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

[Yearn]

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.

There really is. But, there’s always that one table of locals who go every weekend and have the same table.

@Fluffycloudland77 - I think I see your point there - that is unfortunate - so I would either - book a different night or a different place ( different place may be hard depending on restaurants etc near where you live ) . Or tell local place - not booking any more because of table rowdy people & it may be that the place values their custom because more money than you. I sympathise. My point about a glass of wine was specifically meant to exclude those who spoil other's enjoyment.

But

There are some unusual views on alcohol on MN that I've not come across in RL

I know what you mean, but on the flip side, I feel like if you dare to suggest that there might be anything problematic about alcohol here then you get pounced on and accused of being a boring Puritan whose views are crazy and extreme.

I think there’s some over-identifying and projection that happens on both sides and everyone could probably just be a bit less intense about it all!

For what it’s worth, I’m speaking as someone who used to love a drink and would probably have raised an eyebrow at the thought of a restaurant that didn’t serve alcohol. Then I stopped drinking for various reasons a few years ago and did a lot to reassess my relationship with alcohol, which involved reading and thinking a lot about the way alcohol is pushed on us all the time in UK culture.

Now when I hear people saying that they wouldn’t enjoy a meal without alcohol or that alcohol enhances the taste of food (which I believe is scientifically debatable) I’m reminded of stuff I used to say when I, personally, was kidding myself and had a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol. And as someone who now doesn’t have to give alcohol a second thought in my plans and who firmly believes alcohol (or lack thereof) doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to how fun/enjoyable/delicious something is, I have to resist the urge to wax lyrical about how much better my life is without it now. BUT at the same time I can see how I would be over sensitive and projecting my own personal experiences onto a much more general situation, so I generally do try to hold my tongue!

Genuinely aghast at all the alcoholics & wine-o's on here
wow - must be clutching her pearls

It depends to be honest.
I've always wanted to try Cardiff prison's public restaurant. It doesn't have alcohol for obvious reasons so I'd make an exception that evening. I can always have a drink before or after.
In general though, if I'm out for food at the weekend, I want to have a drink with it.

I wouldn’t even notice! I’d go for the food not for drink, if I was desperate for a drink I’d go somewhere after or have one when I got home, but I rarely drink as I don’t really like alcohol that much!

Depends what other options were available. If the food was much better than competitors then probably. If it was the same then no. I'd go elsewhere. Unless everywhere else was booked up and I was starving hungry.

I don't drink, and I wouldn't eat there! The few occasions I've been to restaurants (and social occasions) where there's been no alcohol they have tended to be dour in the extreme.

I know what you mean, but on the flip side, I feel like if you dare to suggest that there might be anything problematic about alcohol here then you get pounced on and accused of being a boring Puritan whose views are crazy and extreme
I agree with this.
There's occasionally someone who seems shocked that an adult might enjoy an alcoholic drink, but more often than not there's a lot of very defensive posts from people who seem to think questioning high alcohol consumption/dominant attitudes to alcohol in the UK is a sign that mumsnet hates alcohol, that people are uptight and never have more than a thimble of alcohol at Christmas etc.

I don't agree with binge drinking, question the idea that high alcohol consumption doesn't count if you're a middle class professional drinking wine most nights a week, and find the dominant attitude that alcohol is essential for any event to be a bit sad. I don't think it's that controversial to think alcohol should be consumed in moderation, but on here I've been accused of being a prude who hates people who drink and have fun.

absolutely.. seeing how i'm not into drink driving, and i'm always driving, so never drink, it wouldn't ever be a barrier for me.

Would it seriously put people off?

so after catching up with all the posts since this morning

1. I really really want some good cheese and a glass of port
2. Purely for research purposes, I am going to try out the local "fine dining with a dry bar" restaurant later in the week.

will report back
where's the port?

@FirewomanSam

Not in any way would I suggest that alcohol cannot be problematic. This is true , I have a friend who had to do rehab AA and now is completely teetotal. I would not ever say that not drinking alcohol is "puritan" . My only point is that some people can have a healthy relationship ( for want of a better word ) with alcohol. Some can't.

Not on a Friday or Saturday night.

I don't drink alcohol at all because it's one of my migraine triggers and it's simply not worth it.
I always dine out without any alcohol and because DH doesn't find it much fun to drink without me, he usually has a beer or a glass of whiskey when we get home. We are a pretty boring couple when it comes to booze.
Give me a restaurant with fantastic steak, duck or venison and I don't need alcohol to enjoy it.

Yes I would eat there but I'm not a big drinker, however, I wouldn't book it if l was arranging something for a group of friends as it's their decision if they want to drink not mine.

My only point is that some people can have a healthy relationship ( for want of a better word ) with alcohol. Some can't.

I don’t disagree with you either, but would only add that in my opinion, a lot of people (not all) who claim they have a ‘healthy’ relationship with alcohol are probably kidding themselves. Basically I agree with everything LolaSmiles wrote a few posts above me, especially the part about middle class drinking culture being this weird blind spot. I also think that anyone who drinks has the potential to develop a problematic relationship with alcohol under the right (or wrong) circumstances, and that there are some dangerously unhelpful ideas out there about how it takes a certainly personality or genetic makeup for someone to become an ‘alcoholic’ that allow people to tell themselves it would just never happen to them.

My husband drinks and is one of the few people I’ve ever met who I would say can genuinely take or leave alcohol and whose relationship with it I think is truly healthy. Meeting him was actually one of the things which made me reassess my own drinking because I realised how differently we approached it.

So I definitely don’t think that no one should ever drink, and I have no problem with people who do, I just think a lot of people could benefit from being really honest with themselves about their relationship with alcohol. And yes - to bring it back to the point of the thread - if a friend thought a meal without alcohol was akin to a meal sat in an uncomfortable chair, or in a restaurant stinking of sewage (as has been compared upthread) then I’d be alarmed and a bit concerned, to be honest.

I don’t drink anymore, but back when I did I still wouldn’t have alcohol with a meal. I need something that actually quenches my thirst and alcohol doesn’t do that for me.

So if we were making a night of it, I would have a soft drink with the food and I wouldn’t start drinking alcohol until the meal was finished. But that’s only if we were going on somewhere else afterwards.

If it was just a meal a few drinks then home, then I’d stick to soft drinks.

I never fancy drinking after a meal. If I am going to have wine I prefer a glass or two before I eat and some with the meal. Once I have eaten I don't want to drink any more.

@RampantIvy

I never fancy drinking after a meal. If I am going to have wine I prefer a glass or two before I eat and some with the meal. Once I have eaten I don't want to drink any more.

Ditto. I want coffee at the end of a meal, and then I'm done. Water with a meal as well as wine.

Dont see why not, its all about the food.

Sure, but I'd be more likely to go on a weeknight

@Mercurial123

MN is full of people who think more than a thimbleful of Sherry at Christmas makes you an alcoholic.

It's also full of posters who state this.

Because it's true!

"if a friend thought a meal without alcohol was akin to a meal sat in an uncomfortable chair, or in a restaurant stinking of sewage (as has been compared upthread) then I’d be alarmed and a bit concerned, to be honest."

And if a friend said the same about a meal without cheese or a meal without the option of a cup of tea afterwards or chips without a sauce, would you think the same? If someone said they wouldn't be bothered having Sunday lunch if there was no gravy, would that mean they have 'an unhealthy relationship with gravy'?

If someone said they wouldn't be bothered having Sunday lunch if there was no gravy, would that mean they have 'an unhealthy relationship with gravy'?

I'm starting to suspect I do have an unhealthy relationship with gravy 😂

Yes definitely would go there. I often don't drink because I'm driving.