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

Restaurants are taxed to death. 20% of what you pay goes straight to the government for VAT. Every staff member has a NI cost, and a pension cost in addition to wages. Min wage keeps going up, which I'm not against, but that will increase the price of your meal. Then there are business rates, rent or mortgage. Factor in the huge increases in energy costs, and food costs. The margins the businesses make are tiny. So the £27 someone posted upthread for a fish dish is actually a fair price even if it feels too much to pay. It's getting to the point where many will give up, because they can't cover their costs.

I feel like this government hates small independent businesses and is determined to sink them all.

I am a food blogger and my favourite thing to do is go to a hotel in a big city for a night and order 3 or 4 different things to be delivered over the evening, some things travel better than others. Personally enjoy a dishoom chicken curry, honest burgers are gorgeous and great value, Italian style Deli sandwiches from a proper sandwich shop and Vietnamese are some good cheap tasty options.

Eating out in chains, especially pubs I find the food is just awful unless you go higher end independent.

Never had a great Sunday roast in a pub. Have had a few decent ones at a carvery to be fair.

I am easily bored though and all the menus eventually look the same. Manchester has some great food I must say though.

I agree.

Everywhere is trying to be some kind of gastro pub or trendy eatery so they can charge ridiculous prices for very mediocre food served at stingy portions.

I live in Austria and it's the same here. I pretty much stopped eating out during the pandemic and the few times I've eaten out since then I've been disappointed with the quality, while the prices have gone through the roof.

Even local "Wirtshäuser" which always used to have cheap and cheerful (but good quality) food are charging 18 - 20 Euros for a schnitzel with chips and a bit of soggy salad on the side. Then the drinks cost a fortune on top.
I know the cost of everything has gone up but restaurant prices have gone up even more, to the extent that it feels like we are being ripped off. If the quality had stayed the same it would be ok, but it hasn't, it's gone downhill.

I'm not prepared to fork out so much money for dishes I have now learned to cook at home. None of my friends eat out any more either.

Completely agree about the vegan option being the cop out for vegetarians too. I went for a Christmas meal with friends who all had roasts. My option when it came to turned out to be half a raw cauliflower that had been slightly singed in a pan. Took some right chewing,

I think take aways are massive let downs too. Apart from the unassuming tiny place on the main road which does brilliant chicken skewers with rice, huge salad sides and tasty everything else. Would love to eat somewhere amazing but we just don't have the cash ( never have and probably never will!).

We tend not to eat out in the evenings in pub type places. We either go for Sunday roast, and I could name 20 independent village pubs within about 20 minutes that do great roasts, or we eat in places that do a specific cuisine - Chinese, Indian etc.

I agree that most chain restaurants are now terrible. Even Pizza Express has gone downhill. And I wouldn’t go to a carvery. I’m not sure anyone can make mass produced food taste amazing.

Im told that Miller and Carter is just microwave meals with a hefty price tag! But if anyone is near London, Flat Iron is excellent. Great tasting, really reasonably priced steak. And I crave their bone marrow mash!

Plus the service charge without having the decency to point it out. We always ask for it to be removed if they do this!

In many towns a good food truck with a limited menu is the best bet
(Shambles Food Court in York)

Some of the very best food around is at Festivals because the competition is so fierce.

People like Leon (half way along the left hand side at West Holts, Glastonbury)
have honed their craft for 35 years and turn out stunning food event after event.

By the second night at any festival, the poor sellers are obvious
and the following year they have been replaced.

A bit off the subject but could you or @RaraRachael tell me how you cook/prep your steaks please?

Every time I cook them at home they're a bit bland. I have a griddle top.

When you say marinate in salt do you mean literally cover in salt and then brush it off before cooking?

I’ve hugely cut down this lays year on eating out. If I eat out, it’s at independents. However even places I used to enjoy, I just don’t see value in the cost nowadays as I can make food just as good at home for much less. Today’s meal was tasty and gave me a new idea to try at home but the service was shocking

Yep same. I'm constantly disappointed by what we get in restaurants/ takeaways so we just eat at home now 99 percent of the time. The prices don't justify bland, unappetising slop you get presented with!

Depends where and what you are eating!

I wonder if opening a restaurant is more hassle now. Thinking back to when Bistros were off the main St., some were even in people's homes.
Now when a restaurant opens it needs big investment.

Dessert is never needed surely, it just tastes nice.

Totally agree. Had two lovely meals in Cornwall recently (spanish and a roast that was absolutely amazing - hot, generous, tasty, great veggie alternative) but apart from that most menus are thoroughly meh. Fish and chips, chicken and bacon and a sauce, lasagne, lacklustre veggie risotto, burger, all at £15+ each per serving. With a family of 5, with some kids in adult meals, a meal out often cracks into three figures and we could get a lot of treats from that.

even the chain restaurants are more disappointing than they used to be.

If you buy the standard (not premium) rib eye from Aldi and marinate in salt overnight I swear it tastes better than Gaucho! Even my friends snobbish artisan shopper boyfriend commented on how tasty it was (I didn't tell him where I bought them from).

I'm vegetarian and am heartily sick of going out somewhere and the only option available is vegan. Especially processed vegan. DH however just covers whatever he eats in salt and says mm yummy. We have a lot of arguments about eating out

We went to south wales in March and randomly thought, every single pub/restaurant we went to the vegetarian option was bloody risotto. And if there's one meal I want to swerve, that's it. It's always precooked, slimy and full of salt. Grim.

I feel bad that restaurant costs have gone up and it costs a fortune for staff, rent and electricity. But... to get a decent good quality 2 course meal in London it now costs £100-120 for two which is just too much to do regularly - that's now saved for birthdays and celebrations. Even 2 coffees and 2 cakes cost £18 last week at Gails.

I read a newspaper article recently that said supermarket premium range ready meal sales have gone up and it's not surprising if people substitute meals out for premium supermarket food given the cost of eating out.

I've never got the appeal of Miller and Carter. My kids rave about it but I buy 2 amazing quality sirloin steaks from Lidl and do them myself.
Plus I don't have to put up with the most annoying waiter ever at our local M and C 😅

It's getting to be a joke in this country, eating out is expensive and grim. Was in France recently and even the petrol station served decent coffee and pastries. We are paying more and more for garbage.

Went for a Sunday roast at a pub in Northumberland with the in laws and it was below mediocre . DH isn’t fussy but even he said it was bad. Had to be polite about it to ILs of course…

Totally agree- The Ivy is very overrated and overpriced for what you get.

My DH liked to go out for Sunday roast, pre covid when the price was comparable to home cooking. It isn’t any more, and our local now serves it with just one whole carrot, barely cooked. I saw a woman try to pick hers up with her fork and it shot across the room😂.
Also, anywhere that bulks it out with Mac and cheese. Wrong on so many levels.

I used to love eating out but now mainly do so if I am already out and need to stop for lunch or if I am meeting someone. I am in London and have so many restaurants to choose from but they are all so disappointing and expensive. Yes, there are some good ones out there but they are hard to find