Eating out is always an expensive let down.

[istheheatingonyet]

I'm just not doing it any more. Granted I am "older" but the last offering was bread, mashed acocado, feta and some sort of sauce. Is it a meal, is it brunch nobody knows?
Cheap ingredients, silly price.
What a waste of money.

Ha ha yes, good one! 😂

Living in East London I really miss a proper London cafe. Like veggie fry up... Lasagne with chips and salad... omelette and chips. Cheap but yummy.
When I was at college we went everyday. Tea and toast or a jacket with cheese and beans. All affordable. Can you imagine students eating out everyday now?

Depends. Went to a well thought of pub last year, food not that inspiring and we were sat next to a table with a slobbering dog, complete with dog smell. Not good for an expensive meal.
Ditto another place where half the menu was unavailable. Wont go to either place again.

Local Indian is good, as are other places.

We always used to love going out for Sunday roasts but now they just seem like a rip off - plus my family say mine are taster and I’m inclined to agree! I don’t think they give you enough gravy, potatoes or veg, always seem a bit stingy.

*tastier

Someone will be along in a minute to tell us we're plebs for eating at such an abhorrent, low brow establishment as Spoons 😂

I am awaiting these posts with much anticipation! Thank you for being my fellow pleb! 😂

Those toilets- so accurate 🤣 👌

@WoolySnail Well I always assumed that the food would be terrible, but perhaps not?

I'm fairly sure I've never eaten in a Wetherspoons and have only had a drink there a few times.

However, I'm now tempted and this one in a local posh town looks quite nice.

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/the-winter-gardens-harrogate/

@DancingFerret roast potatoes from a pub Sunday roast are absolutely always shite! Hard, soggy, cold, tasteless, never ever fresh out of the oven! It's actually a bloody scandal really. And do we really need a Yorkshire the size of a lions head? 🤣

We just don't eat out anymore.

Even the price of takeaways is eyewatering now, too much money for me to want to lay out on something that will probably be disappointing. I taught myself to cook most things.

The only things we get once in a while are KFC (DH, I'm not a fan) and something from a local chippy which we know is decent and doesn't cost the earth.

If I don't feel like cooking I'll pick up a nicer pizza or ready meals from the supermarket, it's usually better than a takeaway and a fraction of the cost.

As long as you're not expecting haute cuisine or they have an abysmal chef microwaving it will be fine 😁

I really love cooking o don’t find it a chore at all, so I am often disappointed at how much you need to spend to get a good meal out and always say I could make this at home for much less

Went to a gastro pub on Sunday (someone else's choice of venue) and had a roast dinner and dessert, and the meat was very high quality and tasty, but seriously, it was £50 a head.

I don't mind paying that for high end food that is a bit different but not for a nice roast dinner. And they (with my Northerner hat on here) didn't even make proper gravy, it was just thin meat juices, not made with alcohol, flour etc. And the dessert was a home made cheesecake - lovely but I could have eaten twice the portion as I didn't overeat on the main saving myself for a pudding.

Plus they were not generous with the veg or cauliflower cheese. Two tiny bowls of CC for eight people. At home I'd have half that bowl to myself.

Because it makes the plate of otherwise rather naff roast look impressive for 5p of ingredients

I used to be a bit of a snob about spoons and hungry horse, prob because the ones near us were rough, there was a fight near my table one lunchtime 😳.

However a friend tempted me back to HH and I was very surprised. Fish, chips, mushy peas, curry sauce and a nice white wine … £12!

@Strictlymad yeah, that it isn't it. I don't understand why pub roasts have to be so naff. Apart from the money grabbing element obviously. The beef is always chewy and cold?! I usually opt for chicken but that's often pretty dry. Grrr...🤣

Well I know it's not the done thing to say so on here, but I quite like a Toby Carvery.

The meat isn't chewy (it's slow cooked overnight) and the veg is usually decent.

I sometimes get one when I'm out and about for work, it's only a couple of quid more than somewhere like McDonalds, far healthier (I usually get meat, veg and just a couple of roast potatoes and not bother with a Yorkshire or stuffing) and as McDs are rammed with the delivery people, often quicker for the food to arrive.

Yes I can't stand it. The service is often terrible, food average and prices insane. Takeaways are even worse in some ways, such awful quality of food for so much money. I enjoy cooking myself anyway.

Some of the best food I've had out have been in chain pubs. It all depends on the chef.

We found a pub in the New Forest that did the most amazing traditional Plougmans as a special, another pub just served the usual Surf n Turf, Hunters Chicken etc but it was cooked just right.

Of course you can cook something at home for a fraction of the price you pay in a restaurant, you're not paying yourself £18(estimate) an hour to cook it, £11.44 an hour to make your drinks, decide what you want and deliver the food to the table and then wash/clean up afterwards, nor the employer costs associated with employing someone else and legal requirements like food hygiene and allergen training.
You're not paying an alcohol and music licence so you can have a glass of wine and some background music while you eat. And that's before you get to the cost of the food and fuel to cook it, which isn't capped like domestic bills are. Nor public liability insurance.
If you want to eat out, you're using the service which comes with the price tag of the above.
I get it, I work in hospitality and I'm priced out of eating out except for special occasions at cheaper places. But that doesn't mean I'm owed paying less than what it costs to deliver the service to me.

I agree OP. I'm quite lazy but enjoy cooking good food that everyone eats (this is rarer these days). I buy meat from the butchers which is good value and quality. I begrudge a thin pub steak for £15 when I could have one that is fresh and twice the size for half the price. Airfryers make cooking so quick and easy these days, it's rare I look at all menu and think I can't make that.

We only tend to eat out or get a takeaway that I don't make from scratch at home, maybe 3-4 times a year.

I agree actually and am getting more and more reluctant to go out. We used to enjoy going out for a roast or for pub grub but it is just so disappointing every time. Can't remember the last time I thought a meal out was delicious, even coffee and cake the cake tastes artificial and stodgy.
I'd honestly rather stay in and get a curry or do some baking with DD

There's a pub in the new forest that only serves ploughman's, it's great

So you're paying pub prices for someone to put a pork pie and a bit of bread, salad and pickles on a plate?

Just looked at the website, it's £12, so not too terrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there.