A fancy dinner out in 2026 in a HCOL city - how much are you paying?

$300 is about what you'd expect at most high end restaurants around the country. I travel a bit and that's about what I see. That said, places like NYC, Vegas, Miami, etc will have much more expensive options. But many of those are getting into a situation where it's not really about the food anymore. They're places you go specifically to show off, or because you want to hang around with rich people, see celebrities, etc. They're kinda just expensive for the sake of being expensive. If that makes any sense? However, those places don't really advertise so much. They're not usually prominent on review sites. You're not likely to just stumble across one looking for a good date night spot. If you wanna spend that much, you have to purposefully look for a place to do it.