After doing fine-dining shops, my number one pet peeve...
When I run into that situation I often look at the restaurant reviews from the various sources such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon etc. The chances are pretty good that someone has mentioned specific items and specific pricing. Not perfect for sure, but mostly doable. I figure we get to spend about 80% of what the reimbursement is, with the rest going to tax and tip. So if we are reimbursed up to $200, we each get to spend $75-80. If the appetizer to share alone is $20 we each have $65-70 left to spend on our beverage and meal so need to plan accordingly.
It turns out that the scheduler who assigned me the shop said that the "average" shop costs the shopper $30-60 out of pocket and they wouldn't increase my reimbursment. I backed the hell out of that ASAP.
On some of the fine dining shops, there's no way to stay within reimbursement unless someone has the chicken. I am never having the chicken. Chicken is not fine dining to me. If my woman happens to want the chicken, then great. But if she doesn't, I'm surely not going to insist that she have it, and so we spend some money out of pocket. I'd rather we both order what we want and fully enjoy the experience.
Some restaurants don't have a set menu to post because they make it up daily. But the chains should have that posted online. And yes, Yelp, local newspaper reviews or other online sources are a good source of information.
Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut
I have done a handful of fine dining and I have to say....not for me. I am in this to make money, not spend it! 
Another option is to call the restaurant. I block my phone number and use a different name. I indicate that I'm planning a get together for my family and would like to see current specials and prices. They likely will offer to email the menu to you. May take them a day or two though.
Generally if I google enough words I find an online menu someone has posted. I am never sure how old it is and it is often in a different location/state but at least it gives me a basic idea. I have also called and asked for a "price range" on entrees.
I am not sure why prices are not posted online but even inexpensive restaurants list their menus with no prices often. I suspect it is too difficult to make sure someone goes in and makes changes every time a price changes. And there are people who will hold them to advertised prices on their website. There are a few sites that post pictures of menus you can enlarge to see prices. One I look at is menupages. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not and the good sites for this seem to change.
I am not sure why prices are not posted online but even inexpensive restaurants list their menus with no prices often. I suspect it is too difficult to make sure someone goes in and makes changes every time a price changes. And there are people who will hold them to advertised prices on their website. There are a few sites that post pictures of menus you can enlarge to see prices. One I look at is menupages. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not and the good sites for this seem to change.
When a less expensive restaurant has no prices posted, look for their "Take Out" menu. It is generally designed to be downloadable in pdf form and I have found that most of the time the prices are the same for take out as dine in--which makes little sense, but it is what it is.
Try something like MenuPages. It's only for large metro areas but you can look up chains on there like Cap Grill and Houston's.
FrugalCat Wrote:
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> Try something like MenuPages. It's only for large
> metro areas but you can look up chains on there
> like Cap Grill and Houston's.
That's not a big deal for me, considering I live and mostly mystery shop in New York. But those typically don't have the whole menu (for instance, I couldn't find the wine list for the shop that prompted this post- and I was mandated to order wine so I couldn't reliably crunch my numbers).
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> Try something like MenuPages. It's only for large
> metro areas but you can look up chains on there
> like Cap Grill and Houston's.
That's not a big deal for me, considering I live and mostly mystery shop in New York. But those typically don't have the whole menu (for instance, I couldn't find the wine list for the shop that prompted this post- and I was mandated to order wine so I couldn't reliably crunch my numbers).
As someone mentioned, if I can't find an online menu with prices, I always email the restaurant and ask for one. You can find prices in MenuPages, to get a general idea. But for certainty, email the restaurant. Yes, one does need to plan.
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