Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you eat at a restaurant that didn't serve alcohol?

488 replies

Yearn · 22/11/2021 02:40

If a restaurant served only soft drinks and alcohol-free beers/wines/cocktails would you eat there on an evening? Even on a Friday/Saturday night. No BYOB either.

YABU - Yes, I would eat there even on a weekend night.
YANBU - No, I wouldn't eat there on an evening.

OP posts:
unfortunateevents · 22/11/2021 10:53

It wouldn't bother me personally but if I was eating with a few friends or family probably wouldn't consider it - it can be difficult enough to get a consensus on where to eat as a group without having to throw the alcohol/no alcohol into the mix.

ElftonWednesday · 22/11/2021 10:53

I wouldn't bother me. I've quite often met up with friends locally and driven and not had a drink, and just have one or two when I get home sometimes.

OneTC · 22/11/2021 10:54

Well I don’t drink so I doubt I’d ever even notice

Unless you were sat with the posters crying cos they couldn't drink Grin

For me it wouldn't make a big difference but I might not choose it myself. If a mate had chosen it then it wouldn't be reason enough to give it a swerve

Deliaskis · 22/11/2021 11:00

I voted YABU, even though I would eat in a restaurant that doesn't allow any alcohol, because I be very unlikely to eat in one as frequently as other places. Restaurants usually need a variety of customer types to do well, potentially including, but not limited to, several of the following:

Passing trade/tourists
Regulars/locals who go frequently for informal meals
Regulars/locals who go semi-frequently for special occasions
Groups celebrating birthdays/other special occasions
Business lunches/dinners
Something connected with another activity, like pre-theatre dinner etc.

If you don't have alcohol, or allow people to bring their own, then you are likely very much limiting the special occasion type diners, and definitely the groups. You may well also be limiting the passing/tourist type diners as well as some of the regulars.

It's not that people can't ever eat without alcohol, it's that by removing their choice, you are likely to reduce the number of times they will choose to dine there. If you can make money doing that then great, but some would struggle. It's a bit like a vegan restaurant for a meat-eater, I'll eat there and enjoy it, but I won't pick it every time. The key is that there are not many restaurants serving good vegan food so the demand is still high enough to fill the ones that do. With this, you are removing a choice but not saying what it is that would be the draw. It would depend if the offer is niche enough, and the demand for it high enough, to attract enough people.

Oldraver · 22/11/2021 11:02

Yes we did in Friday, didn't even occur to us about alcohol until we were told we get alcohol from next door

Chely · 22/11/2021 11:03

Yes. We're teetotal now but would have and have done in the past when we did drink alcohol.

LizzieW1969 · 22/11/2021 11:03

I wouldn’t mind, though I’d prefer it to be for lunch rather than dinner (and I’d probably prefer a tea room rather than a restaurant). Not just because of the lack of alcohol but because I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a nice cup of tea after the meal either. (Or I’d risk suffering from insomnia afterwards.) I’d be disappointed not to be able to have either alcohol or a cup of tea! And soft drinks aren’t that all that appealing with a meal, as has been said.

But I would go if I was having a meal with someone who didn’t want to be around alcohol. It wouldn’t be my own preference, though.

AryaStarkWolf · 22/11/2021 11:08

@sst1234

What a weird question. If your enjoyment of a meal is dependent on alcohol, you should seek help.
Don't be ridiculous, most people eat out as a treat at the weekend and having a glass of wine with it is part of that treat. It's not about not enjoying food if you can't have a drink, I'm pretty sure most of us do that every night of the week but If I'm paying for a meal out on a weekend, I'm going to chose somewhere I can enjoy my food and enjoy a glass of wine too
ClaryFairchild · 22/11/2021 11:10

Nope. I don't HAVE to have a glass with dinner, but I prefer to have the choice.

If it's a little cafe that's different, but not from a proper restaurant.

DdraigGoch · 22/11/2021 11:11

Wouldn't bother me, I can take it or leave it

Inastatus · 22/11/2021 11:12

@sst1234

What a weird question. If your enjoyment of a meal is dependent on alcohol, you should seek help.
Oh give over! What a twisted view 🤣! Enjoying a nice glass of wine with your food doesn’t mean you have a problem! Wine is meant to compliment and enhance certain foods and certainly does add to the enjoyment.
Inastatus · 22/11/2021 11:13

Complement not compliment 😅

LindaEllen · 22/11/2021 11:13

@GodIsAVegan

Of course. If it’s an issue to have a meal without alcohol, you might have a problem.
This. People who plan their entire social lives around alcohol are sad.

