As a child, when we celebrated something we rarely went out. We had a local place that offered up Italian beef, sausage, and a variety of Polish and German food that you could carry out, and when mom went there the party was ready to happen! That was good eating at a price that was right! Without leaving the house and TV...lol
As my kids were growing up, the BIG celebrations were at Red Lobster. My kids loved the place and would refer to it as the "Feast place!" They got unlimited refills on their drinks and that was back in the day when it was all you could eat shrimp. They would waddle back out to the car after wiping out as much as growing boys could eat. That was indeed fine dining back in that day.