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?!)

I also don’t get why it was so hard for you to work out roughly what the cost of four pizzas and four drinks might come to. It is really not hard. But if for whatever reason, having a toddler or whatever makes this not possible then how could you deduce it would be about £60. You make no sense.

£65 - £83

Just at the minimum I would think to the maximum

It was £55!

That way you won't be surprised or need to put a post in mn.

But just imagine if I didn't post about it on mn? Where would all the sanctimonious judgemental people get their kicks?

About 80 quid. This is why I can't afford to eat out. I do really nice homemade pizzas instead.

Better yet, get your supermarket pizzas - even the higher end ones with fancy toppings and bung them in the oven - waay cheaper and less stress 😏

£80

It does get tiresome when people want to derail the thread by arguing about minutiae!

The price you paid is just below what I’d have expected….prob without the service charge - add another £10 for that for 5 people.

its hard to get a main for much under £15 unless you have discount vouchers. Drinks will be £3 or more. With the tip you’re looking at £20 per adult in my book. I wouldn’t go out and expect to pay less (and often more) unless I have a 2 for 1 deal, and then it often removes about £7 per head not haf, as drinks etc aren’t included.

It is expensive, but there never a need to be surprised as you can check in advance or similar places.

I wouldn’t go to a chain without a discount code. They don’t really expect hardly anyone to pay full price.

@UndertheCedartree

Yes, it certainly does. It's also the phrasing "it's not hard is it" and so on. People just enjoy being unpleasant, I assume. It's sad.

That's mad, and make's OP's look like value!

£70 plus tips, so around £80. Based on similar meal (in London) recently.

Mains around 12-14, drinks around £4 each these days. Not sure of cost of child's menu anymore as DC are adults now.

Around £70

People pay £17 for a chain pizza?!
I'm in London and think that's extortionate

@doadeer - pizza plus drink

Around £60

I’d guess £70

You are better off doing that imo. At least you are not paying a premium for cheap ingredients, and can put as much topping as you like on it.

We went to pizza express recently (primarily for the kids meals) and I thought the food was really expensive. Hadn't been in years, I feel like it used to be really cheap?!
The pizzas were the same price, if not slightly more than the family run local Italian we often go to in zone 1 London!

£82

50-65 depending on the size of pizza

between 50 and 60 pounds

Pizza Express has always been quite expensive for what it is.

A lot of restaurants seem to have 'upped' the price of soft drinks disproportionately, making them not much cheaper than a glass of wine or a beer.

£70

@LouisCatorze and some places don't show the price of soft drinks. I was shocked at Hawksmoor to discover that our soft drinks were around £4.50-£5 a piece as they didn't appear on the menu.