Eating out on Christmas Day. Do we expect too much?

[Nonimai]

We spent £100 a head yesterday on a meal that wasn’t horrible , it was just meh. Expectations are high. People were complaining. Did you have your meal out yesterday? Was it worth the money?
we went to a local gastro pub/restaurant in North England. Usually excellent roasts. Tbh they tried too hard to make it special - chefs only make this once a year - and it didn’t work.

I couldn't spend that much money on a v ordinary meal. To me it is the definition of wasteful and excess.

£720 tips to add on top, yes shared but thats going to take your wages to around £30 an hour. Sadly more than junior doctors on shift yesterday

Every single waiter and waitress I've known get paid double or even triple time to work on Xmas Day.

A mate of mine was a chef at a decent hotel a few years ago , it changed hands and all the meals then were bought in pre prepared and just heated up on site . He left soon after to join another place as a proper chef

Last year my daughter worked Christmas Day on triple time and double time for Boxing Day, plus about £200 in tips.

We ate out a couple of years ago for Christmas dinner and didn’t really enjoy it. It was about £90 a head and totally worth it for the fact I didn’t have to cook but the food was pretty average and I missed not having left overs, plus the atmosphere was just a bit flat.

Not sure what it's like now, probably like everything else worse- but I loved working Christmas day as a student in hospitality because we would get double pay, a days paid leave and also tonnes of tips- I made over £100 for working 5 hours one year in tips! I expect now companies pay as little as they can.

When I worked in hospitality you got double time for Christmas Day. If they aren’t being paid extra it’s no wonder they are surly.

We went to a hotel in the Lake District. Did not have high expectations as it is mass catering. It was actually very good. Lovely food cooked perfectly and brilliant staff. Worth every penny.

YANBU - I tried going out for dinner for the first time this year and had asimilar experience.

There was certainly nothing wrong with it, but it was a bit meh... even if it'd just been a normal Sunday roast I would have been slightly disappointed as, for example, the veg was just boiled with no seasoning and there were no good trimmings like red cabbage, cauliflower cheese.

We did Xmas lunch out 2 years running at the same venue - a few years ago now. 1st time was great - plentiful, decent food & lovely atmosphere. Immediately booked for following year & it was awful! Crammed in, no atmosphere, dreadful service, cold, small portions of food. Lesson learned. Never again.

Both my DD's first jobs were at a local gastro pub. Pre-covid they were great employers and I'm very grateful to them for giving the girls good training and a positive experience in the workplace, with lots of perks (that they can't afford to do any more) like staff of the month prizes (DD won dinner for two at their sister fine dining pub which she gave to us, as well as various bottles of wine) and staff parties.

They both chose to work Christmas on a couple of occasions, they enjoyed all the entice setting up, worked hard and got well paid as although the pub normally didn't charge service they did charge on Christmas Day which went straight to the staff and in addition most of the diners left generous tips so it was a lucrative day for them. Then they came home in time for presents and an evening Christmas meal.

After covid the director wrote something along the lines of appreciating time with families and deciding not to do Christmas Day meals any more. Not sure if they will have restarted this year.

Well yes, this.

You are paying a premium due to the premium the staff are paid to work Xmas day.

The premium is not for exceptional food or service.

Surely people understand this if they eat out on Christmas Day?!

I came out of working in hospitality last year. The business got sold and the new owners decided to open on CD.

No extra £ per hour. The bonus was the tips. The new owners assumed people would tip more on CD. Split between all workers (as you’d hope) - however the new owners took 50% then the rest was proportioned out to the rest of staff. & managers took a bigger proportion, then whittled down through the ranks.

I found this out (by accident) & then decided I was off.

Just don’t assume all CD/BD/NYE workers are being paid £££.

& this is a chi-chi place in a ‘hip’ town in the south west.

& for those saying “just leave” - some of us do. Leaving few experienced, good staff. & you wonder why you’ve got very young inexperienced/ crap staff…

We ate out yesterday and it was great. For various reasons none of us could host this year so we had no choice. The food was lovely, great service and a nice atmosphere.

The staff were friendly and jolly - they were being paid double and were finishing at 4pm to go home to their own families.

I would go there again.

We went to our local Indian for Christmas Day- 6 adults and 2 children. It cost us £400 in total including drinks! £45 per head and £20 for kids.

