We went to Wagamama’s last night…

[Starrylawn]

We had one main course each, some edamame, some cucumbers, two glasses of wine and two soft drinks.

What do you think this cost in this day and age?

I was going to say £80 so £79 yes is exactly as expected. If I go to Wagamama it’s 1 course and a soft drink and friend has blue light discount or daughter student discount. I think it’s one of those chain places where they expect people to use discount like pizza express.

Waga have always been overpriced for what they are.

Yeah I remember being similarly shocked when I last went! For future reference if you have the app you do get the edamame free so a tiny saving.

I only eat out at places that give a student, taste card or blue light discount these days - and have to plan accordingly. Yo! Sushi offers 25% off but still costs a fortune - and you would have to actually ask for the tip to be removed from the bill. The service was appalling, but they did miss off one of the dishes so I just didn’t mention that and grudgingly paid the service instead.
I have to think very carefully before I eat out anywhere these days.

£80

Do you have a recipe you could share? I’ve tried making various Katsu sauces at home but they don’t taste anything like the Wagamama one!

£100

Unfortunately restaurants have had to put their prices up to reflect their own rising costs (utilities, ingredients, staff) in all price/quality brackets. At the lower end of the market this is more noticeable, percentage-wise. When the food is mediocre or average at best, or even if it's pretty tasty but you're in and out in well under an hour as in the OP's case, it means it's not worth the expense any more for the customer - or at least certainly not on any regular basis.

The OP's £79 wagamama meal would fall into this bracket for me. The price could have been kept lower without the wine which I can imagine might have been £8 or more for a glass but for some people that would be part of making a meal out enjoyable.

I can see op has responded but my guess would have been £80.

I went in with 2 kids last week. Main for me, kids bento boxes for them, 1 side dish and 3 soft drinks and it was £75. I consider us pretty comfortable but that's not something we can be doing regularly unfortunately.

£90

Wait… you’re telling me that in Shanghai you can get two mains, two sides, two glasses of wine and two soft drinks for £10 at a sit-down restaurant with table service? Wow… China is a lot cheaper than I’d realised.

With the yen so weak, Japan always feels pretty cheap to me nowadays but I’d still expect the bill for that amount of food to come to around ¥5,000 minimum (a little under £25). I would have expected Shanghai to be at least as expensive as Tokyo tbh.

Sorry OP I was too late. But hadn’t seen your update. We used to go there a lot so I was fairly confident of the prices. Just added on a tiny bit too much. Did you enjoy it though?

I saw the title and genuinely thought “wait, is Wagamama closing down?! How did I miss that?”

I reckon about £100. Including tip.

Mains in standard restaurants are now about £20
wine around £8 for a 175ml glass and sides about £8 too, soft drinks close to £5. This means your average meal is about £70-80 I find, not posh places but “better than Wetherspoons” level. We prefer to pay about £10 more for a main and get something really enjoyable a bit less often, we also very rarely get takeaway.

Close to £100? With service etc.

That's one of the reasons why I prefer to cook it all at home now. We only reserve dining out at birthdays now and special occasions. It's just not worth it when you can get all the ingredients now in a supermarket and cook it yourself quite quickly.

And rising costs of employing staff.

About £80-90? Last time I went I couldn’t believe the bill..,

Last week 2 ex colleagues and I had lunch in a very nice pub in a what is an expensive SW London area. A smallish main each, no starters or puds, one lemonade, 2 pints of lager, one pint of shandy, two coffees.
£76. As regulars there, we were happy with that.

The only upside to the expensive prices in the U.K. is that holidays to Sweden don’t seem expensive now - we were paying the same if not less there, the petrol was cheaper, hotels cheaper too and I love cardamom buns from the petrol station (all are basically cafes)

Probably not wine, I think the alcohol adds to the price a lot, but yes, things are so much cheaper. Even in South Italy and France you will see places so much cheaper.

I don't completely understand the justification for UK charging significantly more than most other countries in the world for food tbh. I am sure there is a reason.

Just as an example, a Big Mac meal (Big Mac + medium fries + medium soft drink) in Shanghai cost me £2-3 with the app offers/discounts (£3.80 menu price), but in London it's costing me over £10 menu price for meals now?? (with the app I can sometimes get offers for £2.99-3.99 without the drink).

In USA the prices are not only lower but their portions are HUGE. lol. I am rarely full after a meal in the UK anymore.

But the only people that can use the discount are the people you mentioned - students and blue light card holders. That’s a very small minority.

It’s now owned by a prívate equity firm, i believe? Portions are now teeny and massively over priced.

i agree with the £80 guess.

I went up Wagamamas and was definitely being judged for asking for a wine with my adult son & teenager. Put me off. Just wanted one glass with my meal. Totally sober before. Not at all lush. They did not allow me to order one as son had asked for a beer but did not have ID. Bizarre, but I think ethnicity came into it, was too tired to argue but I won’t bother with them again.