Anyone Else Soured on Dining Out?

[Rocket Man]

I am from the Midwest. Many years ago, there was a bar/restaurant in a nearby small town that served fabulous deep fried catfish on Friday nights. You could also order catfish sandwiches. My friends and I ate there on many a Friday night. It was some of the best fish I ever had, of any variety. Like most fish, it all depends on how well the fish is cooked. The owners of that bar retired years ago. I have ordered catfish other places over the years. Some overcooked, some greasy and some fairly good. But none as good as that old time bar!

 

[mickj]

It sounds like your experience dining out at the restaurant was not as enjoyable as you had hoped. The pandemic has certainly had a major impact on the restaurant industry, with staffing shortages and other challenges leading to changes in service and other aspects of the dining experience. These changes may have made the experience more difficult for you, such as the uncomfortable chairs and long delays.

I can relate to this experience. Recently, I went to a restaurant that I used to enjoy, but the service was slow and the food was not as good as I remembered. I found myself thinking that it would have been better to just get takeout and eat at home. It can be disappointing when our expectations for a dining experience are not met, especially when we are used to a certain level of service and quality.

In the end, it is up to you to decide whether dining out is worth the potential challenges or whether you would prefer to eat at home. Many people are finding that takeout and delivery options are a more convenient and enjoyable way to enjoy restaurant food, and these options may be worth considering if you are not happy with the experience of dining out.

 

[NW-Bound]

I will be taking a party of 8 to a decent restaurant next weekend for a special occasion. Will see if the bill exceeds $100/head, and if I think it's worth it.

Better CC: this post over on BTD! Let us know how it goes.

Just came back from a 3-hour dinner. $909 for 8, after tax and tip.

6 had beef wellington, special of the day, made to order. Most had 2 drinks, a cocktail then wine. We all ordered 2 courses, then the head waiter gave us each a complimentary dessert.

It was OK. We had a good time.


PS. The restaurant was full. There was a long line at the valet parking. I did not want to wait, so I parked the car myself.

 

[Scuba]

Just came back from a 3-hour dinner. $909 for 8, after tax and tip.

6 had beef wellington, special of the day, made to order. Most had 2 drinks, a cocktail then wine. We all ordered 2 courses, then the head waiter gave us each a complimentary dessert.

It was OK. We had a good time.


PS. The restaurant was full. There was a long line at the valet parking. I did not want to wait, so I parked the car myself.

Sounds like a pretty good value for that quality of meal.

 

[RobbieB]

I love catfish. Deep fried, pan fried, blackened or cut up in gumbo. Pearly white, tender and flaky with a unique flavor.

 

[jcfradio]

I love catfish. Deep fried, pan fried, blackened or cut up in gumbo. Pearly white, tender and flaky with a unique flavor.

Count me in for the catfish loving side. DW doesn't care for them, so that in combination with the fact that it is hard to find un seasoned catfish north of the border, means that I don't get them very often.

A few years ago, I was in the Evansville, IN area and had their regional specialty, catfish fiddlers. It was a headless and gutted catfish that was deep fried whole. Quite tasty.

 

[TripleLindy]

Having grown up in Texas, I also love catfish, primarily fried, but have also had good blackened catfish. We had a Thanksgiving celebration with my wife’s family and my BIL deep fried a batch. It was outstanding!

But I never knew what I was missing until I had a fried walleye sandwich with cheese curds after a round of golf in Hudson, WI. Served with an ice cold Spotted Cow. Cue the Homer Simpson drool….

 

[NW-Bound]

Sounds like a pretty good value for that quality of meal.

Well, we recently had comparable meals at European restaurants for less, sometimes much less.

This is a French restaurant we started to visit perhaps 15 years ago. They used to have prix fixed meals for a nice price. The last time we came here was in 2019. I often wondered if they survived the COVID shutdown period.

I am glad to see that they are still open, but boy, the price has increased so much. Yes, I knew about inflation, but was still not prepared to see duck confit for $50. Add a salad for $15, and a couple of drinks for $10-15 each, then tax and tip on top of that, and it gets expensive fast. No dessert yet.

Anyway, I was also surprised to see the place full. Either people don't care about BTD, or like us they are making up for more than 2 years being cooped up at home.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Other than when traveling, we finally ate in an indoor restaurant about a week ago. A local Indian restaurant had recently changed ownership. Previously we had enjoyed their good. When we ordered takeout during the pandemic, we were highly disappointed in the quality, not enough spice, which is nuts for Indian food.

