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Original poster

Cost of eating out

148 replies

LetsDoThis2023 · 09/01/2023 08:22

Went with DH and DC to a bog standard local Italian restaurant last night....

We ordered: a starter, a pizza , a calzone, a lasagne, some prawns (4!) and a salad. We had one glass of wine, a bottle of fizzy water and 2 fantas. It was over £100.
Is it me or is that slightly ridiculous?!

OP posts:
Passthecake30 · 09/01/2023 09:01

I’ve reduced eating out with the kids (teens) ever since they started eating adult portions! It always costs at least £100, and then they come home and want another meal 2 hours later.

LindorDoubleChoc · 09/01/2023 09:03

Don't think you've got away with that comment DavidTeesTroll.

HiccupHorrendousHaddock · 09/01/2023 09:06

A local restauranteur told me his fuel bills have gone from £4k a month to £16k a month. No wonder prices have skyrocketed.

Several local chip shops have gone bust recently between fuel bills and the cost of vegetable oil since the invasion of Ukraine.

Hoppinggreen · 09/01/2023 09:06

We eat out regularly and we used to be able to do it for around £100 for 4 but now it’s around £150-200. To be fair DS now eats adult portions but we don’t really drink alcohol so it’s all food and DD doesn’t eat much
This is in The North so not London prices or anything

EmmiJay · 09/01/2023 09:08

Thats the new normal and has been since about late summer. For me and DD we stopped at Pizza Express in Islington and it was £51. Two pizzas, three drinks and two starters.

NeverGonnaNot · 09/01/2023 09:09

I’ve told teenage dc that we are only eating out for birthdays from now on. I just can’t justify the cost.

FluffyFlower · 09/01/2023 09:11

Yes sadly even a nice meal for two would be more than £100 in London these days, for a family you are not too bad!

Mydogisthecutest · 09/01/2023 09:39

Sounds about right here locally too, I live in a small ish northern town. If you account for each of those 3 meals being around £15 each, that’s £45. Prawns even a starter can sometimes be £10+. Wine for say £30 a bottle, then Fanta and a bottle of water on top, £100 ish total seems like the price I’d expect tbh

We only occasionally get takeaways now too - a takeaway for the 6 of us is often around the £70-80 mark

MintyPrincess · 09/01/2023 09:41

The wine was prob around £20 so it works out right imo

MintyPrincess · 09/01/2023 09:41

Ah shit sorry thought it said bottle of wine

bloodyplanes · 09/01/2023 09:43

The costs have definitely risen, which in the current climate is to be expected. However i seem to find that whenever i have eaten out lately it feels like i have been massively ripped off! The customer service, the food, the portions, not just the prices! I would rather cook something nice at home or get a takeaway!

SleepingStandingUp · 09/01/2023 09:44

We ordered: a starter £8
a pizza £15 , a calzone £15, a lasagne £12, some prawns (4!) £8 and a salad £10. We had one glass of wine, £7 a bottle of fizzy water £4 and 2 fantas £4. It was over £100.
Even with my Liberal prices it's only just over 80!

gratefulheart · 09/01/2023 09:48

Not the same
But
Went for tea and cake with my daughter so a local cafe, not artisan or fancy, just a cafe which serves all day breakfasts etc.

One hot choc
One tea
Two slices of cake

£18!!!!

Meseekslookatme · 09/01/2023 09:57

I'll happily pay more if the quality is still good, but it so often isn't.
So they get crossed off the list. I don't give second chances, value my custom or I'll eat elsewhere.

AutisticLegoLover · 09/01/2023 09:59

We used to go to our local Italian regularly when they're prices were £6.95 for any pizza or pasta with salad or chips at lunch time or between 4 and 6pm. It was a great deal. Now it's £9.95 for the same deal but only certain days and between 5 and 6pm. It's ds's birthday this week and we were going to go but yes said he'd rather me save my money for our holiday next month. He's only 7 bless him. I don't want the restaurant to close-it's been there for at least 30 years and is family run but I can't afford it now. In fact things changed when they started charging £5 for you to take your own birthday cake.

