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

@BunnyLake I just had a gorgeous lunch at a local vegetarian community cafe for £6, now THAT was gorgeous.

Agree about the majority of restaurants being not worth it and overpriced. A dismal burger is a dismal burger.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5273580-to-be-annoyed-that-vegan-options-have-replaced-vegetarian

This thread regarding vegetarian eating out I found it a very interesting read.

I went to a Turkish/Greek restaurant recently in a town not too far from me and I was impressed. Quite simple food but perfectly cooked in a way that I'd have struggled to do myself and I am quite a confident cook. It was about £80 for three of us (with no alcohol and one meatless meal), and if the food had have been rubbish I'd have been very annoyed.

We have a cafe in Bath called Green Rocket and although I’m not veggie I sometimes go in for their lovely offerings - my fave is a multiple types of mushrooms on toast with pesto and a cashew nut crumb

There's a cafe I go to that does a very ordinary cheese toastie, but I still go there because it's handy for work for a friend and I and there's parking and it has a lovely garden centre. I wish it did better food.

Corarima Wakefield-another favourite of mine, I absolutely could not replicate their food unless I spent hours/weeks/years? Learning about different spices and flavour combinations.
Not cheap but not expensive either and lovely service.
I wish though, that it was a 'restaurant' restaurant and was less so set out like a takeaway/cafe! For more special occasions-but then I guess the food would be compromised.

Yes most food out is disappointing to be honest. I no longer buy any takeaway except fish and chips occasionally but only from one place - I know the staff.

I can cook far nicer food at home and i can make sure it’s not full of salt, contains good quality ingredients and i am happy with hygiene.

I had a friend years ago that refused to eat out as she was a food hygiene inspector for a while. She said what she saw during her 2:3 years in the job put her off eating out! She had some grim stories.

99% is definitely an exaggeration. I believe lots do, but only 1 out of every 100 not? Nope.

Find and frequent your local independent eateries or just cook at home. Never eat at chain pubs that just shovel out cheap unappetising food fast...iykyk

We dont eat out much at all anymore.

Mainly because most the food is mediocre at best, even in places that we used to really enjoy. I can't remember the last time I ate out and thought that was better than we could do at home.

But cost. Obviously. It's ends up being at least £50+ for the 3 of us to eat a mediocre main with a soft drink.

Plus, vegetarian offerings are poor in most places, especially as they have changed what was often the only veggie option to be vegan.

All the decent independents by us have closed. 😪 Including ones that have been in business for decades.

I know costs of wages and ingredients have gone up a lot but my pension hasn't gone up accordingly so I can't afford to eat out much. Plus it's no better than I can make at home.

@cardibachsorry to disappoint you but, having been in the industry for over 30 years and witnessed the seismic shift in produce, 99% is very accurate

I know lots of places round here with open kitchens. I see them cook what I’ve just ordered. I’m sure it’s common. I’m sure there’s been a shift. I’m sure it’s not 99%.

Totally agree. We live in South Devon in a high tourist area and our population trebles in peak season. I get totally embarrassed at what our local hospitality venues offer visitors. Nearly the same at all restaurants, maybe one or two very highly priced venues for the boating fraternity but nothing great for families or a special evening out 😔

Depends where you live. Here in Devon within a few minutes we have 2 gastro pubs, a couple of medium range places and a couple of cheaper places. Difference is these are all INDEPENDENT! We can go and eat for £30 for 2 of us to £170. All are excellent. In towns you have diabolically awful places like Harvester and Beefeater whereas here we have fab places so can go out a couple couple of times a week

I so agree with this thread. Dh and I used to eat out a lot pre children and now they are teenagers we have looked forward to trying new restaurants again.

We have lost the love of eating out as its usually extortionate and a bit meh. I just feel like I'm being ripped off. Recently, we just go to 2 local independents or the only chain we use is wagamamas.

@Frenchbluebird wagamamas is one of my go tos too - did go to a pan Asian in Brighton called Tonkatsu last week - small chain - several in London - enjoyed that a lot and pretty reasonable too -

I live in Devon and it is one of the worst places to eat out, you must be in a tiny isolated oasis. Exeter is dire.

Pick better restaurants

Gosh, I wish I'd just thought of that and saved all the trouble.

Oh my god Croatian food is a revelation, isn't it? I've been a few times in the past few years and you don't even have to try hard or do any research to eat amazingly.

As for eating out in the UK - if you do your research you can still eat out very well (even if all the prices have gone up). But I'd never just wander into any old restaurant without reading up on it first.

The "mid-range" restaurant or gastropub with an unimaginative "classics" menu is the bane of my life in this country, it's the kind of generic place people choose as something that will please everyone but you end up paying the earth for unmemorable steak and stodgy veg.

It really is! I am a vegetarian and also quite fussy so I thought I’d struggle, but not at all. And we weren’t necessarily going to fancy places, anywhere we walked into the food was delicious.

I fully agree. Lunch and dinner options at restaurants are wildly overpriced for what it is, and like PP said a lot of it seems to come from Brakes and is microwaved. We go out for breakfast a lot now- usually reasonably priced, fresh, and still get the experience without feeling done in.

@MeandBobbyMcGoo we do that too - usually both days at weekend and spend much less than 1 very average meal out at night- no kids around though, so that helps

I'm from Ireland and growing up, eating out was something my family only did rarely as it was always quite expensive. The food generally was always of a high standard though. When I moved to the UK in 2009 I was surprised how cheap it was to eat at a pub - the food wasn't fantastic but it was reasonably priced and a good alternative to cooking at home. Since then it's gone way way downhill and now it's really hard to find anywhere that does decent food, even if you are willing to pay. By contrast, eating out in Ireland has proportionally not increased massively in price but the food is still great - all freshly cooked, good variety. One very small difference I noticed is that when you go to a restaurant in Ireland (a proper one rather than just a pub) they usually bring a jug of water and glasses automatically. It's a small touch but a nice one that I always appreciate. Service tends to be good too.