How much would you expect this meal to cost?

[Sofielou]

I'm not sure if I'm a bit unrealistic with my expectation here so I thought I'd see what wise Mumsnetters think!

We had a meal out at popular chain Italian restaurant. We ordered:

4 x main meals (3 x pizzas and 1 x pasta dish)
1 x meal from child menu (pasta dish)
4 x soft drinks (3 x Coca Cola, 1 x Sprite)

No starters, no desserts, no alcoholic drinks.

What would you roughly expect the total of the bill to be? (Not London if that makes a difference?!)

@Everanewbie

I think the fact that I've never even heard of Salt Bae tells you all you need to know about my finances and lifestyle 😂

The prices of everything seem to have gone up lately! It’s painful.

I personally would have been able to tot up the cost as everyone was ordering. But I’m very quick with mental arithmetic. My husband and many of my friends wouldn’t be able to do that.

@Sofielou have you previously eaten out with that group of people when they were younger and eating off the children's menu and the toddler wasn't eating at all?

We are a family of 5 so have got used to eating out costing an absolute bomb, even worse now they are all adults with a taste for cocktails!

We ordered 5 guys once as a treat. The bill came to 90 quid and we had to go and collect it! It was only £15/head but that damn multiplier caught us out.

I’d have thought just under £80

I was going to guess £70, so £75 seems fair to me. I've never been to Zizzi's so I don't know how the prices compare to the Italians I go to, but it looks like they are similar.

Im more surprised you bought a child's meal for a toddler in a high chair. Don't they just have a bit of whatever the grown ups are having on a small tea plate?

I’d guessed £80. I wouldn’t eat at a chain like that without a discount/groupon etc. My teen and friend will often share. Did toddler need a child meal or could have shared etc. Drinks add a lot. One holiday eating out a lot we made decision not to order fizzy pop for sake of it have water and saved so much.

Beat the clock pizza is popular around here in none chains - time you order is price you pay. Or happy hour pizza £7.95.

In Ireland I'd say around €70, think that's around £60 (haven't looked at the update yet because I want to guess first :p )

I was going to guess 70-75 so I don’t think it’s a surprising amount at all. Zizzi do a lot of deals though for future reference, you can get a free trial for a taste card and then main meals are 2 for 1, pretty sure meetcat meals do it too. If money is a concern (which it is for me, that’s why I no, im not being judgemental) I’d always Google first because most of those chains have a discount going all the time.

I guessed before I looked, but was going to say £77, based on £70+10% service charge.

It is getting really expensive, and obviously the quality of food isn't really changing (not in typical italian chains really). It's really becoming not worth it for largely bread and pasta based dishes (which HUGE margins over costs of goods) when there are very reasonably priced supermarket alternatives that come pretty close.

I eat out for experiences I can't easily recreate at home. In Sainsbury's alone, the Carluccio's, Pizza Express or Taste the difference pizzas all come out pretty close to what you get in a Zizzi for about a fiver.

£85

I think it's quite normal to look at the prices before you go somewhere and mentally tot up an average of how much things will cost. You'd look at the most expensive main and times it by the number of people to see the maximum amount you would pay, plus the price of the drinks. If the most expensive main is 14.95 then 15 times 4 is a very simple thing to do quickly, even with a toddler to look after. You don't need to add up each individual thing people are ordering to find the exact cost, just figure out the highest total the bill could possibly be based on a main and soft drink, then decide if you're willing to go and pay that much. Eating out is a luxury so the cost is not something I would ever complain about-either I can afford it on the day or I can't.

Five guys is a rip off. It’s a glorified McDonald’s at Honest Burger prices.

I would round up to £80

But one look at a Zizzi menu gives you a pretty good idea of the average cost of a main course. 4 people are having a £13-15 main and a (£3?) soft drink. A kids main might add another £8-10.

But £75 isn't a lot of money for 4 adults plus one child's meal if an adult pizza costs about £13-14. Yes, I am surprised that a mum who has to concern herself with a household budget isn't accutely aware of such things. That's eaxcatly th kind of mental shortcut I expect you would have, without actually having to "do the maths".

£80

£15 for each main
£10 for kids
£2.5 for soft drinks?

@Everanewbie Our local pubs (also the ones people tend to choose for meet-ups ) are mediocre at best. I could suck it up when a main was less then £10.

These days I eat at home first, and have only drinks. I want money spent where it really brings value.. not for the sake of ‘food’. I may have just a starter, or a dessert if it’s cheap and looks ok but otherwise idc.

The pubs near DP’s Lancashire village are marvellous though…Worth every penny

£60-£70

Child’s meal sounds expensive. I would of said adult meals expensive but now inflation is through the roof that sounds in line with other price rises I have seen sadly. I wouldn’t buy cola in a restaurant as it is almost always overpriced. Everything is too expensive now so UANBU

60, I live in North East

Took grandchildren out went to small local café. Two chocolate milkshakes sans the horrid squirty cream and crushed Oreos and one diet coke. How much????

I do, so do most people I know. YABVU.

And to be fair - it's probably a fair price.

At the moment eating out is just me and DH - we have been to a few independent vegan places recently and rarely get change from £50. Maybe a beer each with food but nothing extravagant..