There is a lot of allure of the Joël Robuchon Las Vegas restaurant. It was created by one of the world’s most celebrated chefs that included earning 32 Michelin Stars and being awarded the “Chef of the Century”. However, what does it really cost to dine at Joël Robuchon restaurant? Read on to see our analysis and where Joël Robuchon compares to others in this elevated category.

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This post is one chapter on our trip during the end of the pandemic to Las Vegas, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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How Much Does It Actually Cost to Eat at Joël Robuchon Restaurant Las Vegas?

This post is about how much it actually costs to eat at Joël Robuchon Las Vegas. If you’d care to read about our review of dining at Joël Robuchon, please see my other post on Review: Joël Robuchon Restaurant Las Vegas.

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On a recent trip to Las Vegas, and in honour of celebrating a major promotion at work, I took myself to Joël Robuchon Restaurant in celebration of life’s major events. As I indicated in my other post, my experience dining there was a near perfect dining experience filled with refined tastes, senses and execution.

But how much does it cost to eat at one of the most elite and prestigious restaurants in the United States? In this post, I’ll aim to tackle the other side of the equation, how much it costs to enjoy a dinner at Joël Robuchon.

About Joël Robuchon Restaurant:

As I had described during my review of the Joël Robuchon restaurant, Mr Robuchon was a French chef and the most awarded French chef in history. During the course of his career, he had received the thirty two Michelin Stars over the course of his career, the most of any chef in the world. He was awarded the “Chef of the Century” by Guide Maillau in 1989.

The Joël Robuchon restaurant was rated 3 stars in the year 2009 by the Michelin Guide. The Joël Robuchon Las Vegas also has been awarded 5 stars by the Forbes Travel Guide, and has been ranked by Wine Spectator and Travel and Leisure to be among the finest restaurants the world. As if that wasn’t enough, it was ranked as one of the Top 5 best restaurants in the United States by Gourmet magazine.

That sort of pedigree alone should be enough for any chef to command reasonably high prices.

Quite cleverly, menus and prices are not displayed on forward facing websites for the restaurant. It’s only when you arrive to the front doors, are you able to take a look at the displays to see what is on offer. At this point, or perhaps with some intense research on the internet, the price points are slowly revealed.

Looking at the displays, The Joel Robuchon restaurant offers a hint of what is to come. Immediately outside the restaurant, the restaurant provides a general sample of some of the dishes available on order.

The restaurant proudly displays its menus and its awards listed on complex looking menus. All of the door posted menus are priced upon display in 9 point font on elaborate lists of menus. It’s your first indication of how much things may cost.

The Joël Robuchon Menus:

Once seated inside, the beautifully appointed restaurant, menus are presented. This is when the serious math and decision making trees start.

In our visit post pandemic, the Joël Robuchon menus offer a variety of price points and range as follows, from least to most expensive:

• $150 Menu – Amuse Bouche, One Main Course, Dessert, Mignardises (cart)
• $195 Menu – Amuse Bouche, One Entrée, One Main Course, Dessert, Mignardises
• $225 Menu – Amuse Bouche, Two Entrées, Main Course, Dessert, Mignardises
• $275 Menu – Amuse Bouche, Two Entrées, Two Main Courses, Dessert, Mignardises
• $485 Menu – Degustation Tasting Menu – Twelve Courses

Each menu offers access to the wonderful baked bread cart, and the mignardises chariot / dessert cart. Both are signature elements of the Joël Robuchon experience, and are accessible even at the menu’s lowest price points.

Choosing The Tasting Menu:

The tasting menu is the restaurant’s flagship experience. After the restaurant’s re-opening after the pandemic, the twelve course menu is now priced at $485 USD.

The tasting menu is all inclusive. Perhaps showcasing the best value, it doesn’t require any additional cost supplements for any of the dishes.

Choosing The Tasting Menu Wine Pairing:

If twelve tasting menu courses isn’t enough to navigate through, you’ll then need to decide on wines. While you can opt for a bottle (or half bottle) from the wine list, Joël Robuchon Restaurant also offers three levels of wine pairings:

• $299 – Village Wine Pairing
• $599 – Premier Cru Wine Pairing
• $999 – Grand Cru Wine Pairing

Fortunately, even the village tasting that I enjoyed was excellent in quality. You’ll find wines here that are much better than what you’d expect in your typical airline business class cabin. By comparison, the “village” wine tastings are more oriented towards what I’d expect from an International First Class cabin.

Choosing the Menu Express (Regular Menu):

Most visitors, especially returning visitors, appear to choose a version of the menu express. As described upstream, the menu express features 4 different price points. All of the Express Menu price points are served without official wine tasting packages.