I will have a glass of wine with a meal if the table are getting a bottle, but I'm equally happy with a soft drink, water, or even a brew on occasion!

lightisnotwhite · 22/11/2021 11:14

Yep if I’m paying for a proper meal I want a whole “ night out” experience.
I’m not bothered if a simple meal or fast food type lunch or dinner though. Anywhere I need a reservation for though, yes.

FrenchBoule · 22/11/2021 11:26

Of course.
I go to the restaurant to enjoy food and I’m not bothered about alcohol. Happy with water/soft drink/tea.

SpiceRat · 22/11/2021 11:32

If the food was really excellent, I'd be ok with alcohol free. But it would have to be really good food
Why are you going to restaurants where the food isn’t good? Just to quaff a wine? And let’s face it, if the food isn’t good the alcohol is hardly going to be top notch, so it’s not about having high standards here.

TheViewFromTheCheapSeats · 22/11/2021 11:36

It depends how good the food was.
Some places are basic burgers and with the focus of a drink and socialising, others with amazing food in there for the meal.

TheKeatingFive · 22/11/2021 11:37

If I was going for an evening meal and relatively nice food (not fast food) then no.

I'm always going to enjoy that more with a glass of wine.

TheKeatingFive · 22/11/2021 11:39

Wine is meant to compliment and enhance certain foods and certainly does add to the enjoyment.

Exactly

LindaBlinda · 22/11/2021 11:45

No alcohol absolutely fine for DH and I. We aren't big drinkers and would rather spend the money and calories on stuff I can't get cheaper at the supermarket.

It's no hassle to pour myself a glass of wine and a bottle is the same to buy in Waitrose as a glass costs when out.

But I can't cook like most restaurants can and they'll also do the washing up. So I'm happy to pay for food but rarely drink with a meal.

If a place didn't do dessert however, DH wouldn't even speak its name let alone go in. Grin

WomanStanleyWoman · 22/11/2021 12:11

@ClaudiaWankleman

Well it's you missing out on potentially amazing food because you have to have your glass of wine and can't enjoy a meal without it. No skin off my nose.

@gannett if you actually read what @Ducksurprise wrote, it’s not about ‘can’t enjoy’ it’s about ‘don’t want to pay for an experience I don’t want’. It’s no skin off anyone’s nose.

Exactly. A disappointing (but sadly unsurprising) number of posters either can’t, or won’t, differentiate between ‘I can’t enjoy a meal without alcohol’ and ‘I don’t want to go out for a meal where I don’t have the choice’.

If I couldn’t have a meal without alcohol, I’d have poured Baileys on my cornflakes this morning instead of milk, and added a brandy to the Coke I drank with lunch yesterday. But if I’m going for a nice meal out on a Saturday night (as specified in the question) I want wine. WANT, not NEED.

WomanStanleyWoman · 22/11/2021 12:13

@Yearn

I guess one argument for a dry restaurant is that people only have to stay long enough to eat and there are plenty of bars and pubs to go to before and after.
That’s not really an argument for it though, is it? It’s a suggestion of how people going to a dry restaurant could get alcohol elsewhere. That doesn’t make a dry restaurant a positive thing.
nosyupnorth · 22/11/2021 12:17

I like a drink as much as anyone, but if I invited a friend out to a restaurant like some of the good indian places that are alchol free, and they said they wouldn't come because they couldn't stand to be without booze for a few hours, I would be genuinely concerned about them.

I wouldn't always go out to alcohol free places, because I do enjoy nights out with drinking too, but I wouldn't consider it at all unreasonable for one night.

WomanStanleyWoman · 22/11/2021 12:28

But again, @nosyupnorth, is it really that they ‘can’t stand’ to be without alcohol? Or just don’t want to be?

LittleGwyneth · 22/11/2021 12:31

Absolutely not. When I'm not pregnant, choosing a nice wine alongside food is a big part of eating out. Plus I would assume that the quality of everything else would be fairly shit if they weren't able to sort out a booze licence. If it was BYOB I'd be fine.

I don't drink at lunch apart from on very rare special occasions, but I still wouldn't go somewhere dry for lunch. It just sends all the worst possible messages to me.

Also I know mumsnet is famously anti booze, but suggesting that wanting to go to a restaurant which serves wine means you've got a problem? Really? If I wouldn't want to go to a vegan restaurant do I have a dairy addiction?

Swipe left for the next trending thread