Is this portion too small (pic)??? Should I complain?

[TeachyTeacher]

OK, a little 1st world problem-ish but we're really trying to budget and eat out rarely, as a treat. Went out over the weekend and ordered this pasta dish from a well known chain restaurant, costs around £15. Is it just me who thinks it's a kiddy portion? I took it up with the waitress who said it's the portion size and thats that... should I email a complaint?

Staffing costs have risen here £10 per hour for waitress. If you're in the kitchen chefing around 32k now. Chefs don't do long hours any more so you need more staff in the kitchen if you want to serve lunch through to dinner. So split shifts 10 - 4 or 4 - 9. That's five days a week . It's the same with other staff

I can post a pic of a £19.50 dish of seafood pasta I had at a Riva Italian Restaurant if that helps? It was delicious!!

OH had a plate of seafood tagliatelle the other week. It was crab sticks for £17 he was a bit taken aback

Pizza Express lasange is sadness on a plate. The only time I had it they didn't even decant it from its black plastic ready meal container.
Which chain was it OP? Can't be that identifying.

@Longdistance

£15 for pasta? It’s pennies for a pack of pasta. Did it have gold leaf added?

£2.50 of that is VAT, leaving just £12.50, of which the raw food ingredients will be averaging £4. The rest of the cost is for the staffing, building costs, power, water, waste disposal, administration, crockery, cutlery, cleaning, equipment, and owner's profit/wages.

I never order pasta in a restaurant as I have found that every single time I feel ripped off because I could have made better at home for about £1.

Thanks for the insult - momjin - not all English people like bland food but feel free to insult the English!

Even if inflation rises are added to a cheap dish theres going to be a tipping point where the vast majority of people dont want to pay it.

We dont eat out as much as we did pre covid and even before inflation rises it was up due to cleaning / spacing etc costs.

We have been to Zizzi twice this year and with the increase in costs I would rather go less and use my clubcard points.

Thing is the customers have less money too. I do wonder how they will all survive. We walked into Zizzi on the seafront on mothers day with no booking so I dont think they are beating customers away right now

I once had a work meal in a Soho restaurant, ordered the ravioli as my main and got 3 medium ravioli. It was delish but I could have had about 10 more. Had to fill up on bread.

YANBU.

I just don’t understand people going for pasta and then complaining that it’s not good value for money tbh. Everybody knows that the main ingredient is very, very cheap. Whether the dish cost a tenner or the OP had got double the amount for her £15, it’s still never going to be good value if you’re basing “value” on how cheaply or easily you could make it at home.

That doesn’t mean restaurant’s are ripping people off. Clearly people are willing to pay a huge markup for a pasta dish otherwise Italian restaurants wouldn’t last long given these are probably 50% of their menu! The OP ordered it knowing it was pasta for £15 and you can be guaranteed plenty of others do too because if it wasn’t selling it wouldn’t be on the menu in a chain restaurant.

How much (or little) do people think a restaurant should change for a main pasta dish? I mean bearing in mind they need to do X amount of covers at an average spend of Y to cover their costs and turn a profit.

I keep checking back hoping the photo has surfaced!

The cost of eating out has risen. My instinct is £15 is too much but I am thinking pre-covid /brexit world.

My local pub (expensive south east) charges about £9 for a tuna sandwich.

Can’t see your pasta, but I received this tiny, mean sliver of cake at a Bristol park.
Cost £2.95 ish and I paid before seeing it.
I had asked slice size, too and was shown a mimed triangle.

Stall said “” It’s homemade”

Meanest slice ever.

@oakleaffy you should have complained, that's not a slice!

So the OP hasn’t uploaded a pic?

I think they are going to have to start offering a free small plate in the form of the remainder of your pasta dish served up alongside the reduced size main.
I expect a big portion of carbs because I expect to NOT cook for the rest of that day. Pre-2022, this worked out fine every time. If they reduce sizes and I end up having to cook later on anyway then as far as I am concerned, it's not worth going at all. I will not order the rip off starters, sides and deserts.
I was in the City last week and I noticed that a well known small pizza chain (which is known for being cheap) was absolutely heaving. However, the usual clientele (students) had been replaced by City workers who had never been seen there before (well, the odd one, but not tables full of them). The pizzas may have been a tiny bit smaller but compared to elsewhere, it was still a bargain as ordering two at a fiver each was not going to be ruinous. Everybody seems to be gravitating towards the bargain lunches and I reckon that the chains will fall in a dramatic way.

