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Original poster

To Wonder When Starters Got So Expensive

174 replies

AnotherBoringSaturday · 28/04/2018 12:36

DP & I went out for dinner last night to one of local pubs.
It is a lovely country pub.
Starters were £8.50 + !!
I just had a main (£22.50) but DP has a starter as well. It was a piece of mackerel the size of my thumb (literally 2 mouthfuls) for £8.50 Shock
We did mention it to the waitress & they sent us another piece but I’m just shocked at how expensive it was.
Don’t even get me started at the price of pudding

OP posts:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 28/04/2018 14:08

There are gastro pubs and pub-grub pubs.

The former are usually quite a bit more expensive - with rather smaller portions.

Oowatchasay · 28/04/2018 14:16

I'm more shocked by 22.50 for a main Shock

Gwenhwyfar · 28/04/2018 14:19

I can't believe you paid 22 for a main course and it's the starter you're complaining about! (though I think that's too expensive as well).

Aridane · 28/04/2018 14:22

Oh, Carluccios is crap and overpriced - avoid it like the plague

SimonBridges · 28/04/2018 14:26

I don't think it is a case of starters getting more expensive.
This sounds more like you going to a place that is poor value for money. That is a different thing altogether.

Chewbecca · 28/04/2018 14:28

I absolutely loved the hand and flowers & thought it was worth it.

I think you paid a reasonable price for an upmarket pub, assuming the food was good. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for good cooking, ingredients, service, environment, it is a hard industry to make good money in.

Ethereum · 28/04/2018 14:34

2.75 15+ years ago maybe.
It's called inflation. You know how your house used to be worth 50k and now its worth 250k? Like that. You may have heard of it

What a facetious comment.

Tell that to the average millenial who hasn't benefited from the asset price inflation of which you speak, and are earning starting salaries which have barely budged from 15 years ago.

£8.50 might be fine for the boomer class who have stolen their future though. Im sure their fake final salary oensions - yet another reason why conpanies can’t pay actual workers wages that remotely reflect the cost of living and everyone has to be topped up via tax credits - i.e corporate welfare.

TotHappy · 28/04/2018 14:39

Whoa, i came on thinking you would be talking about how starters always seem to be £5-6 now! £8.50 seems loads to me for a pub. I mean there are proper destination gastropubs - I went to the Jack in the Green on Devon a few years ago and it was amaaaaaazing, worth the price - but the way every pub that serves food now seems to call itself a gastropub and charge accordingly is annoying, because the food ain't all that. Our local fine dining restaurant is the same. We used to go there years ago for special occasions and it was proper old hotel fine dining - really long menu, done really well - they skimmed it down to modern fine dining style and the portions are now tiny, not as good, and lots more expensive. They look prettier though. Not impressed. And they used to have an old fashioned dessert trolley which I loved - also gone in favour of the inevitable panna cotta. Woe!

mrcharlie · 28/04/2018 14:40

@ Ethereum

100% agree with every word.

Bravo

Buxbaum · 28/04/2018 14:44

I was with you until you slagged off the Hand and Flowers. The food is wonderful and pretty reasonably priced for a 2 star.

bimbobaggins · 28/04/2018 14:45

I have to agree op, I remember when you’d get a decent starter for 3-4 pound and a main for 6/8.

Bettiedraper · 28/04/2018 14:47

I was in Norway last year with a friend; we decided to share a starter as they were so expensive... it was one prawn on a plate!

Twoo · 28/04/2018 14:50

I remember not too long ago you could get two mains for a fiver Shock

The80sweregreat · 28/04/2018 14:52

Desserts are creeping up in price and all catering packs too, I don’t bother with either starter or dessert and ask for tap water and ice or soft drink. Wetherspoons is popular ad they are not as pricy - much more rough and ready though than a nice pub meal but ok for lunch.

Original poster
AnotherBoringSaturday · 28/04/2018 14:59

I don’t believe I ‘slagged’ the Hand & Flowers.
For us it was not worth the money. As I have said I have no problem paying for a decent meal but feel that a thumb sized piece of uncooked mackerel was not worth £8.50.

