Page 6 | Cost of eating out

LetsDoThis2023 · 2023-01-09T08:22:13+00:00

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?!

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 15:54

I met up with three friends on Friday. Central London smart cafe. We had two coffees each, some mineral water, olives and nuts. I said, 'I'll get it' as in the past we have taken it in turns to get the bill. My friends were offering me a a tenner each and saying, 'Let's split it' but I insisted so they left and I called for the bill. It was £90!!! I still feel sick thinking how much money I wasted on coffee. I won't be offering to pick up the tab for a few months!

Ylvamoon · 15/01/2023 15:58

I took DD out to a local restaurant wit a lunchtime special menu... it was avarag £16.- for a main course and then £6 for a side ... (still cheaper than a £8+ starter!)
I agree prices are insane and I could justify some of it if the staff was paid decent wages but the waiting staff all looked like 16/ 17 years old with one maybe 20ish.

Sadly or naturally they will just silently disappear along with many other retail outlets.

Crunchymum · 15/01/2023 16:05

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 15:54

I met up with three friends on Friday. Central London smart cafe. We had two coffees each, some mineral water, olives and nuts. I said, 'I'll get it' as in the past we have taken it in turns to get the bill. My friends were offering me a a tenner each and saying, 'Let's split it' but I insisted so they left and I called for the bill. It was £90!!! I still feel sick thinking how much money I wasted on coffee. I won't be offering to pick up the tab for a few months!

Where was this? Surely you noted the prices on the menu?

£90 for 8 coffee's, mineral water (how many?), nuts and olives (again how many?). Insane.

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 16:12

Crunchymum · 15/01/2023 16:05

Where was this? Surely you noted the prices on the menu?

£90 for 8 coffee's, mineral water (how many?), nuts and olives (again how many?). Insane.

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I should have. I didn't even look at the menu. It was literally coffees and waters and none of us had eaten lunch so we ordered some olives and nuts. We'd been there before. I'd picked up the bill there before. It was nothing like that much last time. They seemed to have just doubled their prices almost overnight! It was in a smart location. I've decided to just pay for it with Christmas money I was going to use to buy new boots. More fool me.

Metabigot · 15/01/2023 16:13

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 15:54

I met up with three friends on Friday. Central London smart cafe. We had two coffees each, some mineral water, olives and nuts. I said, 'I'll get it' as in the past we have taken it in turns to get the bill. My friends were offering me a a tenner each and saying, 'Let's split it' but I insisted so they left and I called for the bill. It was £90!!! I still feel sick thinking how much money I wasted on coffee. I won't be offering to pick up the tab for a few months!

That's insane. How much was each item?

Benjispruce4 · 15/01/2023 16:15

Which cafe?

eldorado02 · 15/01/2023 16:36

I observed the other day that lunches out now cost the same as a dinner used to. For example, at our favourite local lunch place, it’s now £15 for a “main” plus non-alcoholic drinks are £3-5 each. I ate a panini and salad plus a smoothie, my husband had a wrap and chips plus a milkshake, and my daughter had a jacket potato with beans and cheese and tap water. It came to £60!

Lunch out always used to be better value, but not any longer, sadly. We will still eat out and support our local businesses, but definitely less frequently.

pocketvenuss · 15/01/2023 16:38

Jadey31 · 09/01/2023 08:27

Eating out is ridiculous now. I know inflation is hitting everyone and soon these lovely restaurants will close down. My DH and I went for a curry (2 starters, 2 mains with rice and naan to share and 2 drinks) came to £60!

I dint know how what you ordered could be less that £60 tbh

pocketvenuss · 15/01/2023 16:41

middleager · 09/01/2023 08:41

We don't eat out much anymore. When we do, it's one course only and minimal drinks.

My parents took us to Wetherspoons last week. 5 adults, one course and a soft drink each came to £35 which was very reasonable.

A meal and a drink came to £7 pp? What did you have? I'm suspicious of food that cheap

SleepingStandingUp · 15/01/2023 16:52

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 15:54

I met up with three friends on Friday. Central London smart cafe. We had two coffees each, some mineral water, olives and nuts. I said, 'I'll get it' as in the past we have taken it in turns to get the bill. My friends were offering me a a tenner each and saying, 'Let's split it' but I insisted so they left and I called for the bill. It was £90!!! I still feel sick thinking how much money I wasted on coffee. I won't be offering to pick up the tab for a few months!

Did you double check the bill? Did it include service?
8 x £5 coffee = £40
1 x £5 bottle mineral water
2 x olives =12 £12
xx nuts) £12

I mean that's stretching but still £67. 20% service would be 13.40. Still only £80

BarbaraofSeville · 15/01/2023 17:02

I think if I'd have been given a bill for £90 for that, I'd have asked to see the bill to check they hadn't put a couple of meals on for another table by accident.

Even with @SleepingStandingUps very generous estimation, it's not £90

SleepingStandingUp · 15/01/2023 17:04

BarbaraofSeville · 15/01/2023 17:02

I think if I'd have been given a bill for £90 for that, I'd have asked to see the bill to check they hadn't put a couple of meals on for another table by accident.

