To ask if this is absurd or am I out of touch?

[LittleAlexHornesPocket]

I live in a small market town in the north west. Fairly average in terms of demographics, as in, we have some poor areas and some naice ham areas. Not a tourist destination but it is very close to a national park.

A restaurant in the town centre is doing tapas. Yum. But, they want £10 a dish, or £35 for four dishes. For example, £10 for some halloumi, or £10 for some bread, cheese, and olives, or £10 for a bit of chorizo in a sauce.

AIBU to think that's outrageous prices or am I wildly out of touch here? What sort of prices are you seeing in your area?

Most of the dishes I could do at home for much, much, less, with much bigger portions.

Of course you could, but you're not paying staff, rent, business rates, overheads, suppliers and trying to make a living from selling your dishes.

Exactly.

I'm in a more expensive part of the country, so that might effect my views but I think £10 per dish is too steep. However, £35 for four dishes is either ok (if 4 dishes would feed one person) or good value (if 4 dishes would feed two people).

Its expensive especially as the point of tapas is you get lots multiple dishes, but I don't think they're laughing all the way to the bank. It's costs that have risen so much. It can be pricey without = profiteering.

Sounds usual prices op. What can you do though other than just stay at home.

Have you missed the last few years of everything getting significantly more expensive?

Power costs, staff costs, food costs, business rates etc, all massively inflated compared to a few years ago.

When you're creating similar dishes at home, do you sit in a clean, aesthetically designed environment that you haven't had to do yourself? Does the food appear at your table without you cooking it or delivering it? Do your plates magically disappear after you have eaten and does your kitchen return to full cleanliness with no pots to wash without you doing anything? Is the food you cook fresh and locally sourced from high end producers rather than packaged, pumped with preservatives and bought for a quid in Tesco? Do you have staff running around you that now cost more to employ following NI and minimum wage hikes? Need I go on?

Most of the dishes I could do at home for much, much, less, with much bigger portions

Yes of course ..most food in cafes, restaurants etc you could make more cheaply at home. People don't usually eat out to save money on food.

Does sound expensive, depends how much food is in each tapas order though?

I live in a similar type of place and the restaurant we go to has tapas 3 for £15.
I need 3-4 for a meal if not having anything else.

One of my favourite restaurants is a Greek restaurant in Manchester city centre, they do 3 tapas for £16.50 and mezes for £8-9 each, but the mezes are more complex and you only need 2 for a meal.

Our local good tapas place is generally £3-5 for starter-type things like olives or bread. Around a fiver for veg based dishes like patatas bravas, £7 odd for fish/seafood and £8-10 for meat dishes. I think £10 a dish is extortionate for what is probably a spoonful of paella or three meatballs. YANBU.

Edited, they also do a banquet of 15 set dishes for £37.

Sounds potentially small portions which in turn are priced too high

Around here and city near by they are usually between 7 and 15 each, depending on veggie/meats but offer 3 as a discount as 3 is normally recommended for one person.

Are they expecting two people to eat 4 - so not too bad in that case?

That's extortionate. I'm in a wealthy part of an expensive city in the South and that's more than most places would charge here.

Fully appreciate I'm being unreasonable in that aspect.

A mixed response in terms of prices. It will be interesting to see how they get on, especially as there's a more established place down the road that is also cheaper (£6-8 for tapas style dishes or £25 for grazing boards).

It seems quite expensive, even taking into account increased overheads, but it’s hard to say without knowing the portion sizes or the quality or ingredients. Is it £10 for tiny tapas dish with half a dozen olives and cubes of cheese and 2 tiny slices of bread or a full sharing board size?

It’s about £5-6 for things like bread or olives in Central London but up to £30ish for things like Iberico Bellota ham or even £50+ for some fancy dishes.

That's a lot, our local tapas place (small local chain in a major city) is £7-10 per dish with things like lamb and some of the seafood dishes being £9.95. Veggie plates are cheaper and things like olives and bread are less than the tapas dishes. Until 6:30pm in the week they do 3 tapas for £19.95.

The market will decide. If it’s too much then they will have to change their business model or they won’t survive. If it’s right then they’ll thrive.

I wouldn’t pay that and would just go elsewhere for something else.
I know it will be a small businesses trying to make a living, but it doesn’t mean their prices are something everyone will want to pay. Yanbu OP. Was there a McDonald’s nearby you could have gone to instead?

Depends on the quality of ingredients. If it’s chain style food then I feel your pain but if it’s all well sourced and fresh then they have a point.

We eat out quite frequently, and I'd generally expect a meal for 2 plus a bottle of wine to come in around the £100 mark for a mid range venue.

So 2 x £35 =£70 plus £30 for a bottle of wine - seems about right to me.

It would only be a problem if 4 x tapas dishes wasn't enough for a full meal for one person.

Sounds about right. I mean £10 for bread, cheese and olives is a large tapas isn’t it? As quite a good offer. Usually you would order all three items separately

Went to a new tapas place in our town and some of the dishes were £14 and £18! Cheapest was £11. We ordered what they suggested and left hungry having spent a fortune! I think some places just take the piss now. It’s so rare we eat out and don’t think we could have saved the money and done it so much better at home.

OP, check out pestorestaurants.com
I don't know if you are near one of their restaurants but they do three set price lunch menus, 3 dishes for (I think) £11.99, £12.99, or £13.99. OH and I go quite often with friends and we do sometimes manage a dessert but not always. Even their full price a la carte dishes aren't too expensive.

Tapas isn't good value for money because most of the food is simple ingredients, low effort and low skill .

I love the food but if I want gambas a pil pil for example. I make them at home on about 5 minutes when I CBA cooking anything more involved and they're just as nice as any restaurant. Likewise bread, ham, cheese, olives etc. I can put that on a plate myself in my sleep.

I save restaurant prices for Thai or Indian food that requires time consuming chopping, frying and simmering of long lists of ingredients.

Sounds v expensive unless the dishes are big enough for 2 people. Our local pub did 5 tapas plus 2 drinks for £35 which was plenty for 2 people

Wildly expensive for tapas, I agree. I would expect to pay 5-8 for a tapas dish as you need 3 or 4 to make a whole meal and I would never pay £30 for a main meal alone