Maybe now eating out will be reserved by most people for special occasions. That's how it used to be when I was growing up but then my parents didn't have spare cash for things like that.

Ricco12 · 09/01/2023 10:01

We went on NYE. To miller and carter steakhouse. 2 adults 2 kids

Husband had a £38 steak
2 x kids had steak
1 x veggie option

We all had starters and pudding

I had 3 cocktails, 1 soft drink

We bought 5 other soft drinks

£150

I think you paid a lot for that.

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 09/01/2023 10:02

UnknownElement · 09/01/2023 08:28

So that’s three starters, three mains, two sides, three drinks and a bottle of water. I think that’s fine.

You've read it wrong. It's one starter. Not 3.

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 09/01/2023 10:05

PuttingDownRoots · 09/01/2023 08:54

Main £20x3 = £60
Starter/side £10x3 £30
Wine £5
Soft drink £3 x 3 £9

Rough estimate £104

It's one starter not 3 from the way I read it. Only one person had a starter I think

LaFemmeDamnee · 09/01/2023 10:06

Things will definitely start going back to how they were when I was a child, and we only ate out as a family once in a blue moon.

mindutopia · 09/01/2023 10:06

Yes, that sounds about right for what looks like 2 starters (starter and the prawns - I'm guessing around £6-7 each) and 4 mains (£12-16, less for salad), plus 4 drinks. Oddly, it's often the drinks that add up.

That being said, I didn't grow up in the UK and I was looking at the menu of one of my favourite childhood restaurants back in my home country the other day. You would not believe the prices! It's not a massively fancy place - family seafood restaurant with club sandwiches, nachos, steaks, cocktails/wine. Starters average about £12-16 and mains around £16-22 with a quite a few (not just steaks!) around £30-35. The cocktail menu doesn't even have prices, but a medium glass of wine is about £10. That's nowhere close to the cost of eating out where we live (in the west country).

PuttingDownRoots · 09/01/2023 10:08

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 09/01/2023 10:05

It's one starter not 3 from the way I read it. Only one person had a starter I think

Show quote history

I counted the salad and prawns as Sides, plus the starter

Igglepiggleslittletoe · 09/01/2023 10:12

We go out most weekends for dinner and certainly the prices have gone up. Recently in a decent place just outside Dublin it cost 105euro for two mains and one bottle of wine. Was in what I would class as a fairly low standard indian the other night in Northern Ireland and it was 60stg for one bottle of (warm and cheap) wine and two curries with rice and one naan bread.

Refreshmentsanyone · 09/01/2023 10:17

PuttingDownRoots · 09/01/2023 08:54

Main £20x3 = £60
Starter/side £10x3 £30
Wine £5
Soft drink £3 x 3 £9

Rough estimate £104

A pizza isn’t £20 even a Calazone. Neither is a normal lasagne?
More like £15 each even in the SE.

So should be nearer £90 I’d have though.
Although a bottle of sparking water was missed off that’s more than £3

Decafflatteplease · 09/01/2023 10:23

It's super expensive. As a family of 6 we now all eat.out together maybe once or twice a year now, it used to be maybe 6-8 times a year. I'd often take my teens out for a pizza at an independent place but it was getting on for £40 for 3 of us just for a pizza each and a soft drink each.

We went to pizza hut the other week for DC birthday that still seems fairly reasonable but my DC still eat child's portions and fill up on the salad bar and the ice cream factory 🤣 that was around £80 for 6 of us.

I'd much rather support the independent places but a lovely cafe near us is charging £10 now for a Panini no drinks included and its not sustainable for us to keep going there unfortunately.

RufusthefIoraImissingreindeer · 09/01/2023 10:24

bloodyplanes · 09/01/2023 09:43

The costs have definitely risen, which in the current climate is to be expected. However i seem to find that whenever i have eaten out lately it feels like i have been massively ripped off! The customer service, the food, the portions, not just the prices! I would rather cook something nice at home or get a takeaway!

This

Since covid the vast majority of pubs and restaurants don't seem to be able to provide hot food and the choices (I don't eat meat and only eat certain fish) have reduced as well

I'm not paying a lot of money for luke warm uninspiring food....its a shame really