Poll:Restaurant Meal Upper Guideline (NOT special occasion)

[Teacher Terry]

Marko, your parents must have made a lot of money to be able to afford that. Growing up we never ate out. When TV dinners came out my mom served them once/week for a break. Otherwise she was a awesome cook. I am the youngest and at age 12 she went back to work. Every Friday we got to go to the local bar for a fish fry. She was making her own money so my dad had no say in the matter. That was a big deal for us kids. Some of the amounts people spend blow my mind but I realize COL varies. I love eating out.

 

[Helena]

I possibly participated in the poll under false pretenses - we (almost) never eat out, (and never say 'dine'), and regard being waited on as an intrusion and a bit of a PITA.

However, like many things, it's sometimes unavoidable, but if necessary we pay as little as possible.

lol

Wow, I consider $20 per person when dining out a splurge and special occasion. Of course, when we travel, many times it can run that high or higher, but week to week, very rare to break $15 per person. Helps that we don't drink anything but water and never order desert (seldom even have one with dinner at home!).

Me too. Fortunately, that's $15-$20 just for food.

I don't drink [alcohol or anything else] while I "dine."


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[marko]

Marko, your parents must have made a lot of money to be able to afford that. Growing up we never ate out. .

It was either that or starve to death!

But not every night was formal dining...sometimes it was something like Pancake House or the local diner.

Even now though, when I suggest to mom that I cook for her instead of taking her out, she acquiesces but I can tell she's only humoring me. She'd much rather go out and meet her friends: the bartenders and waitresses.

 

[marko]

and regard being waited on as an intrusion and a bit of a PITA.

A bit off topic, but as noted above, my mom (age 89) eats out every day, is very outgoing and tips well.

When I go out with her to dinner, it's like eating with a celebrity: you can't take two bites without a waiter, waitress, bartender, owner, maitre'd, floor manager or another patron coming over to the table to chat.

She loves it and it's her 'entertainment' but I find it very annoying (but that's what my good stiff martini is for I suppose)

 

[Midpack]

I was tempted to poll what’s the highest tab per person you’ve ever spent including special occasions but excluding business meals. Our highest bill wasn’t a special occasion, but it was years ago, I can’t imagine what that place costs these days. But our top is obscene even to us - and I’m sure there are others here who aren’t anxious to disclose.

 

[kaudrey]

Unless you are at some really upscale place it's hard to spend a hundred bucks / person even with drinks.

That said I would do it w/o a thought if the items were something I wanted.

Not in DC! I put $50 pp because a $40 bottle of wine gets you there easily, even if dinner is $20 pp.

 

[kaudrey]

I was tempted to poll what’s the highest tab per person you’ve ever spent including special occasions but excluding business meals. Our highest bill wasn’t a special occasion, but it was years ago, I can’t imagine what that place costs these days. But our top is ludicrous - and I’m sure there are others here who aren’t anxious to disclose.

I was thinking that too as I was reading through this. If you post it, I'll answer there!

 

[Midpack]

I was thinking that too as I was reading through this. If you post it, I'll answer there!

Why don’t you start that thread and or poll? I’d only answer an anonymous poll.

And I think you’d have to exclude all business dinners, I’ve been to one that was $12,000 for 12 people, mostly very expensive wines to impress NYC JV financiers. Even then, some posters will inevitably mix personal and business examples...

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't really distinguish between a special occasion and a regular night out because for me simply going out to eat is more or less a special occasion, something I do about 9 times per year. Either way, it costs in the $20-$25 range per person for me and my dining companion, so I answered "up to $30" because it was the best answer for me.

 

[audreyh1]

We can’t drink a bottle of wine between us at a meal. It takes at least two meals, and more typically three at home.

I saw couples routinely ordering and drinking a bottle of wine at a meal in France. Tourists and locals alike. I was amazed. At most I might have a light aperitif and a glass of wine with my meal.

That’s the main reason we don’t order bottles of wine at restaurants besides the huge markup. I also have a very nice wine collection at home, so I’m rarely turned on by the wine list.

 

[Bamaman]

We usually only eat out once per week, and that's taking the grandkids with us after church on Sunday. They just love Captain D's and their $4.99 menu. They also love Applebee's where we get the 2 for $20 meal and the kids eat off the $5.98 kids menu. We too have quit drinking alcohol, and usually drink water when eating out.

After 36 years of eating on the company expense account and travel, I no longer care to eat out very often. It's nice to be married to a supreme Southern cook who considers her meals to be her artistry. And I can also hold my own in the kitchen. We seldom are in the kitchen longer than 30 minutes, and we grill outside year round.

We often think of a friend that made food too much of his life. While I retired at 58, Fred's going to be doing good to retire at 70 because of eating out too often in too expensive of restaurants.

 

[Chuckanut]

I generally go out to eat for one of three reasons.

1. Traveling away from home and hungry - much less than $20 a person.
2. Social interaction with friends - $20 - $30
3. Eat something I enjoy but would never make at home - $40 -$50 per person. This does not happen often.

 

[RobbieB]

Yesterday we delivered DD to UCLA. On the way home we stopped at Harris Ranch and had a couple steaks, soup and salad a baked potato, 2 martinis and 2 glasses of wine.

$180. Worth every penny -

 

[Scuba]

We can’t drink a bottle of wine between us at a meal. It takes at least two meals, and more typically three at home.

I saw couples routinely ordering and drinking a bottle of wine at a meal in France. Tourists and locals alike. I was amazed. At most I might have a light aperitif and a glass of wine with my meal.

That’s the main reason we don’t order bottles of wine at restaurants besides the huge markup. I also have a very nice wine collection at home, so I’m rarely turned on by the wine list.

We have no problem drinking a bottle of wine between us, although we have cut back and don’t do it as often as we used to since we’re trying to manage our weight. The 500 ml house wines have been working well for us in Greece.

 

[Badger]

Lots of restaurants in our 1million+ population city but 95+% are Mom&Pop or chain restaurants. I have not been impressed with the value of most of them even at their lower prices. We go just a few times a month for convenience more than for a dining experience.



A good selection of "fresh off the boat" local seafood (fish, crabs, and shrimp) to add to the readily available fresh salmon that is shipped in makes for excellent meals at home for less than half the cost of eating out. If we want beef then the 1.5 inch steaks at Costco cooked on the grill along with fresh veggies from the garden is about half that of a restaurant and as good or better than what we get eating out. After that we enjoy preparing a variety of Italian (I had a Sicilian MIL teach me) and Cajun recipes that we prefer to restaurants.



Baking I leave to bakers. I know when I'm out of my element.


Cheers!

 

[Teacher Terry]

For us going out to eat twice a week is totally worth it. I enjoy the food and the experience. So nice not to have to cook and we usually bring half home so another day with no cooking.

 

[48Fire]

Just cast my vote at $75 based on tonight's meal. Next week is our anniversary, so "special occasion". We may top that

 

[nash031]

$50-60 for a regular weeknight meal for us, usually includes wine. We go a lot higher for special occasions. We like to eat out and go big when we rarely do these days.