Eating out- Is it really worth it.

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Rufusdog

Forum GOD!
We’ve pretty well given up on eating out. The cost of food and drink has become ridiculous and the egregious tip “suggestions”, up to 30%, make my blood boil. Pre-COVID-19, we’d eat out every Friday; mostly pub grub, but often Indian, Thai or Japanese. Now we do take-away, which we pick up, usually pizza from a local Italian restaurant. Many of our friends are in the same boat, because we’re mostly retirees on fixed incomes, or at best incomes that increase but less than the cost of goods and services. As Warren Buffet so succinctly puts it, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” I don’t see much value in eating in a restaurant today. I should note two things: First, we travel overseas for at least a month every year and we eat in restaurants most of the time, so we’re restauranted-out for a good while after we return home. Secondly, both my wife and I enjoy cooking so we share the cooking at home; there are few limits on the food we’ll cook, other than deep fried food, which we avoid eating, and sushi/sashimi (a favourite of ours), which we always order out.
 
Paper Plane

Paper Plane

Forum GOD!
By coincidence, I ate at our local pub last night in the company of two friends. First time I’ve eaten out in months. Mrs P isn’t interested in going out to eat at all.

The place does a three course limited option menu at a pensioner rate :happy: on a Wednesday and, splitting the cost 3 ways, we ended up spending £22 each, including tip.

The food was excellent and the helpings generous Even the vegetarian options were imaginative for a change.

steve
 
R

R181

Grumpy old man
Rufusdog said:
We’ve pretty well given up on eating out. The cost of food and drink has become ridiculous and the egregious tip “suggestions”, up to 30%, make my blood boil. Pre-COVID-19, we’d eat out every Friday; mostly pub grub, but often Indian, Thai or Japanese. Now we do take-away, which we pick up, usually pizza from a local Italian restaurant. Many of our friends are in the same boat, because we’re mostly retirees on fixed incomes, or at best incomes that increase but less than the cost of goods and services. As Warren Buffet so succinctly puts it, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” I don’t see much value in eating in a restaurant today. I should note two things: First, we travel overseas for at least a month every year and we eat in restaurants most of the time, so we’re restauranted-out for a good while after we return home. Secondly, both my wife and I enjoy cooking so we share the cooking at home; there are few limits on the food we’ll cook, other than deep fried food, which we avoid eating, and sushi/sashimi (a favourite of ours), which we always order out.
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Same here. I could not have said it better myself. For the time being they can kiss my behind goodbye.

Bob
 
R

R181

Grumpy old man
Tipping is getting nuts too. I go to Tim Hortons weekly for a sit down with old workmates. You walk in, go to the counter, order your drink and pay for it before taking it to your table. I paid for mine with a credit card and asked for a receipt at which time the server handing me the drink asked if I needed to leave a tip before getting the receipt. I said no, all I needed was the drink and a receipt. The idea that you would tip a counter person for handing you a $5.00 CAD drink is unfathomable to me. What next, a tip just for getting up in the morning?

Bob
 
Twelvefret

Twelvefret

Forum GOD!
I have a standing luncheon most Fridays. I tip well and am treated well. For me, it is an event with family and friends in a pleasant atmosphere and not just a nice meal.
 
MPF9

MPF9

Forum GOD!
I now tend to use smaller local chain restaurants which are Regional rather than National. They are now adding 12.5 % gratuity to bill. In the main the Food quality is good, but cost going up.
The last big chain one I used, served Pie with no meat ! Sent back replaced with tough chewy steak. Won’t be visiting again in a hurry.
 
MPF9

MPF9

Forum GOD!
As my wife does not get out much these days, and nothing planned for the weekend I decided a drive in the country + pub lunch would be nice. Booked at a small independent place, which serves great food but not having visited in a while not sure about prices as New Menu yet to be on the Web.
Going out twice in a week is perhaps extravagant, but the drive in the lovely Kent countryside + good food is a bit of a tonic..
 
R

Rufusdog

Forum GOD!
Twelvefret said:
My annual physical was yesterday. The pneumococcal vaccine was administered, and I experienced a strong immune response. I slept it off in just 16 hours...LOL!!
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Good on you. It’s like the reaction I had to the first dose of my shingles vaccine. I figured the reaction was worth enduring because getting the actual disease would be exponentially worse.
 
Wrong End Chihuahua

Wrong End Chihuahua

Veteran
MPF9 said:
For many years we rarely ate out, but a few years ago decided to take out a widowed friend for Lunch. We often combined this with a trip into the country to find a nice venue. We found a few venues that served nice food and offered decent 2/3 course fixed price meals.

Then Covid kicked in and our trips out were ruled out.As restrictions were lifted we have made a few trips out.However, we have ruled out going to establishments which no longer have set price offerings,and generally Chains are not good value, and find eating at home preferable.
A rather nice local Chain, has intoduced Pizza Ovens, and we find food choice and Standard has dropped so they are off our places to go list.

I am not keen to use run of the mill places, and prefer to use places that offer fare that is not the norm.We have a a Steak Chain in Town, which started off nationally in a small way and was good- now poor quality overpriced offerings.

Do you think that Eating Out is rather overrated, and seldom matches what you get at Home. There of course a few Ethnic Restaurants which offer dishes that you normally do not cook yourselves.
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I believe this is very much specific to the locality.

The restaurant scene in the US is exceptionally competitive, it's very hard to stay in business, so the ones who survive tend to provide great food at acceptable prices. We have lots and lots of ethnic restaurants, and that's the kind of food that is hard to properly make at home (although it's fun to try). Our personal favorites are Middle Eastern, Mexican / Tex-Mex, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Indian places. Not a big fan of Americanized Chinese food, but we do have a wonderful dim sum place nearby that's fantastic.

And, of course, there's American food - my top favorites are BBQ houses that smoke their own meat, Detroit-style pizza places, and microbreweries. Sometimes they are one and the same. We had almost no decent beer in the US back in the early 90s, but since then there was a real revolution - everyone and their brother are brewing their own beer, and they are not afraid to experiment and take risks, often with excellent results. Almost all of them are also restaurants with decent, if not fancy, food. You can sip your IPA and enjoy your Cuban sandwich right in view of huge shiny brewing tanks. There's more than half a dozen breweries within 10 min drive from my suburban home, and they are solely responsible for me no longer fitting in the suit I wore for my wife's graduation ceremony years ago...

It's not cheap, but not extremely expensive either, and a great way to spend time with family or friends. Although we really like to cook at home & try different things too, the internet is full of great recipes for any kind of food. My wife's spice collection could rival some smaller ethnic stores...
 
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