Moscow so far has proved to be a city where you have to cautiously enter restaurants, shops, hairdressers' so that you won't be presented an unexpectedly exorbitant bill in the end.
Judging from my experience, prices are seldom connected with the quality of service. The city is enormous with crowds looking for entertainment, services, something to eat, somebody to meet. So if you're a dissatisfied customer, they don't care much about what the reason of you dissatisfaction is, there will always be others.
I have had several unpleasant experiences at hairdressers', shops. So I nowadays get my hair cut either in Saint-Petersburg or Riga, where they care a bit more about their reputation, and service is definitely cheaper.And buying more expensive things in Moscow is always something to write home about...
Last year I ordered a set of linen at 300 euros from a widely advertised company, Askona. I was forced to pay in advance 100 euros. I waited for my set to arrive for 2 weeks. After they had brought a grey set instead of a purple one!, I had a 2 months-long calamity with a lot of writing and e-mailing in order to get my money back. It took me 2 months to get my money back and several threatening calls to the company's office.
Sorry for leading you astray. Now the restaurants. First of all, you'd better check them out before going there. Some can be very expensive.
In a nicely furnished restaurant an average check for two people is from 90 euros without wine. When you take a walk on week days you can go for a cheaper option, business lunch, served in most restaurants till 4 or rarely 5 pm. The prices for business lunch may vary from 8 (Omulevaya Bochka) to 30, 40 euros. It's mostly around 10-15 euros. The city is not abundant in cafes, or cheap family-run restaurants, so don't count on them.
Going to a cheaper cafe can be an exciting experience for those who like something bizarre. Actually, you 'll only locate a cafe if you're fortunate enough. I know some network places with nice food but since there are mostly oriental -looking staff as waiters and in kitchens and I doubt the fact they have hygienic certificates or simply live in decent conditions, I stopped going to such places.
Moscow is dominated by expensive, pretentious restaurants with often below the average service and cuisine. Whether you enjoy your visit or not depends on the staff, the brand is nothing here. For example, I've been twice to Piazza, after the first visit I couldn't forget eating the chicken there, so we returned there again and the same chicken dish was disgusting. After asking the waiter about the reason why that day's chicken was considerably worse than the one I had eaten before, I got it that my chicken wasn't cooked by the main chef of the restaurant that day. The quality of the food was much worse that day, the price was the same, though.
Our last visit was to the Brown Fox and Lazy Dog cafe. It looks rather like a better than average cafe with an interesting cuisine at reasonable prices.
Since the prices there were relatively low, I ordered some "veal cooked at low temperatures" = 750 roubles=17 euros. Freshly squeezed juices are cheap 115 roubles each.
A glass of wine 150 ml cost us 300 roubles = 7.5 euros=10 dollars. We also ordered a teapot for each of us, and desserts. So the dinner came up to 3, 740 roubles = 85 euros = 120 dollars.
There also was something worth mentioning which we ate with gusto - a pumpkin soup with chestnuts. Served in a big glass it delicately tasted caramel pumpkin covered with chestnut foam. Ate it in a wink we didn't have time to take a photo.
Here is more info about the place. Also the Oblomov restaurant here.
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