OP posts:
IHaveBrilloHair · 28/04/2018 15:00

I never drink out, tap water all the way, drinks, even soft drinks push the price up.

Buxbaum · 28/04/2018 15:02

I never drink out, tap water all the way, drinks, even soft drinks push the price up.

Because drinks are where the money is made. The profit margins on food are tiny.

IHaveBrilloHair · 28/04/2018 15:02

To clarify, I don't want alcohol and an overpriced soft drink is silly to me when you can have it for pennies at home.
I'm there for food I can't cook myself.

Crispbutty · 28/04/2018 15:04

I’m a chef and the prices sound right for a gastro pub. Expensive but right.

Portion size sounds mean though and I would have complained too.

CocoaGin · 28/04/2018 15:10

I'd happily pay £8.50 for a starter, but it would need to be at least 1/3 of the size of a main for me to not feel ripped off. Two mouthfuls is taking the piss.

Rafflesway · 28/04/2018 15:11

Ethereum, I'm a "Boomer" - so is DH - on final salary pensions and NO WAY would we pay those sort of prices.

Although we are tight arses too Grin

TinklyLittleLaugh · 28/04/2018 15:11

Whenever I go to London I always think eating out is very reasonable. The wine list can be a bit of a shocker though.

We are in a naice it of Lancashire and the prices sound similar to the more expensive gastropubs near us. The food is normally pretty good and generous portions though.

Bramble71 · 28/04/2018 15:12

Both courses sound expensive to Northerner me! Particularly if the portions are quite measly. Thy sound more like restaurant prices than pubs IMO.

I'd expect to pay more if the meal was properly cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients. I haven't come across many pubs like that, though. They tend to be everything from frozen, sometimes barely warmed up for long enough too. I've quite often seen things that I've eaten in a pub on sale in Makro.

WombatChocolate · 28/04/2018 15:15

These days you can eat out for very little (think pub chains which offer a meal and drink for £5 or 2 mains for less than £10) and you can pay hundreds, with everything in-between.

Some people are buying purely on price....so cheap is imperative and quality not really an issue. For others, quality is everything and price not an issue. For most people, they would like something which seems pretty decent, and for a treat meal, more than decent and possibly luxurious......once you're into this area, you have to expect to pay, but the question becomes about value and being ripped off too. No-one wants to feel they had mediocre quality and service, but were charged extortionate prices.

The problem is that some people have no idea what is a reasonable price to pay for fine dining - they seem to think it should be available for £10 like a chain restaurant meal. Because a chain pub includes a drink and 2 side dishes in a fixed price menu, they feel resentful at being asked to pay extra for side dishes.

If the prices seem to be for fine dining, but the experience and quality aren't up to scratch, it could be worth emailing the pub to let them know your disappointment, or leaving a review on trip advisor or similar. Feedback is useful and resturants would rather hear your niggles than you just tell everyone else about them. Of course, you may find they disagree or you get no joy, but I always think it's worth telling them if you're disappointed. Perhaps mention it was a treat - I don't think you can complain about the prices - presumably you saw a menu before you ordered - but if you think the quality or service didn't warrant the prices, you can say that.

If however, the restaurant just charged higher prices than you like to pay (and it does sound a bit like that) then I don't think you can complain - no-one made you go there, but you went knowing the cost and later felt aggrieved by it.

With meals, I find it's best to have a rough idea of likely price before going out. You need to write off the cost - because if you choose to eat out, it's unavoidable. The question then is did you enjoy the meal and perhaps if you felt it was good value - that's not cheap, but worth the price you paid.

Buxbaum · 28/04/2018 15:15

Honestly OP, I have no idea where you went last night but I think if you found that the H&F (that is, one of the best gastropubs in the country) was poor value for money then maybe they just aren't for you, and you'd be better off going to traditional restaurants. I agree that the mackerel dish sounds measly.