Atmosphere's not as refined as The French Laundry, but liked the food better here. Went balls-out: both of us did the 16-course degustation menu (I did the "regular" one and my wife did the Vegetarian one) and we shared the $995 wine paring (there are three different pairing price levels: $245, $545, and $995). Ab-so-lutely incredible. The service was top notch and it was all we could do to not ask for more bread from their crazy display cart! Even when it came to ordering hot tea, they trim the tea leaves in front of you and brew it on the table. If that's not fresh tea, I don't know what is. I can't justify coming back unless I won the lottery, but it was absolutely memorable from the pick-up in their gold limo to staggering back through the Mansion at night, loved every minute of the experience. Don't half-ass this place: do it right. Worth every penny. If not my favorite restaurant of all time, it's a very very close 2nd.
Don't feel pressured to wear a suit and tie; I wore a black jacket with slacks and a nice shirt and my wife wore a nice little black dress and we were fine.