Sick of eatting out and it’s not that good!

Totally agree. 9/10 I think: "I could have prepared this meal cheaper and better at home". In fairness I am quite a capable cook. Locally we have a nice grill place that serves lovely fish and chips and similar. Everything is good as is the service and prices; also a nice pub, a little overpriced but still tasty and stuff you want to eat for Sunday lunch or pub food. But don't even talk about the price of the drinks. Other than that I'll eat at home over going out almost anytime. Boring moi? Yeah probably but I like my home cooking. It's healthy, cheaper and always what I want to eat. The only exception for me is Japanese or Thai where the ingredients are plentiful and need a lot chopping and prep. (CBA to locate Lemongrass etc. ) I'm only really happy to dine out and spend mucho dolares when their knowledge and experience is superior to mine for special occasions or a massive big posh restaurante blowout.

This. Vegetarian options have gone from bad to worse. Bring back vegetable lasagne (with actual vegetables) or mushroom stroganoff (with actual mushrooms) - all is forgiven!

We stayed somewhere recently where the local ‘gastropub’ was the only option for two nights. On the first night I had the veggie burger that was processed vegan shite and not nice at all. The second night I ended up with a Caesar salad and fries that cost £20. Each night cost nearly £80 for the two of us including a beer and a bottle of wine. Left feeling completely ripped off.

Olives are a seed

It could be. Seed oils are terrible for our gut biome. Total frankenfood.

A roast isn't the easiest thing to make, it needs organisation. But once you've got that down (mostly prep) it's often a hell of a lot better than the mass-produced stuff in an average pub.

My DH cooks a lot, probably 5 nights out of 7. He is good at loads of things (Miso prawns tonight!) but a roast is my thing. I like to eat out, but, as op says, only if it’s better or at least comparable to meals that I (or DH!) can make ourselves.

If cooking a roast is so easy, why aren't more husbands doing it. I cook for the family alot, so eating out is my respite

@Redpeach I do most of the time it saves money and helps me loose weight

You can walk at a fraction of the price of driving too

Have we all become more demanding? Our home cooking has improved with all the programs on tv and the books. We have better cookers that keep an accurate temperature. We get better meat from a local butcher and spend time preparing it and cooking and presenting it nicely. It might take most of the afternoon to do what a professional chef would produce very quickly but that becomes part of the event.
We still go out for Indian food, cannot replicate that at home. Not been out to a Chinese restaurant in ages. The ones in travelling distance for us are top-of-the-range and expensive.

...if it’s the ‘fuck you’ risotto then we don’t go.

Ah, the "Fuck You" risotto. Up there with the "We Can't Be Arsed To Think Of Anything Else" goat's cheese tart and the "This Will Have To Do" quorn burger.

I loathe all of them equally!

This reminds me of a recent dining experience where DP ordered a dessert - cheesecake, out came a teeny tiny portion that DP ate in 2 normal sized mouthfuls. Cost: £11.50

I agree with so much of the above. Mass produced food, indifferent service, no vegetarian option other than vegan and the prices. The prices! I'm given to understand that ingredients should be 30% of the menu price (the rest being staff costs, rent, energy bills, insurance, rates, tax etc as well as an element of profit) but I know what ingredients cost and some of the prices charged are exorbitant. Whilst I fully understand that independent places are operating on a shoe-string, so many chains are private-equity owned, which explains the mark-up on second rate food.

I'm a good cook and I would rather just cook at home generally, including takeaways. There are some tucked-away places that do good food at fair prices, but I'm sure as hell not paying for something reheated from Brakes.

And don't even get me started on "street food". A mate has told me he wants to open a food truck at a local tap room because he'd crunched the numbers and "the profit margins are insane". Maybe, but I ain't paying them!

I got campylobacter last time I had a meal out. Cost me a fortune as was off work sick for over 2 weeks
I’ll cook for myself now! That was October last year and I haven’t touched chicken since

Totally agree.

Unless I know the place makes their food I'd rather not bother.

The amount of pub meals I avoid because I can't face another deep fried freezer meal is considerable.

Of course, it costs more to eat decent places, but a lot of the shit places are expensive now anyway.

But it often doesn't even taste nice because its generic pre-frozen Brake Bros over processed shite worth about 50p.

Same here - we used to eat out once a week but it's more like once every couple of months now. I hate paying way over the odds for something I could do better at home, and the 3-400% mark up on mediocre wine is criminal 😁

Best places locally are an excellent South Indian restaurant, 2 very good pubs (pub food but done really well) and a cafe we go to for breakfast every few weeks.

When we’re with fussy DC, yes. Familiar food, reasonably priced, and we’ve never had bad food there.

In London you have one go to and it’s a chain? Small chain, accepted, but even so…
There are so many great options.

Oh no. Thats a real shame if they’ve gone downhill too. I haven’t been for a while but we’ve been to quite a few branches and they’ve always been excellent. It’s our go to place if we’re in London. I don’t want to have to find somewhere else.

My local Indian just closed down as their landlord put the rent up to £60k/year. Unless the restaurant owns the freehold they don't stand a chance of survival at those rates.

I've been to Flat Iron twice since Easter and two different branches. Both times the steak was tough and flavourless. A shame as they used to be really good.

If you’re anywhere near London and looking for decent steak, I’d recommend Flat Iron. It is a chain - mostly in London, but great, reasonably priced steak. They only do steak or a burger with a choice of 5 or 6 sides, but they do them really well.

Yes, they're literally a cheap train with a bow round its neck.

I understand having to go very 'high end' to get something decent but, am I alone in not always wanting to go high end? Special occasion or romantic meal yes, but if I have some friends over and we're out for the day we just want some food that we can eat and have a bottle of wine with and not be bothered while we socialise. Same if I want to meet a friend for a quick lunch locally-and obviously not everyone has the money or wants to spend it. There's a place for casual eateries and cheapER doesn't mean they should be crap food.

Yes I don't think the food eating out is that great either.

Lately we tried a Chinese takeaway as there was a poll on local Facebook page about the best one. Gave it a try and it was great. The second time everything seemed very oily. The third time there was a hair in one of our meals that looked very much like a pube.

Our last restaurant meal out there was a hair in my meal too.

An authentic Indian takeaway opened a year ago and wow it was fantastic with consistent quality food and staff. In the past 6 months the staff all seem different each time, the wait times have increased considerably and the last 3 times the order has been wrong or missing things.

So I feel I've had enough of eating out or takeaways now. It's too expensive for poor quality food, especially when it's supposed to feel like a treat or special occasion, it just ruins the atmosphere or event.