Wine Dinner at 610 Magnolia

Donna and I attended an excellent wine dinner at 610 Magnolia this evening. This is a lovely restaurant, and both sides of the street are very cool and designed with aplomb. The wines were all from Champagne and Rousillon and were just great, unique, and expressed the British palette in their both taste and earthiness. The speaker was long winded and provided details that only Kermit Lynch would care about, but both owners were charming, welcoming, and warm. The service was impeccable and had heart. My only concern was the cost of the dinner - $324 for two with an 18% tip included. I left an extra five in order to be fair. While the food was very good, I felt the cost was rather high for Louisville. What do you guys think?

I've been to 610 once, and though it was an absolutely wonderful meal in all respects, it was also the most expensive I've ever had, too. It's definitely a special occasion kind of place.

In my one trip to the restaurant, our group stayed for over 3 hours, if I remember correctly, so we had a wonderful time...... but it's pricey.

I've actually been to 610 once, and also spend around 3 hours there. (Not coincidentally, as I was with Joe.)

While undoubtedly expensive, I had just graduated and felt like celebrating. I didn't spring for the flight of wine pairings, as that was around $55 extra, but I will definitely say it was worth every penny. If you have a very special occasion to celebrate, you can't go wrong with 610.

yea....that's my car payment...

i think...
'why would i ask this question AFTER i dined, enjoyed, and paid?'

Matt,
To answer your question succinctly, there are some meals worth thousands of dollars. I wouldn't know if the meal is worth it until I have tried it. In Paris, London, New York, L.A., San Francisco, a unfortunate aspect of dining out is that a meal could be ridiculously expensive. In about 50% of the experiences, the meal was priceless. I am still willing to take the chance.

Donna and I attended an excellent wine dinner at 610 Magnolia this evening. This is a lovely restaurant, and both sides of the street are very cool and designed with aplomb. The wines were all from Champagne and Rousillon and were just great, unique, and expressed the British palette in their both taste and earthiness. The speaker was long winded and provided details that only Kermit Lynch would care about, but both owners were charming, welcoming, and warm. The service was impeccable and had heart. My only concern was the cost of the dinner - $324 for two with an 18% tip included. I left an extra five in order to be fair. While the food was very good, I felt the cost was rather high for Louisville. What do you guys think?

Did you knew the price going in?

I would also assume the wines were small case lot affairs with enormous retail prices and that's where the money went. I don't mind paying here what I pay in LA, SF, Atlanta, or New York assuming the product is on parr. If you go to any of the top 3 or 4 restaurants here and spend $200 on wine then I guess you are in the ballpark.

I've dined at 610 on a couple of occasions. They were all celebratory meals so we were mentally prepared to shell out some cash. There was clearly a lot of effort that went into the preparation of the food and selection of ingredients. When that type of effort is obvious, I'm comfortable paying for it. That said, I do feel that the $175 or so a person is a little steep for Louisville. I imagine that, as Mark said, a large portion of that expense was due to wine/drinks which, based on my experiences, can quickly surpass the food costs in that restaurant. There are many restaurants in other cities where such a price for that type of meal may not seem out of place but Louisville doesn't have too many players in that realm. I think it compares favorably with those so I imagine that, someday, I will return when I'm feeling pretty flush and want to celebrate in an unique intimate environment.

According to 610's website, last night was a special night where the restaurant had a guest chef, Celina Tio (not Chef Lee) and a guest wine speaker David Schildknecht, from The Wine Advocate. Thus, the restaurant charged a little more person $120 plus tax and 18% gratuity opposed to the normal $75 a head.

And if I am not mistaken, I recently read that 610 is also offering an abbreviated menu, not the normal 7 course prefix, during this economic slump which is even less than the $75 a head.

I think 610 is worth every penny of the regular $75 per person. Chef Lee uses unique ingredients from around the country that you can't find at most other restaurants in the city. And to top it off, I think his creations are top notch.

Phil, I would suggest going to the monthly pasta dinners at the Wine Studio at 610. Same fantastic atmosphere and Chef Lee's homemade pastas for $45 (includes tastings of 5 wines). In February I went with my sister (who only drinks boutique wines and has a 700+ bottle collection) and she was pretty impressed with the selections, including a $14 bottle with NO markup. In other words, we drank a bottle with dinner and we were able to buy some to take home, for the same price - $14. And it was a really nice everyday wine! They also were featuring a gorgeous $40 bottle that evening. In that situation, 610 was a great deal...she could not believe how cheap it was, in fact. I think the event you attended was a unique situation with a renowned chef and speaker, and I don't recall seeing many other special occasion dinners over $100/pp in this city.

Talk about mortgage payment meals...we went to Tru in Chicago and spent over $1K for 4 people, and I still think it was worth.every.penny.

A wine dinner for two in Louisville....$324 dollars

Dinner for four in Chicago.............$1000 dollars

Just one "toke" off whatever ya'll have been smoking...PRICELESS

<insert smiley face here>

Steve, remind me to tell you about the 1K dinner sometime...it was truly priceless. The experience included a special seat for my handbag, a personal escort to the restroom, four servers doing every motion (every glass refill, every plate cleared) in perfect unison for 5 hours... a cheese course following a 12 course tasting menu, followed by dessert, then a huge candy cart was wheeled up with an amazing selection of confections...and then truffles came with the bill. And cookies at the exit to enjoy the next day. That meal was $135/pp with 3 bottles of wine bringing up the tab significantly. And let me tell you, there was such a food high at the end of that meal I didn't need to smoke anything (although come to think of it, I had shattered my leg one month prior and I WAS on some pretty potent painkillers...perhaps that softened the blow of the bill?)

The experience included a special seat for my handbag, a personal escort to the restroom, four servers doing every motion (every glass refill, every plate cleared) in perfect unison for 5 hours.

While I'm sure the food was exquisite, I couldn't handle having a personal escort to the restroom. I'm often slightly uncomfortable being waited on in the first place, simply because I prefer to do things myself. I can't imagine being walked to the restroom and back. In my mind no matter how politely its done, that level of service is far too invasive.

Paul, that aspect was a little weird, and honestly I don't recall it as well as my friend who also dined there. But additionally, I was in a wheelchair at the time, so I thought it was just considerate that a female staff member assisted me to the restroom rather than my husband having to get up to push me there, or perhaps knock into someone as I tried to do it myself!

Definitely the level of service at Tru was above and beyond anything I've ever experienced, and I could see someone who is modest about being waited on being uncomfortable with it. But getting back to the original point, in order to justify such a high price tab, I guess restaurants keep ramping up the experience...in this case the service was as jaw-dropping as the food.

I guess I need to clarify:
I had a fantastic time at the 610 dinner and the food and wine were great. I just wondered about the cost and if it was unusual for Louisville. We are living on one income at present and have become a bit more cost conscious as of late. We are also paying rent here in Louisville and a mortgage in Milwaukee. Those things make you look at costs with a bit more vigilance.