Is it worth eating out on Christmas Day?

[ihatethecold]

I just cannot be bothered with xmas dinner this year. There’s only 3 of us. Me, DH and our 18 yr old dd.
She has said she’s happy to drive us on the day.
A few local places are doing xmas dinner for about £80 including wine. The menus look very nice.
DD would be cheaper due to not drinking
Has anyone bit the bullet and felt it was worth it?
We can afford it but it feels very indulgent.
I feel a bit torn.
But, the thought of doing xmas dinner and all that entails makes me feel knackered already.
(don’t even like turkey)

Surely you don't do it all op? There's 3 of you, suggest you having a rest this year or just do a basic roast. Leave the shopping to others as well! Obviously a meal out would be nice, no clearing up etc but I've never enjoyed it as much as being at home. As others have pointed out I think you will be lucky to get a booking for Christmas Day.

I was taken out on Christmas Day by elderly relatives in 2019 and it struck me as a waste of money. It was all bought-in and pre-prepared and not of any quality. The gravy was instant out of a packet and I suspect the custard offered with Christmas pudding was too. We could hear the pinging of microwaves in the distance.

It was clear that the meat, potatoes, sausage, stuffing etc had all been plated hours beforehand and they were microwaving it. As a previous poster noted, the whole meal was portion controlled and options limited and whoever had bought the roast potatoes hadn't bought enough. I think we had two each and then some plain boiled spuds. My aunt wanted ice cream on her mince pie (they were serving ice cream with Christmas pudding) but that wasn't allowed — only cream on mince pies.

This was a 'nice' independent pub where normally they offer decent home-cooked food. My aunt and uncle seemed to think it was wonderful and I wondered why they hadn't saved themselves £200 and just bought everything from M&S.

No it isn’t worth it - at least it wasn’t for us!! Went to a venue with a supposedly good restaurant and similar reputation snd were served disgusting food, were shoved on a table in a walkway between kitchen and main part of the restaurant, right by huge speakers and were plagued by other people’s kids who were allowed to run riot throughout the restaurant (because it’s Christmas Day and you can’t possibly tell children to behave at Christmas!!)

We had to endure it till our taxi arrived to take us home (prebooked and couldn’t change time, not to mention costing double usual amount!!) and then I ended up cooking anyway because of the previously mentioned disgusting food!

Never again as, at least if I cook at Jone, the only person responsible for the day is me!!

We can afford it but it feels very indulgent.

What better reason is there to do something, especially at Christmas.

We have eaten out on Christmas Day for decades, ever since I stopped 'going home for Christmas'. The important things that make the experience is to find the right place where there are enough staff for them to be enjoying themselves (and looking forward to post service celebration).

The 'lovely' places will be more expensive than chains working to a budget. If you are left waiting for a long time it can be a bit miserable.

We go to a local (walking distance) place where we are known. We have a very well paced meal with several courses which takes four of more hours. It's wonderful and we look forward to it very much.

We do tend to bring a 'doggie bag' home. Christmas without leftovers to pick at on Boxing Day isn't ideal.

I'd encourage you to go at least once to get a feel for the place before booking for Christmas.

Hope you find the right kind of place and have a lovely time.

*cook at home

Only once. At a restaurant (as opposed to a pub) & overseas. Oh actually make that twice!

First time was a soulless restaurant, my parents thought it would be nice with no work! We all hated it & didn't do it again!

Second time was with my (adult) niece in Germany. We'd gone for the Chrustmas markets, we strung some lights up in our hotel room & just enjoyed bits we'd bought from the markets on previous days. We had a great time away & neither of us were fussed about finding a 'Christmas dinner' anywhere 💁🏻‍♀️

I'd consider it at a cosy pub in the U.K.... but not a more formal restaurant.

However, there's only 3 of you, why not choose what you'd all like, no need to have Turkey!!

Don’t bother with Christmas, it’s shite!

And so is the Mumsnet big red box that I cannot escape!

Power to the Scrooges!

It's likely that 90% of the staff will have been scheduled to work unwillingly and will be hung over, resentful and just want you out asap

So patronising.

I've done it once. It was okay...but just that. Feels like any other meal out to be honest. The food at home is much, much better and my kids would rather have that (my youngest says his home-cooked Christmas lunch is his favourite meal of the year). I found there's more of a sense of occasion at home too. Okay for years where you can't be bothered but I definitely wouldn't do it every year.

I've never done it and love the laziness of slobbing on the sofa after. Plus the turkey sandwiches...
But, I will comment on those saying they felt sorry for the hospitality staff - I used to work at a hotel/restaurant when I was younger and Christmas Day was never compulsory - but I used to always choose to do it, because the pay was amazing - it was a much shorter shift than other days, because we only did lunch, I got to hang out with my friends who worked there - everyone was friendly and happy and in a great mood - we got brilliant tips plus, if I recall correctly, quadruple time! So I would say it very much depends on the venue as to whether you should feel sorry for the staff or not..... (Same goes for the quality of the food - where I worked the Christmas meal was cooked by the same chefs and was just as good as it was all year round)

The thing that would put me off going in a small 2-3 person group is the likelihood of most other customers being in large groups, which often involves lots of noise, especially if there's lots of drinking going on. I would feel as if I was at another family's party. I'm aware this may be completely irrational!

