Eating out is just a waste of time and money

[Batshit1234]

Went out for dinner tonight. Husband, two teens. service was just shocking and everyone is home in bad form.
Had booked a table in a certain area ( you can pick your area)
table wasn’t ready - that’s ok so offered one in another area and took it.
Were left with one menu between 4 of us for ages.
Had to ask to order.
Ordered drinks and food after 45 minutes we didn’t even have the jug of juice.
Went to bar for two pints of water - think he went to Antarctica for the water and I walked away as seen food coming to table.
Food arrived with no drinks on table
No steak knife and I couldn’t cut my steak with the normal knife - I did try
Had to get up again and go and get someone to get me a steak knife
Son’s order was wrong had to go back they really did apologise.
Sat with dirty plates in front of us for 20 minutes
I was ready to bale at this point but kids seemed to want dessert.
Got dessert menu and ordered another glass of wine after 15 minutes no one came back with the wine or to take dessert order.
Got up again and said cancel the wine and can we just have the bill.
They ran over with the glass of wine and said it was on the house.
Bill was near 100Euro
I would have rather stood in the kitchen for two hours cooking than deal with this shite.

Why is service so shocking in restaurants. I do 99% of cooking at home and think I would just prefer to be in the house. My teen daughter was telling me to chill and I am trying to explain she would feel different if she had to pay for this carryon. We were there two hours and only got a main course. The dirty oil is repeating on me #raging Am I being unreasonable that this was shit!

I’m not in the UK but I generally don’t have any problems with service when I go out locally. We were recently away on holiday at a beach town about two hours from where we live and I found the service appallingly bad everywhere we went there (two cafes, one takeaway, one restaurant and numerous shops) but it really was specific to that town. In fact in the restaurant it was so bad that a complete stranger came up to us and commented on how we’d been treated. Maybe the staff spotted us a city folk and decided to treat us badly, or maybe everyone in the town is just that rude and incompetent. But at home we never have any problems, and we go out fairly frequently.

I think my post has got people more concerned about my issue with price. My issue is not the price. Place was recommended. 4.6 google review. The service was just shocking.

We live in a city on the South East coast, which has apparently more restaurants per capita than the rest of the UK.

Apart from the Michelin starred ones, I could cook better at home, so we eat out at those about five times a year and that's it.

YANBU!!

Perhaps go somewhere less trendy. Somewhere the focus is less on reviews and more on good food and quietly decent service.

To counter the OP, my daughter took me out for a birthday lunch today in a lovely restaurant, waiting staff were charming and appropriately attentive, food was to die for and all stuff that I couldn’t have done at home because I don’t have professional butchery skills and access to unusual meat products. Yes, it cost quite a bit, but worth every penny.

I feel the same OP, there aren't many choices to eat out around here and if we have to travel I can't eat so we don't bother. When eating out locally I find food never lives up to expectations, it's not hot enough, portions are small and service isn't good. I also used to work in hospitality and always looked after the customers matter how much or how little they were spending, as one of the things I took on board in the early days was that some people might not have much to spend, but they're choosing to spend it with you, so look after them all as well as you can & equally and they will keep coming back and that keeps you in work. Nobody seems to care these days as long as they can turn tables.

I'm with you OP. I'd rather cook and spend money on things that last longer or experiences that aren't food related. I find even the supposedly good food places inconsistent.

We ate out on Saturday. The service was good. Drinks arrived quickly and orders taken promptly. Food was tasty. Nice ambience and friendly staff.

We made a last minute booking and most places near me (N London suburb) were fully booked so it was quite a hunt to find somewhere with a table.

I eat out once or twice a week and I'm often shocked at just how bad some places are! The upside for me is that I'm not paying for it out of my pocket as I do mystery shopping and get a free meal in exchange for a detailed report.
I have 2 mystery visits this weekend to 4 star hotels and will be reimbursed for my room, dinner and breakfast (within agreed limits).
I am looking forward to the stay (DH gets to come too) but I am going with low expectations of dinner, I hope to be proved wrong.
It's often interesting how standards vary between different branches of the same chain, and sometimes the low end pubs are better than the more upmarket ones within the same brand.
I've been mystery dining for over 10 years and it's allowed me to eat at some intersting places, it's a great hobby...........but it's made me very fussy about where I will go if I'm paying. I'd rather cook at home!!!

Capable but unenthusiastic cook here, love eating out. Try another restaurant.

Couldn't afford or justify it regularly. It can definitely be disappointing quite often especially when we have paid good money. People pay ridiculous prices just because they don't want to cook.
I'd rather get some lovely ingredients and cook up a storm for half the money.

Post Covid service has become shocking in my experience, I'd rather not go out than have bad service.

