£100 for a casual lunch out for 4 is too much

@Jesslovesengineering there’s one Italian a bit like this in Brighton - I’ve forgot what it’s called but it’s next to Tonkatsu ( excellent ramen place) - I haven’t eaten there so couldn’t vouch for quality but i did do a double take at the prices whilst perusing the menu - it was rammed too - a bit pricier this as was the evening but a lot of mains were around £11 to £13 and starters around £6.50 which in Brighton is a bargain

I've been to multiple sambucas this year, lol. They're everywhere. There must be about 20 of them. Blyth and Whitley Bay used to be the cheapest, at £7.95 but I just checked the website and they're doing £6.95 as a promo, at the "recently opened" Morpeth one. I'm shocked about that because Morpeth is seen as posh, by the other small towns in Northumberland 😂 Generally, you can expect to spend £8.95 or £9.95, unless visiting the ones in small towns.

Saw a sign at pizza express today advertising £50 family deal and thought of this thread.

That's an unbelievable price, I actually almost don't believe you've been there this year the price is so cheap. Independents round my part of Brum are probably the same cost as a chain, or maybe more expensive depending on the place.

No but the (minestrone) soup alternative is. And I'm not complaining at that price. I cook authentic Italian at home and travelled there on business a lot, before I had my son so....

I’m not sure potato skins count as authentically Italian…

My 6 foot 4 teenage lads easily eat a full pizza and more. They are dead skinny and always hungry.

It's a very good idea. Particularly as restaurants/cafes etc... are the one business that is helping the high st hang on in there. I mean what do we want, a world where everything is delivered to us buy a few select businesses, . Basically Amazon and supermarkets!?

No, it dont,

Pizza in the UK is overpriced crap - you only have to look at the PE menu and see that are taking the total piss

Doesn't matter who you are bying it from, end of the day it's an open sandwich that's grilled. You paying £15 + for that? They saw you coming - especially if they realised they only needed to sell the crust with half ( possibly less ) a bag of leaves filling that cavernous hole - Did PE marketing win ever award going with that one

@KhakiTiger whilst I partly agree - that’s not really fair on Wagamama who you can at least see see and hear cooking fresh

Why is watching telly and staring at a wall healthier than going to the cinema or talking to someone??

Well you can apply that to anything surely can't you? Why eat out when you can eat at home? Why go to the cinema when you can watch telly? Why talk to people when you can stare at a wall? Etc.

I don't eat at chain restaurants. The food isnt authentic and the prices are ridiculous. In the north east, where I live, there is an independent chain who serve authentic Italian food and they do a lunch time special ranging from £7.95 to £9.95 per head, for soup or potato skins, selected pizza or pasta and coffee or ice cream. Maybe try supporting local, / independent / regional places?

The point of going out to eat is literally that one doesn’t cook or do the washing up
Yes, I do expect when I eat out that someone else(chef!) cook and someone (KP} wash up

Yes it’s too much given that these mediocre places are serving frozen ready meals warmed up. Why do people eat at these places, when there is no much better choice.

No but if I could do all that a lot more cheaply than paying someone else to do it, I would do so.

Paying someone else to do a job you dont want to do is hardly "expecting" anything. Do you take your all your own rubbish to the tip? Grow all your own base ingredients....rice, wheat, maize, all your vegetables? Raise your own livestock, slaughter and butcher them? Grow your own cotton and make your own clothes?

No?

How dare you expect other people to do it for you?

It’s probably healthier too!

People should just cook their own food at home and wash their own dishes instead of expecting other people to do it for them.

Even a takeaway for 4 where we are is far more than £100. And don’t get me started on London restaurants who now want paying upfront for the minimum spend when you book…

@DBD1975completely agree - it’s about the value you get back for the outlay. Dinner also in and out in about an hour of only one course so not even really a night out anymore, more like fast food

@StarCurator personally I would be taking VAT right down to 5% if any at all in the hospitality world - when you balance it up customers bills are 20% VAT , which they can then offset against all their costs outwards, so in many cases it nets off and to me all seems rather pointless. If we could actually lower prices to consumer slightly, it may be perceived more as better value and help keep our hospitality businesses on more of an even keel .

The prices for eating out have shot up, even in chains like Pizza Express, Wagamama. I eat out much less often, preferring to occasionally go out for a very good meal at an independent restaurant, though I do occasionally go out for lunch at restaurants which have good prix fixe menus, for example at the Noble Rot restaurants. I would say that it's not price gouging, but the huge increase in food prices (the price of wheat has affected pizza restaurants and bakeries all over the world), business rates, utilities and other costs of living have had an enormous impact on eating out. The prices of food and wine imports from Europe have increased steadily since Brexit, too. Restaurants are struggling to hire staff, also as a result of Brexit and the current policies on immigration. It is a miserable time to be in the restaurant business.

Stopped eating out for this reason.
It is ridiculously expensive for very mediocre food.
We go out for breakfast which is always a much better deal.
If we eat out lunchtime we just have a sandwich or a light lunch.
We don't go out for dinner anymore as it is ridiculous and would much rather cook nice food at home.

But if you order a romana pizza and a large salad you’re ordering two main courses. Fine share both but you aren’t ordering only one portion of food to share between two.