Eating out on Christmas day?

[speakout]

I have just booked christmas day lunch for our family.
Has anyone eaten out on christmas day?
The past couple of years has seemed such a faff, big grocery shop before hand, the prep, making stock a few days before. We can never agree on meat choices so usually ends up with two, once the meal is over the sink is piled high with greasy dishes, food on the floor, gravy up the walls, carcasses sitting in the fridge afterwards. My OH usually cooks and washes up too, it seems such a lot of work.

Yes we do. We actually started because our family got smaller sadly and there wasn’t really a festive atmosphere with just the 2 of us. We love each other and downs time together but it meant Christmas Day wasn’t any different.

We don’t have a regular place, but try lots of nice places. It’s fun to find them as it needs booked up early in the year (I suppose fun for a Christmas enthusiast!)

we often have a very lazy morning and pancakes for breakfast then a late lunch / early dinner and then nice walk home again.

id thoroughly recommend it!

I thought I’d enjoy it but the worst part for me was celebrating in a roomful of strangers. Prefer my cosy home with my family

Plus you can’t eat at your own pace.. understandably they want to serve courses on time . But for a big lunch I want to pace myself, nibble and chat etc

30 posts in, and not one single post is sniggering at the title and assuming it was going to be a post of filth?! I'm disappointed in Mumsnet nowadays 😂

We're swapping days around this year (food wise) to accommodate DPs DC coming and going, so Christmas Day we will graze, maybe a bit of a buffet in the evening and then we're having Christmas lunch out on Boxing Day. Pretty much the same menu as Christmas Day and as an added bonus half the price.

We have done it a few times and always loved it but pricey.

We use to. We stopped due to our son. But this year we have booked to do so again.
I always complained that I felt like I was in the kitchen all day. Eating out was always so lovely and relaxed

I'm looking forward to not having to cook and being able to just spend all day playing with the children instead. I'm also looking forward to not having to host anyone.

We went out last Christmas Day & it was an expensive disaster the food was awful & the restaurant didn’t have any atmosphere

Thanks for all the comments. have just booked, and already looking forward to it.
I am optimistic the meal will be good. I thought the place I had chosen was expensive, but I have priced others in the area, and it is reasonable for christmas day at £70.

It is a small family run old coaching inn in a very rural location-the border hills.
We had sunday lunch there recently and the food was outstanding, everything fresh, home cooked, although it was a cold dreary sunday the dining room was very cosy, a large log fire crackled in the corner, warmly decorated in a style in keeping with the history and location of the building.

I look forward to an easy christmas day.

Gravy up the wall, what in earth do you do?

Cook and prep it all over 2 days and use a lot of ready made stuff. If you can make a Sunday dinner you can do Christmas.

I love the idea of going for a curry Christmas day. We live very rurally and no-one wants to drive so it's not really an option.

@speakout the borders hills you say?
The Scottish Border hills? (if so pls pm me the name of the nice place)

We've got the builders in at the moment, and it's not looking likely that we will have a kitchen in time for Christmas, so we've booked lunch out.

We seem to have left it late, as our first five choices were fully booked, so we're going to a place we've been to before, but not with high expectations.

I'd rather be at home, with everyone mucking in and getting everything prepared, cooked and served, but I'll just look forward to next year, when I should have a fancy new kitchen to cook in

You haven't seen my OH cook. He is like the chef from the muppets. Absolutely gravy up the wall- although his food is always delicious.
It isn't the complexity of the meal that is offputting, just the effort.

We tried booking a traditional Christmas lunch once and nobody enjoyed it- they said it wasn’t as nice as at home.

The last three years though, we’ve gone to an Indian restaurant. I might be good at traditional roasts, but I couldn’t compete with the food there! We needed a change because we lost a family member and there was a big hole in the home based Christmas where they should’ve been. This suits everyone and feels like a big treat.

After doing Christmas dinner for the last 52 years I'd quite like a break but I worry about being rushed and would it feel like mass catering? I'm thinking a traditional roast lunch not a curry or something alternative and I just can't imagine it tasting the same as fresh out of the oven at home.

I have thought of doing the Christmas menu on Christmas Eve (cheaper as well) and then doing something else on Christmas Day.

I am guessing it depends on the restaurant.
Some restaurants will be trying to push as many covers as possible, and use processed/frozen food, but others won't.

The place I have booked is small, big enough for 25/30 people, and are running two services- one at 12.30 and one at 4.30pm only, I have booked the later one, it is the last sitting, so hopefully we can take our time.

😁 saw you've booked to go out so hope you enjoy the day!

I’ve done it three times, each time I popped a small turkey joint in the oven as I left for the restaurant and turned it off when I got home. That way we could still have Turkey sandwiches in the evening.

Me too - made so much £extra on Christmas Day it was fab!!

We do it every year since pre Covid and I'm never going back. Worth every penny!

This is my dream

We've eaten out the last couple of years and it adds a really good element to the day! It also means no one is prepping food or cleaning up all day so made for a more relaxed day. It is quite an odd thing to eat out on Christmas Day, mainly from a people watching perspective. Enjoy it!

Looked into it but can't justify the cost plus my roast is better than a restaurant one (I'm not criticising them it's just mass catering is never like homemade especially roast potatoes plus then always put those ghastly trendy pigs in blankets on I that taste of pure salt, unheard of 20 years ago)

As for the faff, cheat - use bisto best gravy or supermarket equivalent, buy some frozen sides eg cauliflower cheese, red cabbage, and toss a coin on the meat unless there's 10+ of you

If one year mum doesn't want to cook (my house isn't big enough to host) either I'll cook at hers or we can go somewhere warm - dad and I have been pushing for years but she likes to be the hostess (I have hosted before I was divorced as I had a large house then) my dp is east about it all