As a chef I don't eat out as it's so expensive
.However since COVID and a shortage of chefs lots of places resorted to buying in dishes like sticky toffee pud and brownies and meat pies that we formally made that way anyone could heat them even agency staff.
Also lots of chefs and waiters take holiday in Jan after being run ragged since late Dec.
Perhaps short staffed due to flu etc.
Sometimes managers put less staff on expecting to be quiet .
Service should be seamless and make you tell your friends.
Sometimes we get it wrong.

Go to better restaurants. I would never go to a restaurant for steak. I bought a massive rump steak yesterday for 21 quid and it fed three of us at home

I think it depends on the restaurant and what you expect by way of food and service.

We are both great cooks so when we go out for food, we go to small, family run speciality restaurants that we know will have great food and service.

We don't expect much from places like wetherspoons so even if it's cheap, it's not worth it as a "treat", it's the sort of place we would eat to fill a gap or for a casual or conveniently located catch up.

I quite like a chain like wagamamas because you know what you're getting food-wise.

Chains like wetherspooons and waga, I wouldn't expect decent service because they don't need to provide it at that price point- people will always come back.

And fast food places like waga are geared for uber eats now.

So established family run places are the only places I'd expect high quality food and service now.

Everywhere else has cut back to the bone because, frankly, their reputation doesn't matter, people will still go there, so it still lines the pockets of the big shareholders.

ETA - quality costs money and if I'm paying to eat out as a recreational activity, it's because I want better food than I can make at home (hence we don't get takeaways). I'd rather eat out less and expect to pay more.

They paid about £80 (said €100) for 4 meals (including steak) + desserts + at least 2 glasses of wine…even at our local pub that would be well in excess of£150.
£20 a head for main course, dessert & drink …I’d expect rubbish to be honest. You’d be hard put to make it at home any cheaper.

It’s hardly ever the chefs fault! More to do with mis-management & poor staff training!

100 euros for four people eating adult portions and drinks is really good! UK is way more expensive than that.

You did have shit service though.

I love eating out. But if I'd had your experience I would not have stayed. Why did you sit there with no food for so long? Why didn't you complain? Why won't you give them a bad review?
My parents used to put up with bad food, and if the staff asked how it was, my mum would always say "It's lovely thank you".
Where's the incentive for them to improve if nobody complains, and then gives them 5 stars?

It’s so expensive everywhere these days! And the service is terrible but weirdly friendly. My friend is a member of a cinema which includes access to a members bar. We went at the weekend assuming it would be table service and a lovely chilled experience. The staff were lovely and friendly but they all spent time chatting at the bar. The glasses weren’t cleared away and were piled on all the tables. I ended up clearing ours. No table service which is fine but when my cocktail was ready the bar lady just shouted the name of the cocktail across the room for me to collect. I have better service in the local which people done pay a premium to visit!

This. I was thinking exactly the same.

I do agree standards in pubs and restaurants has declined significantly in the last few years, whilst the cost has risen disproportionately.

IMO most of the problems are the result of reduced staffing levels, inexperienced staff and low turnover.

We eat out 3-4 times a month, usually in gastro pubs, out of the dozen locally only 2-3 are worth it now.

The good ones appear to be thriving and poor ones much less busy except on Friday and Saturday.

I also agree reviews are fairly meaningless, but I find (with pubs) the brewery is a better indication. (i.e. some independents, Fullers, Brunning and Price, Heartwood Inns)

I generally avoid Youngs, Greene king, Sam Smith, Spoons, Nicholson's if possible.

Staff are no longer properly trained, it's not really their fault. Most people working in moderately priced bars and restaurants are temporary, they work unscheduled hours (effectively zero hours contract) and there is little to no effective floor management (too costly) it's not their fault.

In addition, most food is bought in pre prepared. It's heated and assembled in the kitchen. Ironically this is actually more expensive than actually cooking from scratch but it keeps kitchen staff costs low. Qualified chefs are expensive and there's a general lack of them. That's why nearly every pub has the same menu, it's standardised.

Overall eating experience in pubs and affordable restaurants has plummeted. In Ireland (especially the Cities) there are too many restaurants and pubs catering for the same customers, competition is high.Until there is a reset in the industry (which unfortunately means job losses and business closing) it's unlikely to change.

I agree that qualified chefs are fewer than a decade ago.
I qualified decades ago and the place I worked in was a well known gastro chain.
To start with everything was made onsite from scratch by trained chefs.
Gradually it became a cost cutting exercise of bought in bits.
Our waiting staff were trained however there is always a huge turnover of casual staff.
Where I live we have two fancy pubs one decent enough where I worked and a prezzos.
Tbh the chefs don't even get to source the food much now it's all pre agreed via deals to supply several sites.
Luckily I work for an independent place now that sources the food and we use vegetables from the walled garden.
People are willing to pay the price for quality.

Dbank I agree Fullers is quality and a good company to work for.😀