Even with @SleepingStandingUps very generous estimation, it's not £90

Yup, wait for someone to come on saying they had two fancy meals, coffees and dessert for £10!

namechangeforthisoneeee · 15/01/2023 18:48

@Crunchymum I own a coffee shop in London and I'm quite expensive (because we're a kind of destination where you're paying for the experience- and ... costs are increasing ) and it would be no where near that at my place . That's mental. Or a mistake

Perihelion · 15/01/2023 19:07

The energy costs alone to open for service are insane for a restaurant. Ovens, hobs, grills fryers, extractor fans, fridges, freezers, hot water, dish washers. All used constantly. Add in heating for the customers during winter. Then think about the rise in cost of food.
It's why many places are open reduced hours, to save on those costs and staffing and not opening when could make a loss.

Kazzyhoward · 15/01/2023 19:13

Perihelion · 15/01/2023 19:07

The energy costs alone to open for service are insane for a restaurant. Ovens, hobs, grills fryers, extractor fans, fridges, freezers, hot water, dish washers. All used constantly. Add in heating for the customers during winter. Then think about the rise in cost of food.
It's why many places are open reduced hours, to save on those costs and staffing and not opening when could make a loss.

Slightly different, but for the same reasons, our village bakery/pie/coffee shop stayed closed between Xmas and New Year. From previous year experience, they know it's pretty quiet for those few days, and knew they'd make a loss if they opened due to the costs of lighting, ovens, staff, etc.

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 15/01/2023 19:23

@WinterFoxes are you sure you got the correct bill and not for some other table?

I always religiously check my bill before paying after an incident years ago when some random cheeky git at the next table once told a waitress we were all together, we would pay and legged it! I didn't pay his bill and it made me very careful.

Several times I've picked up things on bills like being charged for a bottle of wine rather than a glass, still charged for both meals when food has been sent back and swopped for something suitable (allergy mistake by kitchen) and when coffees have been added when they should be included in a fixed menu. I never pay a bill without checking.

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 19:50

@WedonttalkaboutMaureen - I thought that at first but it was right. Eight coffees at £5.50 each! 4 bottles of water - about the same -£5.50 each. Olives and nuts were about £7 a plate, then they added service at 10% on top. It was right. I'm just never doing it again. Our very rich friend insists on this cafe but I might say something before it's my turn to pay again. I think the others, waving their tenners at me would have equally had a shock.

WinterFoxes · 15/01/2023 19:51

BarbaraofSeville · 15/01/2023 17:02

I think if I'd have been given a bill for £90 for that, I'd have asked to see the bill to check they hadn't put a couple of meals on for another table by accident.

Even with @SleepingStandingUps very generous estimation, it's not £90

I did check the bill. Very carefully. I was really cringing.

Maverickess · 15/01/2023 22:20

Winterday1991 · 15/01/2023 15:04

It annoys me. A few years ago, you could get a main meal in a mid range restaurant for about £10, now the same main meal is about £15/16 now.

Eating out use to be one of the small pleasures, but these restaurants are being really greedy. The service now is awful too!

And 'a few years ago' £10 used to last me a week on the gas in January, now I'm lucky if it lasts 3 days.
A 'few years ago' I could get the making of 3/4 cheap meals for £10 if I shopped carefully.

Can't do that now, mainly because it's not a few years ago and everything has gone up for everyone, including restaurants (in fact more in the case of fuel because there's no cap and no help), and it's not greed to not want to go bust by subsiding your customers 'small pleasures' so they don't have to pay more in a world where the price of everything has gone up massively.

And the service is crap because they're cutting back on everything, probably including staff, and even if they wanted more, there's a shortage maybe because the staff are sick of bearing the brunt of the annoyance of prices rising and don't want to hear about how people can't have their small pleasures when they're possibly going home to an empty fridge in a cold house.

Yes it's annoying, but take a look around you, it's not greed, it's necessary to have any chance of staying open.

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 16/01/2023 17:52

@WinterFoxes I'd definitely be giving that place a swerve, that's shocking prices!

verdantverdure · 16/01/2023 19:26

There's a new cafe opening near me, jacket potatoes are about £14.

I might pay a premium for something that took time, trouble, skill and energy to make, but I'm very well able to heat up beans and nuke a potato for less than a quid.

I just wouldn't pay it.

TheChosenTwo · 16/01/2023 20:57

Wow @verdantverdure i wouldn’t be going out to eat a jacket potato in the first place but £14 is steep for that. And yes, I’m well aware of all the overheads that the restaurants are now having to fork out for but it doesn’t change the fact that I wouldn’t spend £14 on a really boring meal that I make at home as an easy cheap midweek dinner that needs virtually no attention paying to it.

Meseekslookatme · 17/01/2023 07:27

I've only had one memorable jacket spud in my whole life. I would never pay £14 for one!

My issue with eating out and price rises is that I understand costs have shot up. I accept that. What I don't accept is that the experience has dwindled. Even fairly expensive restaurants seem to have such bad service now that a lot don't even give a tip option on the card machine (which suits me, it's an outdated practice)