We went on a Sunday night and there was absolutely on one there.

The new owners were Nepali, and had added Nepali dishes to the menu. The waiter explained some of the new items and the service was impeccable, The food? Superb and reasonably priced.

We’ll go back soon. Especially on quiet nights.

 

[tutan]

Indian restaurants here used to serve lunch buffet before the pandemic but they are hard to find now. We used to go quite regularly.

 

[RobbieB]

We have a total of one (1) fine dining restaurant in town and yeah, you are going to open your wallet when you go there. For the two of us the bill (with tax and tip) is $150 minimum. Usually between that and $200. There are no drinks under $10. That said when you order a Saphire Martini, you won't be disappointed even though it's $15.

You never ever delete the fried calamari appetizer because it's the best you ever had.

Yeah, it's worth it. But we don't go often, maybe 4 times a year. Special occasions and celebrations, friends you haven't seen in years, anniversaries, graduations, yeah you know -

 

[disneysteve]

Shrinkflation reared its ugly head today. My wife had a free entree from a casual Mediterranean place we like for her birthday. I went over there to pick up lunch. It's probably been a year since we were last there. Of course, the price had gone up a dollar or two. I'm fine with that. But the portion size was considerably smaller. Normally, a bowl from there would be two meals for me. Now it was barely one.


I wish they would keep everything the same - serving sizes, package sizes - and just raise the price to whatever it needs to be to cover that. That would be far less annoying than going in expecting one thing and getting only 2/3 of that.

 

[Midpack]

I wish they would keep everything the same - serving sizes, package sizes - and just raise the price to whatever it needs to be to cover that. That would be far less annoying than going in expecting one thing and getting only 2/3 of that.

I agree with you, but most people notice a price increase long before they notice a quantity change. So merchants reduce servings/package size, and raise prices if necessary, because it's more effective with most customers. The ones that bother me are same size package with fewer ounces of product inside, but merchants are just trying to avoid upsetting customers. Caveat emptor.

Customers may not notice what are effectively price increases, John Gourville, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. "We found that consumers reacted greatly to periodic changes in price, but not at all to periodic (yet systematic) reductions in quantity," Gourville said in an interview back in 2004.

Some companies disguise shrinkflation with a package redesign, according to Gourville, like adding dents to the bottom of bottles or touting claims of "lower calories."

A Gatorade representative told Quartz in March that the company redesigned its bottles to be "more aerodynamic" and "easier to grab." It also happened to reduce the amount of Gatorade in the container from 32 to 28 ounces.

 

[FreeBear]

Indian restaurants here used to serve lunch buffet before the pandemic but they are hard to find now. We used to go quite regularly.

We’re lucky, we’ve got one 25 minutes away. We go almost every week. Can sit outside most of the year and enjoy a view of the mountains. Buffet is 14 bucks plus tax. Food is very good, esp for a buffet and it’s a nice mom & pop place.

 

[Koolau]

Shrinkflation reared its ugly head today. My wife had a free entree from a casual Mediterranean place we like for her birthday. I went over there to pick up lunch. It's probably been a year since we were last there. Of course, the price had gone up a dollar or two. I'm fine with that. But the portion size was considerably smaller. Normally, a bowl from there would be two meals for me. Now it was barely one.


I wish they would keep everything the same - serving sizes, package sizes - and just raise the price to whatever it needs to be to cover that. That would be far less annoying than going in expecting one thing and getting only 2/3 of that.

I'm with you. I hate shrinkflation. How dishonest! Charge what you want but don't try to fool me! YMMV

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Unfortunately for us "They" know 80% of us are perfectly foolable and risk upsetting the 15% to further line their pocketbooks, and they also know 5% don't care. Same with less in packages at the store. Only 15% read the labels and act accordingly. It is the way of things.

 

[Pellice]

Plus, many recipes used, e.g. "a 16 oz. can of kidney beans," and now have to be reconsidered due to shrinkflation.

 

[ncbill]

Plus, many recipes used, e.g. "a 16 oz. can of kidney beans," and now have to be reconsidered due to shrinkflation.

Yeah, that can is now 14 oz. if you're lucky, and 12 oz. if you're not.

 

[JoeWras]

Don't get me started on my sister's attempt to use mom's "carton of ice cream" recipe. This is an old shrinkflation problem.

