To hate going out for a meal

[Bigbouncingbaby]

I’ve always thought eating out was expensive…but since covid and not going out at all now I just can’t be bothered to go ! Every time I go out the service is crap or the food is crap . Then I get the bill at the end and think omg could of brought loads in Lidl for that 🤔😳 would much rather eat in but I think my husband just thinks I’m being miserable. Is it just me 🤷‍♀️

@Tulip1985

I hate eating out but love a takeaway as a treat

Do you find the quality is as good though?

We usually eat out but during lockdown we ordered food from our favourite Indian and Chinese restaurants and both times I threw the food away. It was disgusting. Normally the food in both places is delicious but this was siubstandard freezer to microwave gloop. I was shocked by how different it was.

I always feel a bit 'what's the point?' with takeaways. It arrives crammed into plastic boxes, leaking oil, lukewarm. You still have to clear the plates and cutlery. You haven't gone anywhere new. But it costs so much more than making something healthier and tastier yourself.

My local chinese/Thai is phenomenal. So it never disappoints me. I'm lucky it's so good . They do a banquet for 2 for £22 and we always have left overs.

I really don't like eating out, but I prefer it to eating in other people's houses which I absolutely hate as that's far worse. I can manage to eat out if I have to like if away with work, or on holiday or whatever but it isn't something I enjoy. I find joy in loads of other stuff though - love holidays, theatre, gigs, am out all the time with the kids and friends at all sorts of places. I can happily endure a pizza express with the kids at a push. But I just don't like the unpredictability of knowing what the food will be like or if I will enjoy it, how long it will take, whether people will comment on my dish especially if I don't really want it when it arrives, all that. Not sure that it's any more joyless than say people who don't enjoy cycling or don't enjoy climbing mountains or swimming in the sea. We are all just different thankfully.

@drpet49

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t enjoy a meal out. You sound joyless.

And you sound narrow minded. God forbid anyone have an opinion different to you and the people you know,🙄

I am always disappointed by the food I get when I eat out, perhaps my expectations are too high? Unless it's a panini in a cafe or something I can't be bothered.

Do you not have any good ethnic restaurants near you @garlictwist?

The food at the Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurants near me is far better than anything I can make at home, and I class myself as a pretty good cook.

There’s only a few very good restaurants where I live. And they are pricey. The others that are ok are frustratingly erratic. Also the veg tends to either be dull or not very inspiring. We are about 20 years behind uK. The range, choice, quality in a small area of Manchester or Liverpool or London is staggering.

But I still love a meal out, where no one is tidying up or cleaning away, you have a choice…..

When I go out to eat the food aspect of the lunch/dinner is actually not the main thing for me. I enjoy getting out, meeting my friend or having some relaxing time with my DH.
I guess the less you eat out the higher the expectation of the food where as if it’s a regular event then it’s like that was a nice meal, it made a change from what I usually have.

I used to absolutely love eating out, but as I get older I find I'm getting fussier.
So yes to the fabulous Thai set meal in a small restaurant beside the theatre we've been going to for years - £25 per person for a delicious set menu that includes sirloin steak and duck in the main courses with £2.50 corkage.

Yes to Fazenda the Argentian steak place where teen DS can eat as much cow as he wants. Yes to Six by Nico as the food is uniformly good and it feels like a proper occasion meal.

Not so much a fan of mid priced meals now unless I know the quality will be good. Had a pub lunch yesterday and DH had salmon and I had a beef sandwich, with soft drinks and sausages for the dog ( nice touch but should have told us they were charging) it was £40 for some very average food for two.

Plus as I'm 52 I put on weight very easily, so I'd rather only get fat somewhere good.

@RampantIvy

Do you not have any good ethnic restaurants near you *@garlictwist*?

The food at the Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurants near me is far better than anything I can make at home, and I class myself as a pretty good cook.

There are 5 Indian restaurants in my closest town and only 1 does decent food.

The others are not good at all and me and DH can honestly cook better curries than they serve. Also our onion bhajis are not greasy like theirs.

'Course it's not unreasonable to not like what (some) others like; you're an individual, not a 'bot! While I don't get the appeal of 'eating out' (or the 'Well I like it so everyone else must'; Paying ££ to eat in public, Ugh! It's all shades of wrong, to me, & I've ever so politely tried it enough times to know! Wish I'd grown a chuffin backbone sooner tbh :( - I get that other people apparently enjoy it; each to their own! I'd rather eat at home & go to a lovely old Pub if I go out (Alt-rock club when I was younger! Loved dancing to good music) Tho' many Pubs are turning into McEateries to survive ~ But people are different; imagine how boring it'd be otherwise! And how over-crowded those weird restaurants'd be.. 😉 x

Met the dc for an impromptu lunch yesterday - so no table booked, thought we might have problems finding somewhere - one is vegan so we were pleased to find the new Vietnamese restaurant had a space.

Fabulous food, two courses each, with soft drinks, the bill was £18 each. Great food that I would not have been able to make at home to the same standard. Same with our best local Indian and Italian. I'm a good cook, I CAN make those foods at home, but not as well as those restaurants do.

The added bonus is being able to get food to cater to different tastes, we've got meat eater, veggie and vegan in our family - so the default for home cooking would be vegan, going out everyone can get what they really want.