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Original poster

Anyone else sick of mediocre food when eating out?

96 replies

Fantasisa · 14/04/2019 18:04

We had a family meal out on Friday in our local pub - nothing was terrible but no meal was great either just reheated stuff mostly.

We do have a few decent places that we frequent but I find bills for a family are £££ and still nothing beats home cooked food.

Anyone else find eating out a bit meh? DH says I need to lower my expectations.

OP posts:
JustHereForThePooStoriesFella · 14/04/2019 18:06

I’m not in the UK but spend some time there throughout the year and find that the standard of food in a lot of places to be quite grim.

Lots of lovely, independent, pubs and restaurants doing brilliant food, but plenty of pubs and chains with food that seems to be mass produced and reheated.

bordellosboheme · 14/04/2019 18:06

Yes I have had so ma y disappointing and overpriced meals when out.

JoinTheDots · 14/04/2019 18:08

I have noticed this lately too. Often we meet MIL and FIL for a meal half way between where we each live and almost always it feels really expensive and really quite meh.

Original poster
Fantasisa · 14/04/2019 18:28

I want places like National Trust cafes - homemade stuff like a decent soup with proper bread.

I said to DH I could have bought a load of ready meals and dressed them up with some side salad for a fraction of the price of the meal we had.

I just don't think the prices are matching the reality of the food anymore.

OP posts:
Chancewouldbeafinethlng · 14/04/2019 18:29

Yanbu but I agree with what the pp said that it’s mostly chain pubs/restaurants that have mediocre food.
Independents I’ve been to have always been delicious

hidinginthenightgarden · 14/04/2019 18:34

I agree. We don't eat out much as we cannot afford to waste the money and eat shit food. It's not much of a treat to spend the best part of your food budget on an average meal.
Also, whilst many independants start off great. Usually by 6 months in they have settled to average too.

Original poster
Fantasisa · 14/04/2019 18:36

The pub we were in on Friday is an independent. The ones I do rate near here are independents though. I don't mind a Pizza Express etc, at least I know what to expect.

OP posts:
kittybee · 14/04/2019 18:37

Agreed. I really resent paying for meals out when I know I can cook far better, for much less.

BiggerBoat1 · 14/04/2019 18:37

I love eating out. I don't even care if I could have made it better, its just lovely to concentrate on the people I'm with and not have to wash up!

Original poster
Fantasisa · 14/04/2019 18:39

BiggerBoat1, I would like to do that too but I'm too busy inwardly grumbling at the poor quality food Grin

OP posts:
HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 14/04/2019 18:40

With the chains and sizzling pubs etc it's best to go for a grill or burger because everything else is in the microwave. Even with independents though I think they charge far too much for what they do in the provinces.

buttyblahblah · 14/04/2019 18:40

Yep. It's a bit depressing after eating out cheaply in Spain and having amazing food to come back to expensive microwave meals pretty much everywhere.

Made the mistake of going to Marco Pierre White's at the Cube in Birmingham because of a Wowcher type thing. Food was really not great and massively overpriced.

wigglypiggly · 14/04/2019 18:41

I resent paying good money for mediocre food, I go to church or charity run cafes now, they are good quality, wholesome, usually home made and much cheaper.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 14/04/2019 18:42

Most of the southern continent is great for eating out I agree. Spanish people wouldn't put up with the shit we pay £16 for.

CurlyMango · 14/04/2019 18:44

It is so disappointing, shouldn’t be that hard for them to provide something good and at the right tempreture. The lack of choice round hear, or indeed within an hour is poor.

Bluntness100 · 14/04/2019 18:45

Eating out is only partly about the food for me, the social occasion is the other part. And it's a big part of it.

To be honest I seldom have a bad meal out. We usually go to our local pub and the food is fantastic, or somewhere like a Thai, Italian or Indian, and again the food is great.

We eat out at least a couple of times a month and I genuinely can't recall having a bad meal, but again as said the food is only part of it for me, it's not all of it. It's going out, having a few drinks, enjoying time with friends or loved ones, as well as having a meal.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 14/04/2019 18:48

As a veggie you are pretty used to it! Even somewhere fancy you might end up with some pasta (not exactly expensive) with veggies (again not expensive) and pay almost as much as someone having steak.

That’s why I drink expensive wine...

greenpop21 · 14/04/2019 18:49

Sunday lunches in many chain pubs are piss poor! They want £10 plus for half a plate cover in a mahoosive airy Yorkshire pud, a medley of veg that is less than one portion of veg at home and they charge extra for proper veg. Would rather cook at home!

Original poster
Fantasisa · 14/04/2019 18:49

@LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD I'm not sure I would ever eat out!

OP posts:
bordellosboheme · 14/04/2019 18:49

Well I'm a real foodie. I'm disappointed with the restaurant culture in the UK these days..... Terrible sullen service, ripp off, and meagre portions of microwave crap. It feels like such a con.

BalloonSlayer · 14/04/2019 18:49

DH and I went away for a weekend to a local "naice" town. We wandered around looking for somewhere to eat and it seemed like everywhere did the same stuff: posh burgers (they all went to great lengths to stress how "special" the meat was) and you just knew the chips would come in a tiny metal bucket, and a few other eminently forgettable dishes. I kept thinking "not here because I don't want a burger" but ended up having exactly that because there seemed to be no other type of menu.

I went to an upmarket pub the other night with a friend. She had the burger Wink and I had a fish pie that came in a (rather small) dish and had been clearly heated straight from the freezer in a volcanic oven. It was about £15 and tasted like the £2.99 ones you get from Tesco. I am not even really complaining, I had a lovely time and enjoyed my food but for the price i'd like to have felt it had been freshly made.

greenpop21 · 14/04/2019 18:52

My last Sunday roast out was a month ago. The menu read "Roast pork, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, roast potatoes and gravy with a Yorkshire pudding.

What I got was one serving spoon of 2 slices of carrot, one teeny weeny broccoli floret and a few slivers of cabbage, one huge half burnt pudding, 3 small roast potatoes and a very mean 2 slivers of roast pork.The waitress tried t get us t order cauliflower cheese for an extra charge. Just flipping give us a spoon of each veg and be done with it!

ineedaknittedhat · 14/04/2019 18:53

I agree, it's horrible. Messy tables, overcrowded places with everyone crushed together, stale cakes, mediocre coffee and lethargic service. Our local garden centre makes scones that are so hard you'd easily give someone a head injury if you lobbed one at them.

We went to sushi a couple of weeks ago and it was abysmal. The food was old, covered in some kind of mayonnaise and they'd put the prices up. I'm usually a human dustbin, but even I couldn't face what was going round on the belt.

If you go onto trip advisor and leave a negative review about such places, the managers come on and argue with you as well. Bloody cheek.

Blackboot1 · 14/04/2019 18:54

Same here in Ireland. Some places serve great food but the majority are pretty mediocre. I think the problem is that some people won't pay for better food (ie my parents) and would rather get a quantity over quality carvery-style lunch. My dad seems to rate a meal on how much he got.

greenpop21 · 14/04/2019 18:56

I remember a holiday in France. I ordered forestier(?) chicken with fries and salad. It was chicken in a mushroom sauce. It was absolutely delicious and freshly cooked. When we returned home, we were out one night and I saw the same dish on the menu. Well, I don't think I need say what came up apart from it was obviously over microwaved and an insult to the first version!