Poll: When we go out to eat, I'd rather...

[Midpack]

No this has little if anything to do with ER, and there is no right answer. But just for fun (allowed no?).

We like to go out for dinner often.

• DW usually wants to go to the same restaurants (Mex, Italian or Seafood) and she usually orders the same 1-2 appetizers, entrees and/or desserts at any given restaurant. We have many fav restaurants where she's never tried anything beyond her 1-2 favorites.
• I have favorite go-to restaurants, but I'm usually up to try new restaurants/cuisines that look interesting. And even at the favs, each time we go I look at specials first, and will most likely order different appetizers, entrees and/or dessert until I've tried everything on the menu eventually.

Again, not trying to decide who's right (no one), just curious which approach is most common...I suspect I know.

 

[W2R]

I voted for the same restaurants because that was the closest answer for me.

We eat out every day, and we completely agree on how often to try a new place and so on. We go to the same restaurants most of the time. Now and then we'll try someplace new, and if we like it then it becomes part of our rotation of regular restaurants.

We found a great place a couple of weeks ago just by accident. We hadn't heard about it before but just stopped in on impulse. It will probably become one of our regular places.

We usually order the same entree each time at our regular restaurants, although we might change every 10th time or so and then go back to our favorites. We never get appetizers, desserts, and so on because we don't need the extra calories.

Edited to add: I actually keep records of where we ate and how much it costs. Since March 1st, we have eaten at:

Favorite Restaurant #1: 20 times
Favorite Restaurant #2: 15 times
Favorite Restaurant #3: 13 times
brand new restaurants never tried before: 4 times
restaurants we have been to before but where we are not "regulars": 21 times
didn't eat out due to other commitments or being sick: 2 times

 

[Zero]

I'm adventurous to a danger level, DW has a limit. Eat out most meals and we generally prefer couple of new places per week.
Last week I had these things that are new to me:
Smothered pork chop on bed of dirty rice, darn good.
Fried soft shell crab with spicy salt/pepper flakes. OK.
Beef chow fun with choy sum, excellent.
And a toasted marshmallow milkshake.

 

[grasshopper]

Being a vegetarian/vegan with two dinner choices within 20 miles of home, in cattle country. How do you think I voted?

 

[MichaelB]

DW is a fantastic cook but we still dine out often. We like to try new places, mostly ethnic cuisine, and are much more often pleased than disappointed. Some types of food lend themselves to family style or groups, such as Indian and Greek, and make for great get-togethers.

 

[Sarah in SC]

We tend to go to the same places all the time, actually. One because we live kinda far out from the city restaurants, and two because our usual places are cheap! I am a fan of trying new foods, though, especially when we travel. But no cuy in Peru!

 

[ziggy29]

My wife would be the first to tell you that she is a creature of habit. Many times when we go out she keeps thinking she'll try something different on the menu, but usually opts for the same entree in the end. I tend to change it up a bit more.

 

[donheff]

I went with #1 but what I really mean is the same group of places, not just one restaurant and meal. I like to try new places now and then mostly in the hope that I can expand my list of comfortable haunts.

 

[Katsmeow]

Hmm..during the first two months of the year (excluding fast food) we ate at 20 different restaurants. 16 of them we had eaten at before, 4 were new (or almost new a couple one of us had maybe eaten at many years ago). The most frequent restaurants were Panera and Chilis each with 5 visits. Nothing else had more than 2 visits.

Typically I eat the same thing with maybe a slight rotation of 3 or 4 things. Panera I almost always have the same thing. Chili's I rotate between a couple of things.

We moved at the end of February. Since then, we've eaten at 20 different places, 5 of which are new. On several of the others I didn't count it as new because it was a chain. Panera and Chili's are still our top restaurants but Chili's is now a clear number 1 because it is the closest to our house. Some of the new ones we won't try again. We still have several more restaurants that are on the list to try.

 

[LOL!]

We are also creatures of habit. I get to take clients out to eat as part of my job, so I am able to sample new restaurants without cost to family finances. The ones the provide good food with good value (including time/cost of transportation) are the ones we frequent. Home cooking is pretty good, too.

 

[M Paquette]

Being a vegetarian/vegan with two dinner choices within 20 miles of home, in cattle country. How do you think I voted?

Ever get served a "vegetarian" dish with chicken or fish in it? DD is vegan, and she's had the server give her the "Aw, shucks. Chicken? That ain't meat!" treatment. Funny (in an annoying sort of way..)