 

[explanade]

I searched for Indian buffets around my area after people raved about them here.

I remember going to one for a lunch work function that the department picked up.

They're $25-30 per person here and people complain about not enough entrees.

 

[W2R]

I wish they would keep everything the same - serving sizes, package sizes - and just raise the price to whatever it needs to be to cover that. That would be far less annoying than going in expecting one thing and getting only 2/3 of that.

One of our favorite restaurants has started offering certain dishes at the original price, with cheaper ingredients substituted, or with the original ingredients at a higher price. I think that's great, although it must be a pain in the rear for them to have two prices for everything like that.

BUT.... today at a different restaurant we went through an experience similar to yours. We planned to get two of their giant overstuffed double-decker club sandwiches to go. We were each going to have one, to eat for both lunch and dinner over two days. But when he picked them up, the price had gone down from $14 to $10. They were no longer big, overstuffed, or double-decker, and no cheese in them any more either. So, they'll do for lunch and dinner today, but we will need to figure out something else for tomorrow since we don't want to go out again in this colder weather.

I see home made canned tuna sandwiches on the horizon...

 

[John Galt III]

Unfortunately for us "They" know 80% of us are perfectly foolable and risk upsetting the 15% to further line their pocketbooks, and they also know 5% don't care. Same with less in packages at the store. Only 15% read the labels and act accordingly. It is the way of things.

I think the 'dont care' crowd must be increasing. Folks who have more $ than they need, and just buy anything without caring very much about price. Who else would be buying these $84 cases of beer I saw today, lol ?

 

[Koolau]

I think the 'dont care' crowd must be increasing. Folks who have more $ than they need, and just buy anything without caring very much about price. Who else would be buying these $84 cases of beer I saw today, lol ?

Heh, heh, I cut my Diet Pepsi habit in half when Costco raised their prices to $17 for a 36 pack. 2 years ago, it was $10.50. Can't imagine any beer worth $84/case! YMMV

 

[explanade]

Article on the shortages of restaurant workers since the pandemic. Piece profiles several restaurant workers who were laid off in 2020 and found other jobs and haven't looked back since.

Read in The Washington Post: https://apple.news/AyHKZU5WzR-uMii-ydQS9cg

As a result, restaurants have had to raise wages. Yet still shortages of workers.

Nearly three years since the coronavirus pandemic upended the labor market, restaurants, bars, hotels and casinos remain short-staffed, with nearly 2 million unfilled openings. The leisure and hospitality industry, which before the pandemic accounted for much of the country’s job growth, is still short roughly 500,000 employees from 2020 levels, even as many other sectors have recovered.

There's been an overall shortage of workers. The article mentions a lot of people in their mid '50s retiring early and people shifting away from jobs which require a lot of person-to-person contact.

Hospitality industry has been among the hardest hit by labor shortages, leading to high price increases.

The movement of workers away from hospitality jobs is playing a role in the economy’s broader inflationary problems. Pressure to attract workers has driven up wages in the industry — by 23 percent in the past three years, more than in any other sector — complicating the Federal Reserve’s task of containing inflation. Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell this week flagged service-sector inflation, as a result of higher wages, which are compounded by costlier food and gas, as a particular concern for the central bank.

“Clearly labor is important for restaurants, but so are food prices,” Powell said in a Wednesday news conference following the Fed’s latest interest rate increase. “There are lots of things in that mix that will drive inflation. I would say overall, though … you’re not going to have a sustainable return to 2 percent inflation in [the service] sector without a better balance in the labor market.”

 

[athena53]

Of course, the price had gone up a dollar or two. I'm fine with that. But the portion size was considerably smaller. Normally, a bowl from there would be two meals for me. Now it was barely one.

The irony is that restaurant meals have been over-sized for years. Sure, you can take some home but some things don't reheat well (fish, French fries) and if you're traveling and don't have cold storage whatever you don't eat gets thrown out. And then there are people who just eat more than they need because there's still food on the plate- not healthy. Since they got more money for a little more food with little or no extra expense for serving, preparation, utilities, rent, etc., they had an incentive to keep portions bigger.

They had "senior menus" and "kids' menus" with smaller portions at reduced prices, but with age restrictions and sometimes restricted to off-peak hours for senior meals.

Now they're finally restricting portion sizes to something reasonable for one meal- but we don't have any choice.