The majority of people I know who go out for meals do so because it is either a celebration of some type or a catch up with friends. A few go for a date night or pre theatre, very few because they are foodies. The meal tends to be secondary on these occasions and therefore plenty are happy to order the pasta however cheaply they could do it at home, because all they want is a pleasant tasting meal to enjoy whilst in the company of friends. I think we may see a move towards more home entertaining as the cost of living increases bite so all those who are saying they can cook far superior quality food for a fraction of the cost are going to be very popular hosts. Not sure how they will feel about producing 8 different starters, mains and desserts though.

How much (or little) do people think a restaurant should change for a main pasta dish? I mean bearing in mind they need to do X amount of covers at an average spend of Y to cover their costs and turn a profit.

It depends what type of sauce. I'd pay that for something with a decent serving of seafood or chicken and full bowl of pasta. If it was tomato and Basil or similar/cheap veggies then I think £10-£12 is the most.

Lets face it, they could have chucked in a bit more pasta with the same amount of sauce and cost themselves pennies but the customers would be so much happier.

Honestly, unless it's like a little fixed price lunch menu then I rarely eat in an Italian anymore. I think a smaller portion for a lunch menu or fixed price 3 course is fair. I have been out and people have had a decent plateful of pasta with a nice sauce and chicken or sausage etc and it's been fine in the grand scheme of things but I'd not order pasta without knowing in advance what was likely to arrive.

You saw the price on the menu, ordered it, ate it and paid for it. But now you want to complain? Don't be ridiculous.

I had a veggie pasta dish at WildWood, admittedly I’m a big eater in terms of mumsnet sizes but it was literally a handful of pasta with a few bits of courgette in and olive oil. I rarely eat pasta out but this was a works thing.
It’s not good value for money in the chains

Hard to say without knowing the ingredients and their quality. Maybe they are trying to be authentic. Pasta is a first course in Italy where the portion is supposed to be small ( 60/70g) so you eat the main course afterwards. Here in Milan I would expect to pay €15-€20 for a good pasta dish, but in a restaurant, not a chain.

[quote Indicatrice]@oakleaffy you should have complained, that's not a slice![/quote]
I did complain!
They just shrugged shoulders.

Ironically they do - or did- good cheese toasties,but the cake was a ripoff, size wise.
Always a risk when they make you pay in advance.

Cake is so often dry and disappointing in chain coffee shops, too.

National Trust tearooms tend to do great big slices of delicious 🍰 cake.

They must have read that other MN thread where people talked about crying and shaking over being served massive portions of food.

@cookiemonster2468

A 'recommended' portion of pasta is about 60-70g, which doesn't actually look like a lot on the plate if that's what they go by.

Not recommended by me! I do 90-100g each for a main meal for me and dh it, and we’re not fat! We hardly ever have pudding/dessert though - except when we have guests.

The majority of people I know who go out for meals do so because it is either a celebration of some type or a catch up with friends. A few go for a date night or pre theatre, very few because they are foodies. The meal tends to be secondary on these occasions and therefore plenty are happy to order the pasta however cheaply they could do it at home, because all they want is a pleasant tasting meal to enjoy whilst in the company of friends

Yes, I think this is very true and the “value” is the experience as a whole. When you start to get into is it value for money compared to what it would cost me to make at home then few places will be.

We know any menu option that has pasta, rice, bread, chips etc as a main part of the meal is always going to cost a premium in a restaurant compared to eating at home. Then there’s the bruschetta at €8, the side order of chips at €5, the naan at €4, the coffee at whatever price and so on and so on. I paid I think €6.50 for a small side of veg in a fish restaurant a few weeks ago but it was what I expected a side order to be. No point complaining that I could have bought a head of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, a bag of peas and some carrots for the same price, I wasn’t forced to go there or order the vegetables!

Ultimately some people will decide eating out isn’t worth it and some restaurants will find various ways to make the dish seem better value - a dash of truffle oil here, some slow roasted tomatoes on the vine there, some fancier descriptions on menus etc but given how costs have and continue to increase, most won’t be slashing prices or introducing a lot of cheap options that generate minimum profit.