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?

I complained about a tiny portion of pasta at an Italian chain pre pandemic and was told people were prepared to pay it so that was enough. They gave me a free dessert but I never went back.

@oakleaffy

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.

This is why I never buy cakes, brownies, cookies etc out. They're always so extortionately expensive and not that great.

Why will the pic not post?

@MurmuratingStarling

Why will the pic not post?

She's probably new

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER we are the same. I use a whole 500g pack of pasta for our family of five for spagbol or pesto pasta etc. sometimes there’s a portion leftover and sometimes not!

@oakleaffy

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.

I’d cry if I was given that portion!

Pasta at a chain, yes probably like something I could make at home.

Pasta at a proper Italian should however be fresh and delicious and worth paying for.

prices have gone up, zizzy is expensive
can't see any photo evidence so cannot really comment properly

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

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.

Complaint was made when she was served it

oakleaffy that isn’t even a full slice. Half the top bit is missing and unless the cake was very small then you would expect that the slice would involve going from the middle to the outside and not a piece off the side of a slice.

I think I would have handed that pathetic excuse for a slice of cake back and demanded my money back.

Home made!! I would have expected more not less.

@Rosehugger

Pasta at a chain, yes probably like something I could make at home.

Pasta at a proper Italian should however be fresh and delicious and worth paying for.

Yes exactly, I don't think it's fair to say that Italian food and pasta are not good value for money in general

At a proper Italian restaurant the pasta will be made fresh on the day, there will be more interesting variations and fillings, the sauces will be fresh and creative

I would pay £15 for those dishes, not so much for chicken pesto penne at a chain.

Never, ever, ever have pasta out. Pasta costs about a quid.
The sauce next to nothing.
The amount of chicken /prawn you get simply not worth it!

@Floralnomad

I think lots of people over plate at home and have lost sight of what a normal portion size is , I eat at a fair amount of chain type restaurants as my daughter is gf so we need to know there is something she will eat and I’ve never had an issue with portion size .

The issue is value for money. No one minds £15 plus if you get a beautifully presented, fabulous tasting dish in a nice atmosphere. Or equally a massive portion of something nice that fills you up until dinner. My local isn’t cheap but the garden is fabulous, the owner is friendly and you can have a lovely time in good company.

Poor value is poor value regardless.
.

@Suzi888

Never, ever, ever have pasta out. Pasta costs about a quid. The sauce next to nothing. The amount of chicken /prawn you get simply not worth it!

I disagree, you just need to find a place that is good value.

There is a place in Soho that gives you a great big plate of spaghetti for £7.99 eat in, and £4.99 for a takeaway.

I'm guessing prices have doubled now but it is still great value if you love pasta.

@DarkCorner

That's strange but YANBU to complain if it was tiny as £15 is a lot for a pasta dish. We've had a chicken pasta pesto dish at Pizza Express recently and it was really big and filling with loads of pieces of chicken and it had a cheese sauce in it as well so maybe go there next time :).

I worked in PizzaExpress during my uni years and wouldn’t recommend ever ordering the pasta dishes. They come in frozen and are just defrosted and warmed up in the pizza oven, so you are just getting a ready meal really, albeit a decent quality one. Agree it’s a good sized portion too. The pizza dough comes in frozen but is freshly stretched, topped and baked so IMO it’s better than what you would get at home.

Oh for god's sake

The cheque, the chest, the mysterious garden shed or whatever

As pp have said, if they increase prices and reduce portions too much it’ll be an own goal. As my budget shrinks, one thing I want is value for money so I will just not go to those places.

Eventually this trickle of belts being tightened will become a flood and will start impacting those wealthy shareholders. Then things might change.

@VapeVamp12

They only have to put calories on if the company employ 250 or more people

What gets me is that so many restaurants are going the veggie / vegan route and charging the same amount for something like a mushroom wellington and a beef wellington! Some veggie dishes look lovely but i'm not paying £15 for some mushroom and pastry!

Plus the vegetarian recipes are always massive calorie wise. They're often 1000+ for every single option. I think they're plumbing in lots of fat and sugar to make it taste better 🙄 They could use herbs and spices but no

i would never order pasta in a chain restaurant. In an authentic Italian restaurant, where the pasta is freshly made on site, yes, but from a chain restaurant it'll just be cheap pasta that literally cost pennies to make. The markup on pasta must be absolutely incredible.

@Finallylostit

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

There's always one on these threads isn't there 😂 'English food and English tastes are shit and they don't even know what salt is'.

@oakleaffy this is my local cake shop
Cake slice, and the size of a brownie

As a regular maker of homemade pasta, I can confirm that it is actually way cheaper than buying dried pasta. People assume the opposite. I also noticed a lot of dried pasta being consumed in Italy. I think that there is a misconception that Italians only eat fresh homemade pasta (and it is refined to do as the Italians do) but the Italians don't apply this pecking order and their choice is really determined by the recipe. Also, if they wish to showcase regional specialties, they may need to use a filled pasta as a vehicle to showcase what is inside so it is more about the filling than the fact that it is a homemade dough.
That said, I was still willing to pay over the odds for a big, inauthentic plate of either, just not a downsized, price inflated one.

Those brownies!

MrOllivander

Now that is what you call a slice of cake.

I wonder if sizes are getting smaller - at a pub the other day we got a starter of tempura veg, it was £6.50 and about 6 tiny pieces of veg. A total rip-off, will not be ordering that ever again. I totally understand the financial pressure that restaurants/pubs are under, but I'm also under financial pressure and can't just be throwing money away.

£15 is a lot for pasta, especially in a chain restaurant.