AIBU to resent paying £10 for a meal and getting heated frozen food?

[PricillaQueenOfTheDessert]

It's been a long and busy day so I didn't feel like cooking the chicken in the fridge, so we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out. The local pub has a good reputation for food so we went there to try one of their roasties. I was so disappointed. It was a big plate of food, but roast chicken, frozen roast potatoes and frozen peas. For £9.50 a head I at least expect proper roast potatoes and fresh veg. AIBU?

I've had quite a few meals like that in pubs recently. Really disappointing & a complete rip-off.

Most pubs I go in serve exactly the same food now it's all crap.

There are some good ones but they are far and few inbetween.

For £10 that's pretty much par for the course.

For that sort of price you're better off with Indian.

Its normally double the price on a Sunday in most places.

Only in places that sell heated frozen food the rest of the week....

I know what you mean OP. It's not just pubs, a lot of restaurants use caterers ready meals too.

We avoid eating anywhere with a long list of random unconnected dishes. If you order a Thai curry in a pub, it's going to be a frozen meal. We only order stuff that has to be freshly prepared, like an all day breakfast, or steak.

We go to two pubs sometimes for Sunday lunch and go to those as we know everything is genuinely freshly cooked that day. They are tiny 'locals' pubs that don't really have any random passing trade so no need for a freezer full of food. We know the cooks as they come and hang out with the customers when they aren't busy. The kitchens are right by the bar and you can see and smell the food being cooked. They can adapt it to your requirements. They both cost less than £10 and they are amazingly good. Real joints of meat, not ready sliced processed stuff. Real roasties. Real yorkies. Fresh veggies.

Find yourself a proper locals pub with a real cook if you want decent food.

For £10 I don't think I would expect anything more, TBH.

I think you can expect more than that for your money. It probably doesn't save the pub a lot if money to serve frozen stuff it's just laziness and a way to keep staffing to a minimum. If all the veg was prepared fresh they would probably need an extra member of staff.

I tend yo find pubs that are part of a chain serve poor quality meals with lots of cutting corners, they serve a big plate of old bit it's poor quality.

I was out with work for a drink last week and there was a man sat there eating the 'dustbin challenge'...which basically was a huge pile of food on a big metal bin lid...he was there with his family. Gross.

silver this is sad but true, expectations in the UK are pretty low.

Why though? A restaurant can easily cook and serve a decent, freshly prepared meal for less than £10 and still make a healthy profit.

But if us as customers except crap because we aren't paying much, then a lot of restaurants will happily oblige!

YABU about the peas, it's neither reasonable not desirable to expect freshly shelled peas unless you're at a cafe in a vegetable farming area. But YANBU about the roast spuds - a tenner is still a decent amount of cash unless you're in Mayfair, and it's not unreasonable to expect freshly cooked food.

YANBU about the potatoes but YABU about the peas, fresh peas taste horrible IMO and frozen are actually fresher if that makes sense.

The worst meal I ever has was a lasagna in an Italian restaurant that was still frozen in the middle. It's just a rip off and always tastes disgusting.

I do wonder about your expectations if you are complaining about frozen peas? Frozen roasties are grim though...........

Was the roast chicken fresh?

What else was served?

YANBU at all. This is why I don't eat out very much in the UK. If I want a break from cooking, I'll have a frozen pizza, something easy like an omelette or a takeaway, as we don't have many good independents near us.

Most people seem to prefer chain restaurants, which IMHO serve mostly preprepared factory shit food, but that's not a treat for me, especially when it costs a fortune, especially when accompanied by overpriced drinks.

Frozen roasties are never acceptable, but frozen peas are one of the few vegetables that are. But I don't like peas anyway.

I agree on the frozen roasties, its like eating potatos that havent been cooked through properly.

One of my ex step FILS worked as a 'chef' in a well known pub chain restaurant. I was so shocked when he bragged about how his job involved sticking complete bought in meals in vacum packs, into a bain marie, then blasting them in a microwave. Grim.

sorry but for a tenner I am not sure what you expected

Spend an extra £5 and go to a decent Italian and get a nice big steak. Or save yourself a couple of quid in the same Italian by having a pasta dish. Not had decent pub food for years, would rather starve tbh

oh I dont know the wetherspoons brekkie is not bad -

If you go to a chain restaurant/pub etc this is what you get. Sadly.

Find a good, family run, independent pub and spend your money there - you get a much better return.

And THAT is why I love my local pubs. They serve the most fantastic freshly made food. But, it does cost more than £10.

Unless they're very busy/large, you're not going to get a fresh roasted chicken for that price.

I'm not sure if Toby Carvery uses all fresh vegetables, but the roasties and yorkshires are fresh, and of all the chain restaurants, their carvery most resembles decent home cooked food and is only 5.99 in the week and 8.99 on Sundays.

YANBU to feel ripped off - but there's no law against selling frozen food, and I guess if you want to make sure you're eating fresh, you need to do some research first and find out where is good (although I know you went to this place based on recommendation!)

Certain places I wouldn't expect anything other than frozen - Wetherspoons, Frankie & Benny's, etc - but at least you know what you're getting and I miss the days of the crappy 'spoons microwave Sunday roast with a pint as a hangover cure.

I don't go out for Sunday lunch anymore. The gravy always puts me off...horrible watery crap.

I worked in a pub about 12 years ago on sunday lunch and remember having to clean out the gravy pan that was MASSIVE and it was proper home made gravy

YANBU

The chicken was properly pre-roasted then vacuumed packed in portions, ready for zapping in the microwave then just glazing under the grill.

:(