 

[Midpack]

I know better than to try to change DW after 32 years, but how can you know your favorites are favorites if you rarely try anything new? She has a favorite restaurant for any cuisine we're in the mood for, and usually one or two favorites at most for each. We've been to almost 200 restaurants (not including chains or fast food) in Chicago now - if it was up to her we'd have been to three or four, hundreds of times! Frontera Grill, Adobo Grill (maybe), Roy's or Mia Francesca...

 

[audreyh1]

Ooooo! Frontera Grill! I wish that were an option for me! I have to settle for his cooking shows and an occasional try of one of his recipes.

We are always looking for something new to try even though we have several faves. Same in our cooking at home - always expanding that repertoire!

 

[MichaelB]

I know better than to try to change DW after 32 years, but how can you know your favorites are favorites if you rarely try anything new? She has a favorite restaurant for any cuisine we're in the mood for, and usually one or two favorites at most for each. We've been to almost 200 restaurants (not including chains or fast food) in Chicago now - if it was up to her we'd have been to three or four, hundreds of times! Frontera Grill, Adobo Grill (maybe), Roy's or Mia Francesca...

Sounds like a subset of favorite restaurants for my family members in the chicagoand area. Have you noticed any change in Francesca's since they changed ownership?

 

[W2R]

I know better than to try to change DW after 32 years, but how can you know your favorites are favorites if you rarely try anything new?

Since your restaurants sound reasonably upscale, I think I have a solution for you. Have you tried reading the food critics' reviews, and then when one gets a great review, reading it aloud to her? Maybe she would then be more amenable to a suggestion later on to try it out.

 

[MichaelB]

Since your restaurants sound reasonably upscale, I think I have a solution for you. Have you tried reading the food critics' reviews, and then when one gets a great review, reading it aloud to her? Maybe she would then be more amenable to a suggestion later on to try it out.

We do that, but instead of food critics we use Chowhounds.

 

[FIREd]

Once I find a dish I like in a restaurant I like, I tend to stick with it.

 

[Midpack]

Since your restaurants sound reasonably upscale, I think I have a solution for you. Have you tried reading the food critics' reviews, and then when one gets a great review, reading it aloud to her? Maybe she would then be more amenable to a suggestion later on to try it out.

We do that, but instead of food critics we use Chowhounds.

She does that from time to time, seems once a year when Chicago magazine comes out with it's annual 20 best new restaurants issue, she gets adventurous. Not a problem anyway, we try new places all the time and she's willing, she just won't choose new places herself usually. Again, I come back to how do you find new favorites if you rarely try anything new? Just counterintuitive to me, but DW will always be smarter than me. If I forget that, I know she'll remind me...

 

[W2R]

we try new places all the time and she's willing, she just won't choose new places herself usually.

Hmmm... Perhaps she just wants you to take the lead?

 

[gauss]

DW and I tend to be creatures of habit and will tend to repeat a known good thing left to our own devices.

Our larger group of friends, however, will often arrange group dinners at that month's organizer's choice.

As a result we are exposed to new good places while continuing to support the old places.

 

[Moemg]

We usually stick with our favorites but sometimes we discover a new place . I downloaded the app "Fast Food Nation " . This will stop you in your tracks from dining at most casual restaurants . The calories & sodium content are horrendous .

 

[MBAustin]

Cooking is my hobby so we don't eat out much, but when we do, we generally try new places and if we go to someplace familiar, we rarely order the same thing.

One exception - a brewpub that we've been going to for years has the most amazing appetizer - roasted garlic (2 full bulbs!) served on goat cheese crostini. MMMM...reminds me that we haven't gone there in a while!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Y'all got me to thinking now and that's dangerous. For some time now, I've been thinking about going out to eat more often. Like every day if we could. Even though DW liked to cook in the past, she getting sick of it and I'm getting sick of cleaning up the kitchen (my part of cooking). One of my golf buddies goes out to eat three or four times a week. They only go where there is a coupon like BOGO. Forgetting the coupon deal, let's say you could get by on $25 for two dinners including tax and tip. That's $750/mo and $9000/yr. Lets say you could recover half of that by not buying equivalent groceries. I wonder how my budget would react to that. We really don't operate on a budget, but I bet I would have to if we followed this schedule. Any thoughts that might convince me to go this route?

 

[Chuckanut]

I like to order things I would not normally cook for myself at home.

 

[harley]

I like to try new places and new dishes. DW isn't as adventurous. But we tend to eat at the old same place most of the time for the above reasons - price, convenience, comfort.

But what's wrong with cuy? Looks yummy! Probably right up there with possum and muskrat.