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Eating Out Considerations
Old 09-09-2017, 02:09 PM   #1
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Eating Out Considerations

When you go out to eat how do you choose a restaurant to eat at? Is it because of one favorite dish or because the quality across the board? Food type (nationality)? Location? Parking? Value? Reviews? Special occasion?
Price? Perhaps this should be a poll, and I ask for help with this if so agreed.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:12 PM   #2
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Type of food first. Do I want Italian? Chinese?
Quality next.
Value third.
Unless I'm traveling, then usually type the reviews.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:24 PM   #3
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Food, Familiarity, and Value. I have eaten out 5 times in the past 5 days in restaurants with waiters. I go to places that I have been to many times before. I have a list that I basically rotate through. Since I eat out so much, I do not want to drive more than about 15 minutes and usually less than 10 minutes to a good place to eat. I go to places where the waiters know me most often.

Even when I travel, I find a convenient place to eat within a few minutes of where I am. On a recent vacation I was with folks who used yelp on their smart phone, but google maps was just as good. I know what is good food and what kind of food I like to eat, so it is easy to select something most of the time.

People give me suggestions all the time. And people take me out to lunch often, so I do learn of new places, but if they are too far away, then I'm not going unless they take me there and bring me back which does happen.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:34 PM   #4
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I eat at restaurants less often than I did when w*rking, because I have become a better cook! Having said that, there are several reasons why I eat at restaurants.

1. After golf. I play at two different courses with large groups of friends, and the socialization is half the fun. One of these clubs has a great restaurant. In golf season, I eat one lunch and one breakfast per week at golf clubs.

2. I am a member of a social group with numerous activities that include monthly breakfasts and lunches at moderately priced local restaurants. I only go if the restaurant is good or there is somebody that I want to catch up with. Probably once in two months.

3. Special occasions. I live in a foodie region and when friends visit, it's a chance to eat at a gourmet restaurant. Sporadic.

4. Occasionally I will crave a burger, roast chicken, Thai or some other comfort food without wanting to make it from scratch. Then I'll go to Wendy's for a burger, Swiss Chalet for roast chicken, or a local Thai place. Maybe once in two months. I rarely go to a high end restaurant alone, unless I'm travelling.
Reasons #1,2 and 3 are social. Reason 4 is convenience.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:34 PM   #5
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If I am hungry, find something quick to eat but stay away from unhealthy stuff.

If it is for an occasion, I look for ambiance, food, service, and location in that order.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:41 PM   #6
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Type is #1, at least to the point of eliminating some types I really don't like.

Quality, location, value are tightly bunched, plus reviews when I'm traveling.
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:45 PM   #7
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I really do not have this in my list, but thinking about it for a bit... the ability to actually not have to wait is big in my thinking....

IOW, there are some places where if you do not go early you WILL wait... sometimes for a long time... I usually do not even think about going to one of these places when we start to talk about where to go...

So, it does not come into my everyday thinking as it has already been filtered in the places we consider....

After that... it is the type of food, them for me value, but for DW it is probably is there happy hour...
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:56 PM   #8
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Yep, I hate to wait, so if a place usually has a line, I will have a reservation. If they don't take reservations and have a line, then I'm not going unless someone else stands in line for me and tells me when to arrive.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:00 PM   #9
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It depends. When I used to go to Go Chicken Go, I took my life in my hands. But for the best gizzards in the universe, a small sacrifice.

It's mainly about what we feel like. If we want Thai food I'm probably going there.

Now if it's the first couple visits, reviews matter. I frequently review on Trip Advisor and use it to check out places.

Give me a bad meal somewhere and it will be broadcast. I recently did that to a local place we did love. They changed chef's and, down hill. The owner and I emailed a couple of times, but I'm not satisfied with his answer. I'll go back once more, after the tourists go home, they tend to appreciate the local business more.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:04 PM   #10
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I really do not have this in my list, but thinking about it for a bit... the ability to actually not have to wait is big in my thinking....

After that... it is the type of food, then for me value,
You hit the nail on the head. And like you, the waiting is so ingrained, I don't even think about it.

Value and type of food go back and forth, depending why we are going out.

When we go out, I typically want something DW and I can't cook as well at home (or easily for two): Ethnic (Mexican, Chinese, Greek), or Prime rib.

And while we prefer local places over chains, when we just don't feel like cooking, there is a TGI Friday's less than a quarter mile away (But won't go there during busy times due to the wait!).

We also have a really good Greek place 1/2 mile away with a great Early Bird menu (before 6:30, so not so bad). Last time we went, DW had Fish, I had a Gyro platter, Salad or soup each, a glass of wine each, and baklava. $47 including tax and (a generous) tip.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:17 PM   #11
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We have our "go-to" places for certain types of food... Chinese, Mexican, Italian, seafood, breakfast, sushi, pizza, etc. But I also use Yelp and Google reviews to discover new places and especially when traveling.