When approaching the menu, it’s worth noting that the Menu Express often contains additional supplement prices for some of their more popular and upscale dishes. These supplements range from $25 USD for La Saint Jacque (Scallops), up to as much as $140 USD for La Pintarde Fermière (Guinea Hen with Sautéed Foie Gras).

If you’re aiming for the $275 double entrée / double main course menu, and are getting some supplements dishes added on, you’re all most better off getting the $485 USD tasting menu, as it represents a better value with an additional 6 courses included.

It is quite a task to navigate through both the dishes on the fourteen course tasting menu as compared to the express menu. On my visit, I was dining alone. I couldn’t really imagine doing this with a significant other, without actually coming in with a game plan of attack at the very start.

What it Actually Costs:

It is a regular comment in general reviews of Joël Robuchon that it’s an expensive restaurant. However, the costs can escalate upwards quite considerably if you’re not careful.

It’s worth mentioning that a gratuity is not included in the displayed pricing. A gratuity is generally expected between 18 – 20% of the total menu cost.

As inspired by others, we’ve enhanced this table that represents the current post pandemic prices:

Joël Robuchon Menu Cost	Base Cost	Add Las Vegas, Nevada Restaurant Tax at 8.1% + Gratuity at 20%
		For One	For Two	For Four
$150 Menu Main Course – Dessert	$150	$195	$389	$778
$195 Menu Entreé – Main – Dessert	$195	$253	$506	$1,012
$225 Menu 2 Entreés – Main – Dessert	$225	$292	$584	$1,167
$275 Menu 2 Entrées – 2 Mains – Dessert	$275	$357	$716	$1,417
$485 Tasting Menu 12 Courses	$485	$629	$1,256	$2,517
Add Tasting Wine Pairings to base $485
+$299 Village Wine Pairing	$784	$1,017	$2,034	$4,068
+$599 Premier Cru Wine Pairing	$1,084	$1,406	$2,834	$5,625
+$999 Grand Cru Wine Pairing	$1,484	$1,925	$3,850	$7,700

It’s pretty easy to do some serious damage here without much fore-thought. Some highlights from the above chart:

• The cheapest possible meal for two is $389 USD (without wine / drinks).
• The cheapest tasting menu, with the lowest level wine pairing for two, is $1,017 USD.
• A Single Diner can spend up to $1,925 USD on a tasting menu, paired with a top level Grand Cru Tasting wine pairing.
• A Tasting Dinner for 4 of your Favourite Friends, with a top level Grand Cru Tasting, will cost $7,700 USD.

These prices become much easier to swallow if you come in knowing what to expect.

How does this compare to other Michelin Starred restaurants that offer tasting menus?

The Joël Robuchon Restaurant Las Vegas is almost the most expensive restaurant in the United States today.

We did a little comparison of Michelin starred restaurants that offer tasting menus throughout the United States. This is what we have come up with:

• The French Laundry, Yountville, California, USA: $350 USD (13 courses without wine)
• Per Se, New York, New York, USA: $355 USD (13 courses without wine)
• Eleven Madison Park, New York, New York, USA: $365 USD (12 courses without wine)
• Joël Robochon Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: $485 USD (12 courses without wine)
• Guy Savoy Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: $615 USD (7 courses – including wine pairing)
• Masa Omakase Menu, New York, New York, USA: $750 USD (26 courses – including gratuity)

Based on our list, in this post pandemic world, Joël Robuchon takes the crown as the most expensive French restaurant in the United States. It is a step behind Guy Savoy (that includes wine in its prices), and Masa that offers Japanese tasting at a staggering 26 courses, along with an optional $200 corkage.

Clearly, Joël Robuchon is near the top of its game and is among the pinnacle of French Restaurants in America. Clearly, to eat wonderful food, you have to pay to play.

The best part is, the food is well worth the price of admission. The food and service are world class and the experience will most certainly be very memorable.

My Thoughts on How Much it Costs to Eat at Joël Robuchon:

Joël Robuchon Las Vegas is among the world’s finest restaurants. The whole experience has been calibrated by one of the worlds most acclaimed chefs. It appears that little has changed at the restaurant over the past 15 years, although the restaurant remains innovative and at the top of it’s game.

For those like me, it helps to have a plan of attack coming into the restaurant. At least, you’ll be able to see what dishes and menus are of interest to you, and adjust your tasting or general wine budget accordingly.

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to dine like this, so make sure you make the most of it, through a little advance research.

Bring your American Express Platinum Card. . .

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If you have visited Joël Robuchon or other Fine Restaurants, how do you prepare for sticker shock ?

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