Christmas meal with colleagues - which menu would you prefer?

[IcedCoffeeAlways]

Small team going out for a meal before Christmas. Manager has jumped in and booked “somewhere new for a wee change” without asking the team and it’s causing issues 😅 Meal NOT paid for by work so it’s not a “suck it up and enjoy the free meal situation”

Which menu would you prefer?

White Menu - £29.50 for 3 courses. Doesn’t include a drink.
Blue Menu - £39.95 for 3 courses including a glass of Prosecco

The veggie options on the blue one are rubbish and really bad value for money. Soup and gnocchi with a bit of cake for £40? Now way.

White because if I went blue I'd have to have squash for both courses as the veggie option. I'd feel hard done by paying £40 for that!

Definitely white, and I'm having salmon, turkey and the choc pudding

I don't think it's appropriate to choose a £40 menu for a self-funded work meal.
There's enough on the cheaper menu for everyone.

White - more dishes, better choice, nicer sounding dishes. I'm sure they sell Prosecco and people can get a glass with their meal if they want!

I’d happily eat off both but I’m not vegetarian or vegan, and I’m not fussy at all.

Regardless, the other menu is too expensive to just unilaterally book if you usually have the cheaper option and your manager is a prat for not checking. £10 extra for a glass of Prosecco doesn’t seem worth it. They need to make a goodwill gesture of covering some of the booze bill or something.

White.

Blue is too restrictive for anyone with dietary requirements. Your boss is a numpty. I would be questioning whether he was in with the staff there or had a voucher to use. I would book the white menu and leave him to go blue on his own.

@NoSquirrels

I’d happily eat off both but I’m not vegetarian or vegan, and I’m not fussy at all.

Regardless, the other menu is too expensive to just unilaterally book if you usually have the cheaper option and your manager is a prat for not checking. £10 extra for a glass of Prosecco doesn’t seem worth it. They need to make a goodwill gesture of covering some of the booze bill or something.

@NoSquirrels Just to clarify, there is a separate company-wide (small company with a few branches) work do that is fully funded by the company. This is just our branch - we always go out for a nice meal around Christmas so although it’s colleagues, it’s nothing to do with work as such so no financial contribution from them. Nobody has raised issue with the cost at all - just the lack of choice. Manager always takes charge and makes the booking/gathers money etc which is fine but she’s riled people up this year by changing the venue 🤣

The Blue menu is appalling at any price and especially if you're vegetarian. Both the starter and the main are squash, such a lack of imagination, it's like the last 10 years never happened.

The white one isn't much better though. Pasta is one of the vegetarian mains. What happened to making something a bit festive instead of offering a quick cheap low effort casual weeknight dinner?

If you have to pay for it yourself then it's optional so perhaps people need to vote with their feet and choose to not go?

The white has significantly more choice and as I'm teetotal I'd rather not pay £10 more for something I can't have.

I hope to god you don’t have any vegetarians in your team! That’s an absolutely dreadful meal option.

@BarbaraofSeville

The Blue menu is appalling at any price and especially if you're vegetarian. Both the starter and the main are squash, such a lack of imagination, it's like the last 10 years never happened.

The white one isn't much better though. Pasta is one of the vegetarian mains. What happened to making something a bit festive instead of offering a quick cheap low effort casual weeknight dinner?

If you have to pay for it yourself then it's optional so perhaps people need to vote with their feet and choose to not go?

@BarbaraofSeville Completely agree with the lack of lack of imagination in the Vegi and Vegan options. White one does have a vegan menu which changes every 8 or so weeks I believe and they are happy to include any of those dishes when ordering the Christmas meal. Still no festive option which I agree is a bit disappointing but still more choice than the blue menu! This is the current Vegan menu.

@RichardMarxisinnocent

Probably White (but if the linguini is supposed to be a vegetarian option they need to be told that parmesan is not vegetarian).

Vegetarian Parmesan exists.

Both pretty dull for vegetarians/vegans. I'd want a vegetaria/vegan version of Christmas Dinner, not curry, linguine or gnocchi. If I ate meat/fish then the white menu has more choice all round. Also drivers/non-drinkers not forced to pay for a glass of cheap prosecco they don't want!

Frankly, I'd go with the flow and for the sake of a tenner wouldn't give it heads pace.

Wouldn't be attending the blue Christmas do.

If your company isn’t paying for it could you just cancel the booking and book where you normally go. But cheeky of them to book where you’re going and not pay for any/all of it. I wouldn’t be dictated to.

Your manager is a bampot.

I couldn't eat anything off that blue menu, I don't think. The white one is much better for dietary requirements and labels things more clearly.

Plus I would resent being forced to effectively pay an extra tenner for a single glass of prosecco.

I'm veggie so the white menu would get my vote, purely because blue menu would give me butternut squash followed by pumpkin.

Neither are great for veggies though. I hate set menus.

For a group of people, I'd go for the first menu (white) it's cheaper to accommodate for different financial situations, and it has more options so most people will find something they want.

I wouldn’t be attending the blue Xmas party. White looks a bit better simply because they obviously understand what allergens are. However I do wonder what is the point of offering gluten free main courses when there’s no gluten free starter or dessert?

White by a mile!

I prefer the white menu but I'm Team Manager simply because I know the utter horror of trying to please more than two people at a time during the run up to Christmas.

People with serious misgivings might want to volunteer to do this ghastly, thankless job themselves.

I don't eat any meat other than fish.
Don't like any of the Blue options apart from yule log.
There's a few things I could choose and enjoy on the white. Like the sound of Asian cod.

Neither are great menus for a fusspot like me! White if I had to choose because the turkey option sounds better (mashed potatoes wtf?!) and that's the only main I'd eat.