Sick of eatting out and it’s not that good!

[Greekdream]

Second time this week eatting out one was a birthday celebration and today for father day
both times spending over 100 quid and the food worse then you make at home

just don’t wanna go it anymore unless it’s somewhere really good
tricky when it’s special occasions tho

Yes agreed we eat out a lot less and the amount of restaurants we are willing to go to has hugely shrunk. Pizza Express is extortionate now - 7 or 8 quid for one of their shitty little garlic breads with cheese. We have a pizzeria (proper Italian neapolitan style) near us and the pizza is £11 and a massive pizza size garlic bread is under £7 which we can share between 2 or 3. We just stick to small independents now and there are a few good ones luckily.

We were away over half term and ate out several nights. We noticed that the menu options had shrunk everywhere we went and the prices had all taken a huge leap. As others have said it isn't even as if what you are getting is particularly nice either.

Ditto the vegetarian option. I am not vegan and I like cheese - I do not want a plastic burger, especially when said burger is the same price as the most expensive meat option. There was a time when the cost of the veg option reflected that it doesn't cost as much to source.

Hi this sounds great! Can I ask where this is please? I feel a city break coming on 😊

No they’re a fruit.

https://www.myolivea.com/blogs/news/is-olive-oil-a-seed-oil

I am very lucky as DH used to be a chef. He enjoys coking and I agree with all of you who are saying standards have gone down and prices are high.

Yes. There's an amazing steak place near us that we used to go to (for steak) when we could afford it. Decided to treat ourselves to their Sunday roast. It was so, so bad! Undercooked potatoes and veg, the beef was overcooked, everything came out cold/tepid. So disappointing and over £100!

I'll never go there again even though their steak is really good. I can buy steak in Lidl for a fraction of the price 🤣

I know of a few good places that are worth going to around where I live, but generally food is very mediocre when eating out. I was recently in Croatia for a week and every meal I had there (all in different restaurants) was amazing. It can be done, just not here it would seem.

BECAUSE we have the highest fuel costs in the world due to all this NET ZERO Shite!!!
130.000 jobs lost since Rachel from Customer Complaints raised Employers National Insurance.in April
36 pubs every month going bust!
This Government is changing society for the worse in every way and they are too THICK to recognise what they doing.

Pubs have been closing at a high rate for years. That's not a recent thing.

I prefer to buy good quality food and cook myself healthy meals. A big weekly shop is cheaper than a mediocre meal out for 4

Lol if you think net zero is shite. Wait for climate migration to really kick in, loss of biodiversity, food scarcity. The problem just now is with supply but also quality and also the good old cost of living crisis, something like 30 people in the UK have the same money as 30million, there is a cost of living crisis but the rich have merrily continued to get much richer and that we are too stupid to see and keep blaming migrants and those on benefits. They are not the problem. The rich have access to the good stuff, why would they care that most others don't and they have the power and influence.

It has risen exponentially more recently.

No, Mells. It's a small village in Somerset.

I’m not a vegetarian or vegan but I went to a vegan cafe a couple of year’s ago where the food was really good. It was an independent cafe in the more boho part of town so there was probably high expectation that their food needs to be good to survive.

@Coldmealsadness

why have you cooked? Couldn’t you just have something easy like salad, ready made quiche, frozen pizza, sandwiches etc rather than standing over a stove on your holidays??

The cost of living crisis, net zero and the issues in the hospitality industry have been around for years, they have not been created by the current government.

@KeepTalkingBeth absolutely . And maybe if the Tory’s hadn’t privatised utilities many years ago and got rid of all the gas reserve holders we would have had better control of costs - you know like France etc!! I find it so bloody hypocritical that the right wing ( and I’m in the middle politically) that they act as if their own choices and policies haven’t lead to the issues we have now - it was always a ticking time bomb , be it selling off social housing, selling off utilities , selling off public transport etc -

@Jumpupjumphighnot an exaggeration I’m afraid. Brakes and Bidfood are the largest companies in the UK. If you were running a pub/restaurant and could buy all the food in, already prepared and with a guaranteed profit you’d be mad not too. Very few items on a menu are actually cooked these days. Steaks yes but roasts, pies, veg etc etc is not.

Haha love this. I don’t live anywhere near it so the Turkish is somewhere else completely!
Try the ceviche at any of the stalls in the place, heaven 😋

I live opposite a pub which is becoming popular since it has had new managers and a change of chef !! - yes new manager but now have food delivered from Castle Howell caterers which never happened before, they deliver early in the morning and all around the seaside town I live in to hotels, pubs and cafes.
I have always worked in catering and know how it works, looked on CH website and this pubs menu - identical but in a different order which used to be the same with pubs near to where I used to live when they used the then named Brake Brothers.

Yes that's what I thought. It's just a chain steak restaurant. Why do people have to be so nasty all the time.

It started with takeaways for us. We used to get one a week but stopped a few years ago because we'd be spending £30 or so to get something delivered on a "can't be arsed to cook night" and it just wasn't worth it. We decided we'd rather have some pizzas in the freezer or a ready meal for a fraction of the price ... particularly because takeaways are often really disappointing.

Now it's the same with eating out. We could afford it but when a meal out for the four of us could end up being the same price as a weekly food shop it just doesn't feel worth it. Going out for dinner as a family of four is now just for birthdays and special occasions. I'd rather spend more at the supermarket and buy some steaks or a Charlie Bigham ready meal because it'll still be far cheaper than eating out.

If we do go out for a meal we're more likely to go out for brunch and have some nice independent places near us. We did yesterday for Father's Day and it was delicious....but it was still £50 for breakfast out! Although if it were lunch or dinner that would have been £75-100.

Kinda defeats the object of eating out

See I think Wetherspoons are actually a great example of good value in comparison to quality.

Yes of course you're not going to get gourmet cuisine or unusual meals you can't make at home in there BUT their meals are worth the price. And they're not bad, they're generally decent, nice enough tasting.

Compared to a fine-dining place which will cost £££££ and you find isn't great, slow service etc.

Or a middle-of-the-road restaurant like the ones people have mentioned on this thread where waiters aren't interested and the food is underwhelming and bought in from Brakes or similar.

Or a chain where the service is rubbish, food is the same quality as 'spoons anyway, and they charge £12 for a small glass of wine.

There was an interesting thread on here about vegetarian options in pubs and restaurants last year-risotto was mentioned heavily! I'll see if I can find it.