DIY when going out AIBU to want to return to pre covid levels of service?

[Muchtoomuchtodo]

Odeon - no ticket office, buy tickets online or on a touchscreen machine when you arrive. Can’t order food / snacks at the counter, back to the touchscreen things to order what we wanted, back to the counter to be given our nachos and empty cups - go to the machine to fill it yourself.

Pizza Hut - could you please scan this qr code to order what you’d like. Ok, then they bring empty glasses and you have to go and get your own drinks from the machines. Ice cream for dessert? Here an empty bowl, fill it yourself. Sit down again, the spoons are back where the machine is, not on the table.

Nandos - you can order at the desk but we’d prefer it if you scan this qr code and order online. Then we’ll bring you empty glasses and you have to fill them yourself as well as collecting your own cutlery, condiments and napkins.

2 local very nice restaurant- now want food choices in advance. I like deciding what I fancy once I’m there.

I know none of these are very upmarket places, but if I’m eating out I don’t want to be up and down all the time sorting drinks etc for everyone (young kids and self service drinks machines aren’t the best mix!) I want to sit down and chat and relax with the rest of the group that I’m with. Please can we go back to pre pandemic levels of service?

Yo Sushi - now have to order on your phones. Whilst sat at your table.
even worse, you have to look up all the allaergy information on a small phone screen as they will not give you a printed copy. We will not eat there now!

Two things going on here:

1. COVID safety procedures
2. Restaurants at all levels are finding it very difficult to recruit staff because Brexit

I haven't been to any of these places since Covid, if I am eating in an overpriced chain restaurant, I at least expect some service

The scanning a QR code is annoying if you have to download apps or are low on battery but does mean that when you go out as a group you can order and pay for your own food without having to split the bill.

As for filling your own cup thats always been a thing in our Pizza huts and Nandos, DD always loved going to make her ice cream too.

I bet they still put a service charge on

In general I completely agree but I'm sure Nando's have always been like that with self service drinks and not taking orders at the table. if anything ordering via a QR code rather than queuing at the counter. So don't think covid is to blame for nandos lack of service but elsewhere yes I get annoyed having to all sit staring at our phones rather than just look at the menu and order from a real person at the table.

But it seems a lot of people wanted the lockdown.

What did you expect?

I miss being able to just spontaneously go somewhere like a farm or wherever without having to book first.

It's never going to go back to how it was.

It was only on here that people wanted lockdown.

Nandos has never had full table service, you always had to go up to order, always fill your own drinks and get your sauces and everything. The refillable drinks was one of their selling points.

Fill your own drinks at the cinema is also a pre Covid thing at my cinema. I loved it because they have one of those machines where you can add different flavours so you can have cherry/lemon lime/vanilla. Love it!

I really love restaurants where you can pay via app now. No more trying to catch someone’s eye while the kids go nuts because they are done. Just pay and run.

Pizza Hut has been get your own ice cream for 20+ years and Nando's has always been self serve for drinks and choosing sauces etc

I do think people should have the choice to order from a human but actually ordering on a phone has opened up my Autistic daughter's world as dealing with waiters would stop her going out in case they asked her a question she hadn't anticipated

Long love the QR code!

Payment is made right at the start before you have any idea what the food’s like.
There wasn’t an option in nandos, I think there was in Pizza Hut (we went at the start of the holidays) and I can remember muttering to myself that I’d done more work than the rest of them put together so did they really expect a tip?!,

I think it is just the chain places that probably do this, they are a bit like going to Tesco or Asda and having to use self service tills to pay because there are very few checkouts.

We went to some independent restaurants/cafes on holiday and it was normal with menus and table service, they weren't expensive places.

Making a mental note of places to avoid.

My Odeon and Nando’s were self service drinks pre-covid. It has been a while since I went to Pizza Hut, but I remember the self service ice cream from years ago. So it doesn’t seem like much has changed.
preordering in a restaurant is weird, unless you are in a large group. I’m lucky, that doesn’t seem to happening anywhere I’ve been recently.

There's a labour shortage. To go back to pre pandemic service you need pre pandemic level staff numbers. Hospitality is struggling to recruit.

STI clinic is appointment only now and book a week ahead.. Not that I miss going there.. 😁 But why on earth are there more barriers to get a check-up than ever before?!

To get a cab I have to give the exact pick-up address to a phone-robot... Well, that's not exactly helpful when I'm outside say the local library (the feck do I know the address of that? ). It's actually a safety concern for all those young women who have found themselves lost/separated from friends after a party.

Pizza Hut has had a "Get your salad AND ice cream yourself" since well before covid!

Covid is still around and has NOT gone away. These restaurants are trying to ensure safety of staff and customers at the same time. Do you have any idea how many customers members of staff will come into contact with throughout each shift every week?!

What you're describing is very reasonable measures in restaurants.

In general, expect more and more things to be automated. In Asia, they've been leading the world on that for years before covid was even a thing!

Yo! Sushi restaurants you order via an app and your order comes to you on a conveyor belt which is a lot of fun!

This is the future.

The places struggling to recruit are those that pay low wages. Pay people a decent wage and you'll have no shortage of applicants. It was not right that so many people were working for low wages so that people could eat out cheaply.

Pizza express wasn't like this when I went last month although you can now pay on an app.

Nothing to do with lockdown, everything to do with Brexit and the consequent difficulty in finding staff

And 3. They're hit by the same inflation everyone else is and are having to look for savings anywhere they can.

I agree with you on the ordering in advance, but can understand why restaurants want the certainty of knowing what they'll use on a given night to cut waste. That said, I'd personally avoid restaurants that did it so it could be a false economy.

Pizza Hut and Nando's have always been like that. I remember the excitement of filling up my own Pizza Hut ice cream as a child!