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 was going to say, about £80.
By November it'll be £100 and you'll look back on these days fondly.

@Sofielou I tot up the bill as we order- that way I know how many Tesco vouchers to convert for payment.

£1 in Tesco vouchers = £3 in zizzi.

I have a Tesco credit card. Buy everything on it and pay off in full every month. Collect points for eating out. If we eat out it's always using vouchers. 3 course meal for family of 5 costs us £15-£20 for the drinks.

I was going to guess £65-70 but for zizzi I’d expect £80-85
zizi has always been expensive for a chain Italian.

£80ish?

I've read the updated price post and was about right! I always love the posts which tell you to go to a "proper" Italian restaurant, more authentic etc etc- not every person on Mumsnet lives in a large town or city, we don't all have a plethora of restaurants to pick from. It's almost all pubs in my nearest town, with a couple of Turkish restaurants and 1 Indian restaurant (small market town in Suffolk).

Wouldn't call it a skill as such. Just basic mental arithmetic.

A few months ago I'd have said £70, but now I'd easily add another £1.50 each.

I actually would have said closer to £100 as I was looking the other day to take my teens here but when I looked at the menu and roughly calculated what it would cost, it wasn't far off. I changed my mind, even though I can use Meerkat 2 for 1 as I just don't think it's worth it. To be honest, I'm not sure I would expect to take 4 adults (or teens eating adult meals) and a toddler out for dinner anywhere for much less than £80 when you add on drinks.

I guessed £75 because I was looking at pizza and pasta meals only yesterday. Prices have gone up as have hospitality wages, gas, electric and council tax.

I still can't get past the fact that some people study the menu to such an extent that they can automatically tot up the bill when the table places their order. That's some skill.

It’s hardly rocket science! You pretty much all had the same stuff!

If pizza and a soft drink costs £20 your bill will be around £90.

If pizza and a soft drink costs £15 you bill will be around £70.

How hard was that?

I estimated it at £70 and seeing its £75, I was about right.

£70-80

Now seen it was £75 so about right

It’s not about looking at every menu price and calculating exactly.
I have a Y9 child and for as long as I can remember (and still now) they’ve done “rounding” questions.
So she’d looking at a menu and think, “lots of different pizza prices but majority are around £13.95 so I’ll assume 4x£14.00” etc.

£85

I still can't get past the fact that some people study the menu to such an extent that they can automatically tot up the bill when the table places their order. That's some skill.

@Sofielou I'm very good at mental arithmetic

£57

£80ish.

There's always one 🙄

Yeah, there's a reason there wasn't a queue for Zizzi. We ate there just once for my daughter's birthday a few years ago. Possibly the worst restaurant meal I've had in London.

I don’t think it’s a bad price at all, even pre “prices going up” and the sugar tax on your Coke etc.

And yes, sure you can get a rough price for 4x your food and drink price plus a tenner for the kids meal? Add a fiver in case something was more expensive.

Of you paid £75 for just for adult meals and drinks I wouldn’t think it was expensive but you have a kiddie meal too…

Zizzi wouldn't be worth it if it cost £5 a head. It's truly grim.

£90

£80-90.

I would have said £85, so £75 is a bargain. I never eat in Pizza Express or Zizzis unless we are using vouchers or there is a half price offer. It feels like it is priced up on the basis most people will have some sort of voucher or reduction card.
Also Zizzis pizzas are good, but the pasta is now grim when it used to be nice.