Aibu or all shops And restaurants shit atm?

[Newbabynewhouse]

So I've not been out properly in a long time with being pregnant and having a baby and obviously covid.... but just started to venture our again recently and nowhere seems as good as it used to be.. Chiquitos, nandos and other restaurants seem to be lower quality than they used to be (as in seem to be using cheap frozen chips from asda or something whilst still Charing £15 per meal!) ... clothes shops like new look don't have much choice anymore
.. is it just me or have other people noticed this?

theres shortages everywhere!!! and of course people are isolating so the whole chain is disrupted

how can you expect things to be the same when covid has caused issues, and now,Brexit?

I’ve been to lots of restaurants and pubs and had great food.
Chiquitos and Nandos are shit anyway!

Just been to Frankie and Benny's. Best meal ever! I am easily pleased but it was honestly fabulous.

Yes it's been going on for a lot longer than covid too. So many restaurants and especially pubs are serving microwaved frozen food that's made in some central factory and it's rubbish.

No offense intended here but places like Nandos and New Look aren't exactly famed for being high quality anyway.

For you have the budget available for better quality places (although I'm not sure Nandos is that cheap anyway)

I've had some great meals recently and also found plenty of clothes to buy, and certainly not noticed a drop in quality from pre-covid times.

*Do you

I realise there are much better quality places than new look and nandos however the fact that you pay around £15 just for the main meal and they seem to have used frozen smart price chips (tasted that way) whereas it at least used to taste better last time I ate there (pre covid) .. menus seem to be limited eventhough places have seemingly gone back to 'normal' but I mean nowhere seems to have what you're looking for anymore.. like theyre all heading towards being closed down just wondering if it's just me or if people feel the same... everywhere is closing down eventually isn't it

Yes I would have the budget for other places.. do you feel that more expensive places have kept their quality?

With food I'd felt the last few meals out I had even pre covid were disappointing, would rather cook myself and know its going to be decent.

I honestly don't think il bother eating out again

Lots of shops are not putting much out on the shop floor, so there is lot more choice online.

@SummerHouse

Just been to Frankie and Benny's. Best meal ever! I am easily pleased but it was honestly fabulous.

Surely that’s a joke. Frankie and bennys is inedible.
Having said that, OP, stop eating in chain restaurants they’re rarely any good

I don’t mean to be rude but the places you mention were not serving ‘good quality’ before Covid! They are budget options. Nothing wrong with that but that is what it is.

New Look is certainly not quality , cheap and cheerful maybe?

Congratulations on your new baby though

I know what you mean, we recently went to Matalan & primark & they just seemed empty & lacking in choice

Was charged for 2 x Coffees today despite asking for one. Took 3 people 5 attempts to refund the extra to my phone. Had to use a different card to get the refund. Later 11 out of 15 items on a hand written chalk board were not available.
Lunchtime was told I couldn’t have a bacon sourdough panini despite there being 5 on view in their cold counter. Only way to buy items in W H Smiths was to use self service tills, ‘no one available’ to actually man a till. Customer service seems to have gone to shit.

Yes quality and service is down , probably due to the ‘pingdemic’ noticed this in ikea today. Though it seems to affect low to mid range outlets more.

I had a burrito last week at Tortilla and instead of the usual chopped chargrilled chicken breast it was chunky not chargrilled leg meat held together with fat. Had to oick it all out. Supply problems or cost cutting - either way I won’t be going back

[quote Travielkapelka]@SummerHouse

Just been to Frankie and Benny's. Best meal ever! I am easily pleased but it was honestly fabulous.

Surely that’s a joke. Frankie and bennys is inedible.
Having said that, OP, stop eating in chain restaurants they’re rarely any good[/quote]
Honestly not a joke. Thier pepperoni pizza with green chillies is really good but I guess it would be difficult to get a pizza wrong. With an ice cold diet coke. I was really hungry so that also helped!

Have been to two formerly-good gastro pubs in recent months. Now shite and at vastly inflated prices. I’ll be sticking to takeaway now if I want a break from cooking.

Massive supply chain issues with Brakes and the like not being able to deliver food in a timely manner due to driver shortages so restaurants and shops are likely having to adapt.

Try the independents, you'll get much better food and service than chain restaurants.

Problems are supply of food and also staff.
A lot of chefs and staff in hospitality took other work in lockdown and have realised that for the same or more money they don’t have to work so hard or unsociable hours.
Also Eastern European staff have returned home because of brexit and the pandemic.

There’s loads of shortages, from Lordy drivers to service staff and supply chains

Warning have been issues about toy manufacturers for Christmas as the stock isn’t being made.

Lots of lost stock due to brexit, paperwork being slow too much hassle to forward stock, other countries getting priority.

Any local independent food outlets? Where o live these are doing excellent trade delivery and eat in. Much fresher and better quality.