In his renovated restaurant, which formally reopened this fall, Mr. Ruggerio eliminated Le Chantilly's dress code and tuxedo-clad waiters for a more casual atmosphere.

The 40th-floor views and unfailingly attentive, tuxedo-clad waiters set the scene for a meal your better half will be talking about for years.

If it is holiday time, tuxedo-clad waiters will serve them champagne and smoked salmon - on the house.

At Caffè Torino, Piazza San Carlo, 204, if you order one sweet, the tuxedo-clad waiters bring you a selection of several similar ones (but you are charged only for the ones you eat).

With 23-foot ceilings, gilded pillars, a waterfall cascading down the rear wall and tuxedo-clad waiters, serving entrees like sea scallops with arugula, green peas, asparagus and pomegranate juice, Mr. Blauberg said he feared the atmosphere might seem a bit stuffy.

The French-style service by tuxedo-clad waiters is a surprise at this price, but we're not arguing.

The dining room, filled with fresh flowers, candlelight and tuxedo-clad waiters' concocting Caesar salads at tableside, shouted special occasion.

"When you eat something every day," like Russian food, said Andrey Yefimov, 20, a tuxedo-clad waiter at Passage, "you want something new."

Libby gasped, looking at the elegantly set table and the two tuxedo-clad waiters.

The musty, rococo lounge is lined with photos of Bob Hope, Dinah Shore and Jerry Lewis, which seems to blend perfectly with the tuxedo-clad waiters and hard-drinking, motley crowd.