Value is important. But we still go to some very pricey places if there's a clear correlation to the quality of the food and service. For example, we have a local sushi place that has just 2 employees, the chef and a server. They only seat 10 people at the bar and have 2 sittings per night, 5 nights/week. Reservations have to be made months ahead. We can't get out of there for less than $150/person. But the whole experience is so amazing that it's worth twice that price.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:18 PM   #12
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Over time I have started to become less concerned about the food and more concerned about the atmosphere. A window seat overlooking the Bay wins over a white table cloth and exotic chef.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:42 PM   #13
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We prefer New Orleans Creole/Italian food which is what most restaurants here serve. But we also sometimes like Chinese or other nationalities for variety. No national chain restaurants!!!

New Orleans is a tourist town and let's face it, our main draw is New Orleans cuisine. So, there's a lot of money involved, and huge motivation to provide fake info about restaurants on review websites like Yelp. We would never choose a restaurant in New Orleans based on Yelp reviews because the reviews are fake, laughable, and just flat out crazy insane. On the other hand, we would very likely try a place that friends or relatives recommend. Sometimes we just try a place because it looks like the kind of place we might like and is run by a local family with a reputation to uphold.

We choose restaurants that have been in business for at least 5-10 years. Competition here is cut-throat, so usually in 5-10 years the really bad ones are weeded out. The restaurants we choose are always within 5 miles of home, and usually within 2 miles of home.

Price is very important to us. So far this year, my lunches (including tax and tip, and everything) have ranged from $5-$18 and have averaged around $8-$9. That is more than I have reported in prior years, but food prices have been going up around here.

The menu must serve healthy, nutritious food, not just junk food or food loaded with butter and salt. And, the food has to be absolutely delicious even so. Good nutrition is very important to us, since we eat at restaurants so often.

We don't care about atmosphere or cachet. A run down hole in the wall is fine for us since we are usually paying more attention to each other and the food, than to our surroundings.
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:53 PM   #14
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It depends. When I used to go to Go Chicken Go, I took my life in my hands. But for the best gizzards in the universe, a small sacrifice.
Street crime outside the door?

Ha
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Old 09-09-2017, 03:56 PM   #15
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We don't care about atmosphere or cachet. A run down hole in the wall is fine for us since we are usually paying more attention to each other and the food, than to our surroundings.
+1 Oops, +2, DW says "I like her".
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Old 09-09-2017, 04:11 PM   #16
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+1 Oops, +2, DW says "I like her".
Thanks, and tell her thanks, too!
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Old 09-09-2017, 04:46 PM   #17
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Street crime outside the door?

Ha
In one location.

In the other we sat down to eat, noticed a dozen .40 holes in the big windows. We all got up and left. In hindsight it was probably a bunch of late-night gangbangers driving around shooting stuff, but kinda scary!

If you knew the neighborhood in either area, you were OK. One location I could come and go, driving to eat on the bluffs above the Missouri river (KCMO, you see the area in many KC photos or on MNF with The Scout statue).

I knew my way around one, the second location scared me. Probably shouldn't have, hospital and university in the area. Unfortunately a few blocks away it wasn't good.
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Old 09-09-2017, 05:00 PM   #18
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Since we now are raising a 6 year old grandaughter, we have to cater to her needs.

We really eat out very little, and it's budget restaurants 90% of when we eat out.

My wife worked at Krystal when she was a teenager, and she just loves those little burgers. Captain D's is another great value. But we eat much healthier at home.
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Old 09-09-2017, 05:27 PM   #19
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Atmosphere is nice but not necessary. We care about the taste and value.
However, we made the mistake eating out at an upscale place last week. We went a highly rated restaurant (from Google Review) named Ruth's Chris Steak House in North Chicago. While the food was good, the price was outrageous. DD and I shared a 20-oz ribeye steak cost $56 with no sidings. Messed potato is $10 extra. DW ordered a 2.7lb+ Maine lobster @ $30/lb. We also had a couple of beers and soft drinks. The bill was over $200.
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Old 09-09-2017, 06:02 PM   #20
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Atmosphere is nice but not necessary. We care about the taste and value.
However, we made the mistake eating out at an upscale place last week. We went a highly rated restaurant (from Google Review) named Ruth's Chris Steak House in North Chicago. While the food was good, the price was outrageous. DD and I shared a 20-oz ribeye steak cost $56 with no sidings. Messed potato is $10 extra. DW ordered a 2.7lb+ Maine lobster @ $30/lb. We also had a couple of beers and soft drinks. The bill was over $200.
Places like that are very nice, they do not offer good value. For those of us that arent used to spending exorbitant prices for a great steak, it is a shock to the system. Im glad the meal was good. Im scared to ask what they hosed you for a cocktail. Those are places that are for the special occasion or expense account folks.
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