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

We now do Sunday lunch, less than £20 for main course. Local one is £14 and is family owned and run. And lime and soda.
Then we do dessert and light meal at home later. Desserts are definitely a rip off. Most are £7 for a defrosted or bought in.
Or we do the lunchtime specials.

I absolutely detest comments like this!

what a crappy race to the bottom…..

how on earth is eating out in a chain restaurant as a middle class family a luxury?!

the OP isn’t expecting a Michelin once a week.

Jesus Christ.

Yep, we simply don’t go out anymore. The most I will do is a very rare (once every 4 months max) Burger King drive thru for the kids or a very occasional pizza at our local pub (£10/pizza and one drink allowed each). I just feel ripped off otherwise. It’s a symptom of inflation, it will never right itself sadly. I did take my youngest away to Europe for a few days last year and it was a joy to have restaurants so reasonably priced (we weren’t following the usual tourist trail).

Haha, quite!

no, 4. The OP is talking about a family of 4 of which I am the same.

£80 for two?

I just don’t feel it’s worth £100 to eat in these soulless private equity places. I often wonder who is doing it … we earn well but can’t be randomly spuffing £100 on mediocre meal at Pizza Express. Maybe if you’re a couple it doesn’t feel so bad but for four of you … nah! Would rather go to a fantastic independent.

Don't be so silly. Have you ever met a teenager?

@GrealishGoddess If there is a Rudy's near you, I would highly recommend it and unless you have the specials, it's pretty good value.

My teenage boy could polish off 2 in one sitting if I let him!

We took our son and his gf to Pizza Express the other night and our bill was well over £100. We had 4 pizzas (mine was a leggera so mostly salad, olives and one serving of dough balls plus drinks). I don't think around £30 a head is excessively expensive.

One side between 4?! And half a pizza for anyone over the age of about 8 or 9 is not really a treat.

I agree OP. It's around £100 for us 2 adults and 2 teenagers when we go out, usually lunch and I will probably have a soft drink.
In fact, it was just 3 of us out for lunch not long ago and it was nearly £97!!
This was on a Monday and only DH had a couple of beers, DD and I had soft drinks. They also had the cheek to slap on a 10% service charge! I know they usually do that for large groups but there were only 3 of us. Food wasn't even that great.
Even 3 meals to take away from KFC recently was nearly £35.
I'm fed up paying a fortune for mediocre food.
Will have to reign in meals out as seem to be spending a fortune these days.

I feed 425 people with a small roast chicken at home. Can’t believe some people would go out to eat and eat a main course! So greedy!!!!!!!1111!!!!11

It’s been getting worse for years. We practically never eat out. We go to the pub instead and get a couple of drinks and some chips and then eat at home.

take outs are as bad. When I grew up a Chinese takeout was £30 max. Now we don’t get change for £80. Crazy.

We went to pizza express with the kids once, cost a fortune even extra on top of the Tesco vouchers I had. It was ok, not worth how much they wanted.
my boys love to eat so we eat out a bit tbh adult portion for boys so yep it’s expensive ! Prefer to go somewhere nice not a chain place as it’s always pretty meh Toby mind you the boys love 🥰

We’ve stopped eating out unless there is a really good reason to. Casual dinners/lunches are no longer an option. I also take packed lunch to work as the cost is prohibitive!
We ate at Wagamama recently and were surprised with the bill being £80 instead of the expected £100+ for the 4 of us. Then we realised that the kids hadn’t ordered desserts.

London isn’t affordable anymore!

Ditto! I use either my blue light discount or Tesco clubcard vouchers. If I don't have a voucher, we don't go.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

absolutely not. Glass of wine with a meal is a nice thing. Maybe cut down on the pizza instead - one pizza per person is too much imo.

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I went out for fish and chips recently with my 2 children. 3 children’s portions of battered cod and chips (I always have a child’s portion), 3 fresh orange juices and 3 lots of tartar and curry sauce - it cost me £57 😱

Well not anymore. It’s healthy for families to get out and be able to have a meal in a different environment. Once a month I’d think is good. Also helps the local economy.

Doesn’t affect me as I’m single and no dependants but I do empathise that a basic chain restaurant meal is like a luxury these days as opposed to a budget manageable treat for those with families.

Yeah we barely eat out anymore. It’s just not worth it. Once or twice a year and then on holiday (which is every 2-3 years).

Remember the days when Tesco vouchers were 4:1? We lived like kings!

We only go to Pizza Express with tesco club card vouchers, otherwise it's wetherspoons (their pizzas are surprisingly good!). Or a takeaway which usually does lunch the next day too (not because we eat like the proverbial mumsnet sparrow, but because our favourite place is v generous).

I completely agree - mine were young teens several years ago and we could eat at similar chains for £60, and we’d have had drinks (soft and alcoholic), a main each, maybe a couple of puds, and probably shared a couple of starters AND a garlic bread. What I mean is, we didn’t need to cut back, it was a big, full on meal for £60 max. Yes, still a lot, but for us it was affordable and didn’t seem unreasonable, whereas £100 would

I think the easy availability of Just Eat/Deliveroo/Uber Eats have also contributed to the price hike and actual dine in places have so much more competition.