My only experience of this from the 1970s.
I was out with my in-laws for a meal in what at the time was considered to be an exclusive ‘French restaurant’. I’m not sure it was ‘5 star’
My brother-in-law (a high-earner and well traveled at the time) made it clear that he was paying the bill (picking up the tab). The rest of the family (myself included) were concerned about two things, we didn’t know our way around a French restaurant menu and we didn’t want to order anything too expensive.
My BIL as I recall, reassured the family not to worry about the expense, and that he would assist in describing the meals on the menu.
So, we arrive at the restaurant and the waiter hands out the menus …
Within a couple of minutes my mother-in-law says (what we’ve all noticed) …
“There are no prices on my menu.”
My BIL says something like …
“Don’t worry about that everyone, just order what you want.”
As it happens, I was sitting next to my BIL who, when I’d questioned him said (quietly), something like …
“Look Andy, in places like this, the person who books the table, is the only one who is given a menu showing the prices.”
In response to my puzzled look, he explained …
“The restaurant assumes that the person booking the restaurant is also paying the bill/tab. So that person, can ‘steer’ his/her guests away from the more expensive dishes if they wish to.”
This was a complete eye-opener for me!
To be fair, I cannot recall my BIL ‘steering’ anyone away from any of the dishes on the menu. Nor can I recall him ‘batting an eye-lid’ when he paid the the bill/check.