God yes , do it , We stayed at home when the kids were younger . Its lovely going out , such a treat

We did it one year and decided never to do it again. There were nine of us including my parents and our children aged between 18 months and 14 years. My mum wasn't well - she was on pain killers which made her very sleepy. I'm not sure what I was expecting but aside from the food there was nothing different from a normal Sunday dinner - no real atmosphere.

We took plenty of entertainment with us for the younger children and they were good as gold. On a table behind us there was a group who were increasingly drunk, arguing with each other and rude to the staff. At another table was a young couple who sat and picked at their meals and didn't speak or look each other in the eye. It was a very strange mix of people.

The food was fine, my husband didn't drink because he was driving which didn't bother us anyway but we would have had more fun at home.

I can not imagine DH and I enjoying going out for Christmas dinner on our own but if we had even just one of the kids with us (youngest is 19) I think we could really enjoy it.

We eat lunch out at a different restaurant or pub on Christmas day most years and really enjoy it.

We looked at it for last year as knew all the restaurants were shutting for lockdown on Boxing Day. Booked a steakhouse where the prices were as normal days , but DS - 14 at the time- who doesn't even like turkey, declared that he wanted Christmas as close to normal even though we couldn't spend it with extended family, so I got a frozen turkey to cook instead.

Couldn't bring myself to book a traditional turkey dinner out - so ridiculous that it's upward of £50 for a carvery meal when it's half the price the following day.

Having eaten out on Christmas day a couple of times my experience is that the food is not as good quality as it is on a regular day. That might not matter to you.

With an £80ph budget, though, you could buy something delicious that requires little preparation and only heating up in the oven, and some decent wine. For sure you don't have to have turkey, you could have anything. M&S do some lovely centrepieces and ready prepared sides.

If your DD is happy to drive you she might be happy to heat everything up for a decent meal at home.

I'm trying to but the children's menu everywhere near me is 40 quid, fine if your kids are older but mine is 3. No one will budge on the fact he doesn't need 4 courses, ridiculous. One even said can't we take a snack for him, while we eat our xmas dinner! So shortsighted to not have a toddlers menu. Ooh think I wanted to rant then. Thanks

Once, my mother’s last Christmas, though we didn’t know this at the time. Dire food in an awful hotel with pretensions but no atmosphere, which had the cheek to serve shop bought (and not very good shop bought) mince pies with the cold weak coffee. I would rather eat cheese on toast for Christmas lunch than go out and pay outrageous prices for indifferent food, or even for decent food come to think of it.

Absolutely got for it if you fancy it. But I don't know why people feel duty bound to cook a turkey if staying at home. I never cook turkey on Christmas day, such a dreary meat. There are only 3 of you so it wouldn't need to be laborious, you just cook whatever your favourite thing is. Or get some 'shove it in the oven stuff' from Cook.

But this year go to a restaurant. You may love it and vow never to do Christmas Day another way.

We did it a couple of years ago. Dh and I thought it was amazing. (Food was fab.) And it was a really enjoyable way to spend 3.5 hours. (Was a really relaxed pace. BUT it was SO expensive!

I suggested it to adult DS and DH a few years ago and got a resounding NO. As they cook Christmas Dinner between them it makes no difference to me. We like good quality (not necessarily fancy) food so part of Christmas Dinner for us is choosing locally produced meat which is a bit more expensive than we would buy day to day. This year's rib of beef is already in the freezer having been delivered last week by a local small producer. Going out would probably mean that the quality wouldn't be as good as we have at home and one of us would have to drive (and we all like a glass or two of wine with our dinner) - not to mention the £80 a head plus drinks and tips.

Some friends of ours have been out with wider family on Christmas day to a favourite restaurant but said they wouldn't choose to do it if it was up to them.

Did it once and it was the worst Christmas dinner any of us had ever had. The pub was totally out of their depth. It was expensive and not worth the money. The food was awful and we were kept waiting in between every single course. People in the group were given meals at different times. Different people in the group wrote in to complain and when my dad posted a negative review online they threatened him with legal action even though everything he’d stated was true. As far as I’m aware I think that was the one and only year they did Christmas dining.

I've done it. While the food itself was rather underwhelming, and the atmosphere was less than festive, and it did cost a lot (to us - £60), it was still totally worth it: no prep, no timing, no darting between kitchen and living room all day, and best of all, NO WASHING UP. Not even a spoon. It was marvellous.

My brother got a COOK Christmas Dinner last Yr for similar reasons and said it was brilliant. He just bunged it in the oven and served it with little hassle.

www.cookfood.net/menu/christmas/christmas-day

I would spend that sort of money on top quality food you can eat at home. As PPs have said you can buy the side dishes in M&S and just bung everything in the oven.