I don't always find that high priced restaurants have the best food, sorry to say. I have gone to some of the hot spots in Manhattan, but not always happy. Recently met some people from North Carolina in a famed Soho restaurant for brunch; where an omelet is $40.00 (which is about what I could afford there) and it was just...okay.I guess some people are happy, but it's more about ambience than food. Shame. There also is a French restaurant on the East Side some friends insist on as a meeting spot when we're all in the city, and even their coffee is second rate.

It seems to me, the overall quality of food in most restaurants has diminished in the last ten years or so, and I'm not sure why. I can still find some gems, but they're hard to discover. (There's a great an moderately priced Chinese Restaurant in the West Village, right across from Westbeth that's SUPERB. Went into a place last week which was 4x the price and not half as good.

For me, it's the food, not the ambience. Unless the ambience includes sitting at a table where Harrison Ford unexpectedly decides to dine. ;D