Food was brilliant, 7 courses and any choice off the menu. Great service, staff were friendly and efficient. Place was gently busy, good atmosphere.

First time we've done it as adults and i'd definitely do it again. A lovely stroll home to a clean kitchen afterwards.

I do think posters who say avoid traditional meals may be right. I think we all have our own expectations of Xmas dinner and anything less is never quite right. Next year we're considering the Chinese!

That's so lovely. I think there are probably a few pubs that will do that sort of thing.

PP upthread mentioned a pub booking two sittings. That's appalling and never going to work on Christmas Day.

We have gone to a local restaurant for our Christmas lunch for the past 25 years and not once have I encountered surly staff. In fact a lot of them like to work that day as the money is amazing, the meals are not up to home cooked standard obviously but we have never had a bad meal.
The restaurant is always beautifully 'dressed up' with balloons and crackers on the table. Atmosphere is lovely, with diners and staff having a great time.

It's a part of our Christmas tradition, and when we couldn't go because of covid it just felt odd. There is a large group of family and friends that go with us, which we couldn't accommodate if we hosted at home.

No stressing about supermarket shopping, or spending hours of precious time prepping for a meal and a bonus for me is I loathe cooking so it's winner winner restaurant dinner.

I always used to work Christmas Day as a student and it was worth it financially and it was always a nice atmosphere, we just had an evening roast dinner at home and I’m lucky that my mum was chill about it.

I’m now kicking myself that I didn’t offer to work anywhere local on Christmas Day as I didn’t have my DC yesterday and could do with the extra cash.

Sorry but I highly doubt the staff are actually having a great time - though of course they have to create that pretense to ensure that you have a good day.

I'm still waiting for a response to feedback I emailed to a pub-restaurant where a few of my colleagues and I went for our Christmas lunch the other day. Appalling and shoddy doesn't describe it.

I have an allergy so rang them up a week in advance to ensure they could offer me something and not attract attention to myself on the day. I find it so embarrassing having to go through the entire menu only to be told sorry you can't have anything, so I try to discuss it behind the scenes.

As it turned out on the day, the waitress told me that I couldn't have either the starter or main course as they both had the allergen in. So I ended up with a plate of soggy sprouts and 2 roast potatoes.

the trouble is with most chain restaurants is that everything is pre-made, Brakes brothers style, there's no such thing as freshly prepared food, and staff are "food technicians" who are good at knowing how to work a microwave. if you don't like what's on the menu, tough they have zero skills or ability to modify anything. The allergen list on their menu is a sham, because it caveats everything by saying they can't guarantee their food doesn't contain the allergens in. So my eating out experience is utter rubbish most of the time.

ETA I still gave the staff a tip because it isn't their fault that the hospitality industry in the UK is a shadow of its former self, and deteriorating whilst getting more expensive!

I work in a similar sounding place to where OP went and have been fortunate enough not to have to work Christmas day however I am the exception. Staff get double pay but no one actually wants to be there, some bargain for other days off etc but still would rather not be there. Consequences for not turning up are same as usual, risk your job. Our manager tries to make it as pleasant as possible for staff but Head Office keeps increasing targets, wanting more sittings, more customers in although the more to serve the lower the quality of food and service.
The meals themselves are more special, more premium but realistically if you are looking at a full restaurant being fed in the space of an hour or two as opposed to staggered on a usual serving day you are looking at mass produced food most likely sitting under a hot light for a fair time before being server. And again the chefs don't want to be there.
In our pub tips for the day totalled £80 across the 14 people working so no real bonus there, customers expect the world and are ruder than usual.
As people have said the higher prices really just pay for the extra staff pay, decorations and increased marketing, the food itself isn't worth double.

And to add if its a chain even though you preorder your food it still isn't guaranteed. Of the festive menu at mine about a third of it have had items out of stock for the majority of december due to supplier issues. One manager had to ring about 20 customers on Christmas eve to re-select their menu choices as the delivery was short despite doing everything right their end, and understandably very unhappy customers!

Before I married I worked as a chef on Christmas Day. I was paid triple, a ni e bottle of fizz plus taxi fares. Went to work around 8am and left after dark. That's why you pay so much extra for

None of this really surprises me except the £80 only in tips- how shit!

It depends where you work. As a young part time student waitress, DD didn’t get a penny extra from the upmarket hotel where she worked and came home in tears because the clientele were EXTRA rude and obnoxious on Christmas day.