a few hours of moonlight bowling with $3 beers/wines and maybe $10 - $20 for apps.

If people get along well with the actual bowling then we can move on to the metaphorical bowling ;-)

The selection criteria are obviously Limited to whoever is willing to pay $580 for a meal. Once you pass that hurdle, I doubt they look at anything else.

Overpriced? Of course. But no more overpriced then desire let's say. It's a three- star resort at best, charging five star resort prices. We just came back from our second trip in 5 months. Was the resort worth it? Absolutely not. Still, we can't wait to go back.

Have fun. Hope you come back and let us all know how it was :)

Well, I applied.
Don't know how "elitist" they are, but if they accept us, must not be too much so :)

It's a great concept. We've done a few of these without the grading. It takes a bunch of work and coordination but getting 4 couples together for a nice dinner can be amazing. There is one restaurant in Phoenix that has private tables with great views. So you are tucked away from the other tables and no one can overhear your conversations. We haven't done it in awhile but just the topic being brought up is giving us motivation to do it again. :)

Exactly. We aren’t elitists, and won’t hang out with them. Not for us at all!

Pfun,

Yup, it definitely comes across as an elite social gathering. It may be really fun, and I know my wife loves a sophisticated dinner party, but even if we were deemed to be “classy” enough we wouldn’t want to be part of a group that excludes based on their criteria.

We’ve wanted to attend one. What turned us off was the having to apply. That means that some third party is going to make a determination if we were worthy enough to attend. Probably not as bad as we interpret the application process to be...but enough to turn us off.

I applied for an invite. Might be worth checking out.

Saw an ad for Just for Dinner
Wondering if anyone has attended their events, and how they are.
thanks!