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

@JingsMahBucket I have never found vegetarian Parmesan in a supermarket. Hard cheese and pecorino yes but never a Parmesan. Where do you get it?

If I was vegetarian or vegan I'd refuse to go to the blue menu place. There is no way in hell I'd be paying £40 for two courses of butternut squash.

@TwinklyBranch

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.

What kind of mains would you hope for on a Christmas menu, do you mind me asking? I'm quite a fussy eater but I'd like at least half of the white menu options.

@CarrieRosie

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?

@CarrieRosie It’s not clear on that menu but they do separate full vegan and GF menus with a variety of starters/mains/desserts that you can sub in for any dishes on the Christmas menu too 😊

I actually think the blue menu is better in general, and if I were going out with a small group of friends I’d pick there - I have similar misgivings to a PP about places that try to do too many cuisines, it often means they fail at them all!

However… for a works do it’s about pleasing more people and usually, you have to sacrifice in quality for that. So I’d suck it up and book White instead (I say that as the person organising our works Xmas do).

Also, I’m pregnant so selfishly I don’t care about Prosecco and I don’t want to just be limited to soup as a starter

I’d go blue. Without being rude I’d wonder a bit about a restaurant which describes 2 of its dishes as “Asian” because Asia a huge continent with lots of different cuisine, so it sounds like they just throw together whatever they fancy. I’d prefer a few things done well than lots of choice but a bit blah. But dunno maybe food isn’t that important for a work thing?

The white menu is certainly broader, but I prefer the look of the blue one.
There's more to a Christmas get-together than the food. There's the atmosphere of the restaurant to consider too. The blue menu looks more Christmassy to me. I don't know if that's an indication of the style of restaurant or the effort they make for Christmas, but I do think the menu itself looks better from an aesthetic, rather than a purely food, point of view.
Unless the white restaurant is absolutely exceptional, I also like the idea of trying something new. The blue restaurant may have options off the Christmas menu that could suit more limited diets too, worth checking.

White

White menu, definitely. I like to have an actual choice not a ‘which one of these is the one I don’t fancy least’ choice!

Also trying to organise a works do here, so interested in responses and taking notes.

Sorry, there should be a ‘the’ in there, am clearly not awake yet

I think what is also relevant here is that OP says she and her team were already happy with the white menu place, so all the manager had to do was book it again. No stress, just a painless booking.

The manager's snatched a thankless ghastly defeat for herself out of the jaws of a simple victory by going off-piste without consultation. I can see why she might have a fancied a change, but it's a rookie error.

I imagine the white menu place will manage to have some Christmas decorations up by now.

Just for me, I'd prefer the blue menu but there's far more choice on the white for a group and agree £40 self funded is a bit steep.

White menu. I prefer it to the blue one and I'm not willing to pay an extra tenner for a glass of Prosseco especially as I don't like it.

Blue menu

Ten quid for one glass of Prosecco 😳

@MorrisZapp I'm not sure really.

Looking at the white menu again, I would eat the linguine but wouldn't choose to order it. It's just tomato pasta, the kind of thing I could easily make at home. I'd be happy with a pasta dish that's got a bit more to it, or risotto or something.

Well,it's not exactly 10 pounds for a glass of Prosecco really though is it? It's just working out that way when comparing menus. Maybe the blue menu is a bit pricier and the meal itself there (minus Prosecco) is 35 or 37 pounds or whatever.
Maybe the food there is higher quality, maybe you get more of it...or maybe not, of course. Hard to say without knowing the restaurants.

I can never understand why us veggies end up with pasta, risotto or curry on a Christmas menu, why not do a nut roast or a veggie wellington with veg and the trimmings?

Maybe the food there is higher quality, maybe you get more of it...or maybe not, of course.

Butternut squash soup followed by butternut squash gnocchi is never going f to be high quality enough to justify that price.

Yes, I do feel vegetarians are hard done by in set menus like this as a rule.

The white one on the basis that as a vegan I would be able to get a starter and main (but no pudding). Whereas on the other one there’s no vegan main and the other courses it’s not clear. I hope you don’t have any vegans going!

Sirloin steak vs Linguine on the white menu isn't any better...

From a value for money point of view I mean.

Oooh I know where the white me u is and agree the food is great there! Intrigued by where the blue menu is from now!!

But def white for a works do and know if you asked for roasties instead of mash they'd do it for you.

I’d go for the white. But I really wouldn’t make a fuss it my manager had booked blue. And I’m a vegetarian who isn’t a massive fan of butternut squash. It’s a Christmas do! If I could afford the 40 quid id go along and have a good night out with my team. This post half makes me miss working in an office and having work nights out, and half makes me feel relieved that I no longer have to deal with petty moaning and bitching about where the manager has booked!