£100 for a casual lunch out for 4 is too much

[GrealishGoddess]

Deeply middle class problem but. Anyone else noticed that you can no longer get out of the likes of Bill’s, Wagamama, Pizza Express, etc , with two teens, for less than £100. Is this just inflation, NI effects, price gouging, what? AIBU to stay home?

@Letsgoroundagainnow

oh, I’m only joking! As if I would waste a Gp’s time!
this is mumsnet - people can express their views freely 🙂 HTH.

Really? Oh well.

A pizza express pizza is about 1000 calories (give or take the toppings). That a reasonable amount for a main meal, certainly for a female. Like I have said, a main meal for an active kid teen male would be at least 1500 but often my son will have up to 2000 on a very sporty day. I usually have salad for about 600 but I don’t eat much generally. For an average person a pizza express pizza is perfectly sized for one adult. Splitting pizzas at a PE restaurant, unless you are light eaters or smaller children doesn’t make any sense!

,,, this is the thing for me - I wouldn't feel quite so annoyed if the food were any good but the standard of mass-catering has taken such a massive nose dive in the past couple of years that I no longer eat anywhere 'cheap' (as in 'used to represent value for money').

I'd rather go out to eat once a month - or even once every two months and properly splash out on somewhere I KNOW is going to be fabulous than rack up a handful of mediocre meals out.

Why "should be"? Who is deciding what should and should not be a luxury? Does pizza express qualify for that?

So about £100 for 4 then without special deals

We don’t go out for dinner regularly as we much prefer going out for coffee (every weekend normally, multiple times) and brunch (used to be every week until we realised we weren’t appreciating it as much so now every month). Now coffee is over £4 (though beautiful), and brunch has gone up, we easily spend £40-£45 for 2 brunch and 2 coffees. Used to cost about £26/27. We were out for brunch yesterday and the waiter was adding an order into the till for what looked like a family of 4 and it was £90. Life is just more expensive 😢

We now eat out far less as unless you’re going somewhere very nice it’s just not worth it. We are reasonable cooks and often choose to cook at home with a nice bottle of wine at the weekend now . Most places are mediocre. Fed up with a roast dinner out as I don’t want a giant Yorkshire pud hiding the tiny pile underneath.

do you check for deals before paying? I always check online for any deals wherever we are before paying in case there’s offers on. E.g. pizza express are doing 4 people for £50. 1 sharing doughballs, 2 large pizzas (plenty big enough for sharing), plus 2 sides. Obv drinks extra but not another £50 extra.

1000 cals for a main meal??? What? That’s loads!

I went to Wagamama’s last week with two teens (3 of us) and it was £50.
biggest teen qualifies for student discount, so we had used that.

many of these chains you need to get in the apps & find the deals. They don’t really expect anyone to pay full price!

It is loads, yes.

It’s definitely become more expensive just like all food really. Takeaways have shot up in price too, I assume due to the rises in minimum wage, food & business tax.

We ate in a Pizza Hut recently & even with us all having a meal deal & no alcohol it was still around £100 for 4.

I assume that’s why every Wetherspoons I pass is always so busy. It’s the most affordable place even though the food isn’t up to much (in my opinion), and you have to take your own wet wipes for the table.

This. ⬆️ Tesco club card vouchers

Went to Bills recently and for 8 of us the bill was less than £100! Went to an independent pizza restaurant not a chain and for 4 of us again the bill was less than £100. Just choose independents far nicer and generally better value!

No - portion sizes have been reduced in an attempt to make more money (shrinkflation).
Also, if I plan to go out for to a restaurant for a meal/pizza, I’ll make sure I’m hungry!

No way would a standard pizza not get eaten!!

Us too. We only go out if the food is exceptional (better than we can make at home) otherwise we cook ourselves! For half the price you can get a MUCH better meal!

Try sharing 2 pizzas, a couple of salads and some dough balls ( if necessary) personally I find that plenty

If the staff of a service business are so low paid they need the tax payer to top up to a basic living standard then yes, they should be paid more and that will mean less meals out for most people.

Effectively the taxpayer subsidises cheap eating out and a range of cheaper personal services and has done ever since they became a mass market activity rather than occasional luxuries.

Salads are often the same price as a pizza.

Agree - eating out is far too expensive now. We tend to go for a curry if it is someone's birthday but we find Bill's. Zizzi's, Pizza Express etc far too expensive - haven't been for years! We tend to treat ourselves at home or if we really want to 'eat out' we will treat ourselves to coffee and a sandwich at places like Good Taste or Cafe Nero.

You obviously don’t have teenage boys. We get through 4 pizzas with them eating half of mine. Plus dough balls or garlic bread.

I went a couple of months ago, personally I prefer a thin base, but it was still quite a lot of food. I'm certainly not judging anyone who prefers to eat a full pizza to themselves just saying to OP they could easily cut the price and still have a really enjoyable meal by splitting a couple of pizzas. I doubt anyone would go away hungry after half a pizza, a side, and a drink :)

Come off it. You cant get 6 "huge" slices from a PE pizza 😂

How is it loads?
The recommended calorie intake a day for an adult is 2000 so a rough split would be 400 breakfast, 600 lunch, 1000 dinner. I need less than that, my son needs up to 3000 a day. Obviously everyone is a bit different and can vary it but as a principle 800-1000 for a main meal in a restaurant is pretty normal.

Have a look at the calorie lists on menus and you won’t find many mains less that 800. A full Sunday roast is 2000 calories at my local pub.