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.

Of course you get paid more!

I don’t even know what most of the food you have listed is!

🤣

There's obviously a lot of variation in the sector so I don't think either of you should generalise, but isn't part of the issue that not everywhere qualifies as 'decent? So you can't just say an issue doesn't exist because a decent place wouldn't behave that way.

Really, I think the issue is there's a fundamental mismatch between the number people who want to receive services on Christmas Day and the number of people who actually want to provide them. Even paying more doesn't necessarily solve this. Because a person might be sufficiently hard up that they feel they've got to take the double time shift, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to stop themselves being resentful at the situation. Especially if the employer is taking the piss by corner cutting, trying to get more out of the staff etc.

I agree with a pp that the best bet is likely to be a restaurant run by people from a culture who don't typically celebrate Christmas, but even then they might still have issues of childcare, public transport and preferring to be with loved ones who are off. Its a bit of a crapshoot really.

My ds works in our local pub. They could make a packet opening on Christmas Day but the couple who own it would never ask the staff to come in.

I worked in catering for years, predominantly as a chef in well respected gastro pubs. We never got paid extra for working Christmas Day, but it was worth doing because the tips were always huge compared to normal days. There would always be a staff dinner afterwards and a piss up (drinks free or very cheap).

Old fashioned thought... do the job you're being paid for?

I’ve eaten out in nice pubs in the past and it’s always been lovely. I prefer my own roast, though, every time.

We had a an Indian yesterday and it was glorious!

My niece was working in a pub yesterday and wasn’t paid any extra at all.

Not always.

We went out yesterday. Paid the same.

I had a fantastic time. Was I paying extra for exceptional food? No. I was paying more to cover increased pay for staff working on their Xmas. For the convenience of no washing up. Someone waiting on me. Worth every penny.

The thing that spoilt it - miserable farts expecting fine dining relentlessly complaining.

Yeah - you do. Normally double pay in service industry.

Why did she do it then? Makes no sense. Service staff are on zero hour contracts.

Only exception is she’s salaried and it’s a required part of position but that’s only the minority of staff working.

Modern day thought - don’t treat people like shit.

That may be exactly what they did...

We used to eat out on Christmas day at our favourite restaurant. It was absolutely amazing but 1) we'd been regular customers since they opened and were on first name terms so it was almost like going to a friend's for Christmas - we'd take our family and friends and they'd spoil them and 2) they were Turkish Muslim so didn't celebrate Christmas and were cooking their favourite dishes rather than trying to make Christmas Dinner. We also tipped really well. We moved away sadly but if I was going out on Christmas day I'd go for non traditional

OK, are you suggesting that no one gets paid extra?

£100 pp, ouch!

Nothing is worth that much no matter how good its cooked.

But the costs are there to pay staff double time and so on. Not because the food is amazing.

You could eat at home? Then the staff could have their Xmas day with their family and not have to serve people who don’t even appreciate it.

Whole heartedly - the extra pay is shit. It in no way warrants missing Xmas with family but staff are bullied into it.

It’s so awful and selfish to eat out on Xmas day.

I remember a pub near where we used to live, that did the same with 2sittings.
There was absolute hell on as the most of the first sitting wouldn't be rushed out after they'd swallowed their last mouthful and the second expected to be eating after half hour into their booked time.

I used to waitress as a teen in a local gastro pub. The roasts were nice, but realistically same as weddings your expecting multiple foods to cook at the same time, and get them plated and served immediately. It's not do-able, so they go on hot plates. You've got trays with 100 roast potatoes cooking at once - they have to be plated and served to multiple tables so you won't get them all in front of people within a minute or two of coming out the oven.

The increased cost is because you have multiple chefs, someone on the dessert station, washing, runners, front of house, bar staff etc. All working Christmas day plus suppliers delivering late Christmas eve or Christmas morning means additional cost especially when they do some fancy extras. Where I worked we were paid double for Xmas day.

Having to pay staff double is the only extra cost for opening on Christmas Day. There are lots of costs of running a pub or restaurant which would be the same on Christmas Day as any other day (rent, utilities, food & drink). Therefore the total cost for Christmas Day is going to be no more than 20-30% higher than any other day.

If a Christmas menu were 30% more expensive then fair enough customers should expect the same food and service as any other day, but they’re often 100%+ more expensive so it’s not unreasonable for customers to expect something special.

I have just seen now that the restaurant is getting quite a few low star reviews for yesterday. I feel really sorry for them. Everyone was lovely, they worked hard. Reading the reviews you feel some people expect the place suddenly to be fine dining because of the cost. I was very glad not to make Christmas lunch and not to wash up.

I considered going out for Christmas dinner this year, but ultimately decided to keep it simple and basic: small lamb roast with glazing sauce and ready-to-go-tray of roasties from Waitrose went straight into the oven, and steamed vegetables at the end of the hour of oven cooking time to go with them. Teens were happy, so I was happy. And we had a nice chat at the dinner table.

They'd been snacking all day, including piggies in blankets brunch, and I knew they would because it's what they do on Christmas, so pretty pointless to go all out and spend my day in the kitchen when they weren't going to eat loads anyway. Win win.

What’s the cost of eating there usually? Is £100 a head a really big mark-up for Christmas? If it is and they offered nothing special then they deserve the bad reviews because it’s just blatant profiteering.