You should try fine dining, if you like food and eating. It's a really fun and interesting way to spend an evening. Kind of surreal, especially the first time around.

You don't have to spend $250, although you probably have to spend $125 (based on my experiences in Europe).

I don't think of it as "a meal", at all, eating a meal usually doesn't take me three hours. It's more in the category of an event like a concert or the opera or a theme park visit.