Red Lodge = small tourist town, so its going to be overpriced as there's not so much competition. My wife and I have visited your little town a couple times. She was pissed when the menu indicated soba noodles and she was served ramen noodles.

There are outrageously priced restaurants in NYC, but there are also plenty of excellent and reasonably priced places in the area...fierce competition helps I think.

Tell me about it... wife and I stopped in a coffee shop in Pismo for breakfast... the bill was over $30, nothing fancy either... no lobster omelet, just basic eggs and bacon x2.

Since I entertain a lot on the road & at shows, for me, that ship sailed years ago. Yes, the prices have leapt up significantly over the last 10 years. A $35 steak is now $55 or $65. And ditto with all entrees. There is no way I would ever pay those prices on a regular basis out of my own pocket. I have eaten in more restaurants in NYC or LA or Vegas than I have in my own city. In fact, at shows we have started to rent villas for our group & cook ourselves – because it is better, cheaper & way more relaxed without having to endure the 2 – 3 hour restaurant ritual. Thankfully, cheaper good wine is easier to find now, because the renowned ones have followed the food prices up.

I know that I am seriously jaded but in general, restaurants suck.

Ian

PS – Motion – we leave tomorrow night for a couple of weeks of hardcore Kruger. :D

I find lunch very expensive compared to the quality of the food severed. Dinner is very pricey and I have a few restaurants I frequently visit. However, I'm pretty fussy where I go. I won't go to low to mid restaurant chains, fast food, pizza and I don't like bar food - it is just not food to me. Cooking is one of my hobbies - it is difficult to pay money for something I can make better.

LOL, there's no way in hell anyone in Red Lodge knows what soba noodles are!

Your trip is already here... enjoy!!! Hope this one can even surpass your last visit.

I'd be perfectly happy never eating in an "upscale" restaurant again.

It's just such a ripoff, usually for mediocre food and grossly overpriced drinks, in environments that all look the same after a while. Getting hit with some ridiculous bill is the final insult. Getting ripped off is just not appealing to me.

I'd much rather spend the money having people over to the house for food and drinks.

I'm ok with reasonably priced places. Still don't love it, but as long as there is some semblance of value there, it's ok.

Here's what set me off on this rant:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5805682b15d5db704f1e0a2f/t/584f08b3d1758ecd8dae8452/1481574579440/CoastalKitchen_DinnerMenu_REV25b.pdf

Was researching a local happy hour to take the Mrs. So, on the above menu, a sandwich and a glass of iced tea with tax and tip will set you back $28 per person. Nice.

Same here. VRBO apartment or house and eating in is cheaper even for two people. The old days of hotel rooms and restaurants are gone for our company.

Thanks, Richard. I have heard many people remark that Africa is different. Once it gets under your skin, nothing else compares. So far it's true with us.

Ian

IMHO the restaurants where I live suck and are expensive, I cook at home and enjoy what "I" cook.......I tip myself and don't drink.

IMO Denver is in a "restaurant bubble" right now. A middle-of-the road dinner for two with one drink each is automatically $100. $15 cheeseburgers everywhere.

We usually notice this when we are eating out 3 days a week. So....... whose fault is it?


Eating out is part of my larger theory to be explained later wherein "being able to pay for it" carries more social
value than "being able to do it." I don't think it's a new theory, but we are in a wild swing of it right now.

A local A2 joint here, Blimpy Burger, lost their 50+ year lease home to something involving the UofM flexing their muscle.
"cheap student grub" was always the flag bearing standard.
the moto.

They moved to another location downtown.
I waited in line as usual, bought a burger with onion rings and drink, and it was $18.
$18. For a burger meal.

No.
Never again.

My wife and I have this 'discussion' all the time.. She prefers to eat out at mid level places at least 3-4 times a week, whereas I'm just as happy eating at home or stopping by Del Taco for $5.00..

I have a few budget "go-to's":

2 spicy potato tacos at Taco Bell for $2 plus tax. That's a great lunch for me.

A chicken bowl with 3 flower tortillas at Chipotle for $6.70. Its 1,000 calories, but it serves me for both lunch and dinner.

I dumpster dive for El Pollo Loco $5 deal coupons. I can get a nice salad and a Coke for $5. Ya, I know the Coke is evil.

Costco for a chicken caesar salad - $3.99.

We have a nice local sushi restaurant called Good Choice. The Mrs and I can eat there and get stuffed (no wine) for about $25. That's pretty solid.

I use Yelp and filter for one $ sign. If I am on vacation, I will spring for $$. 3 and up is reserved for anniversaries and foreign visitors.

Never in a million years would I pay to go to a place like that.

Typical low value, "trendy" paint-by-numbers place that'll likely be gone within 5 years.

Location! That's top notch fresh steak dinner territory around here. My wife and I aren't fancy people but like good food, we can do a good dinner and drinks in a local dive for $60 or so.

I go out to lunch with my parents every week or two. If it is up to me, we go to the Chinese place a friend of mine from high school owns. It is recipes his mother taught him. That is about the only time I go out to eat.

In the last 30 years I have been sick perhaps a half dozen times. Worst was food poisoning I got at the cafeteria in the college dorms, felt like I was going to die and afraid it would take to long to do me in, lost 20 pounds in a week. About 5 years later, got the flu shot and was sick for 3 days, last time I ever got a flu shot. Since that time, the only times I have been sick is from going out to eat.

I have gone out to eat dinner for the monthly podiatry association meetings occasionally. Generally not impressed with the quality of the food or service, even at ostensibly top tier places. One time I got a piece of chicken that was literally raw in the middle. I wrote a letter to the executive chef about it, never heard anything back from him at all.

My wife and I both can cook pretty well. Don't eat out unless I am travelling.

Best steak I ever had in my life was in a little place in Melbeta, Nebraska, The Flame Lounge

Morton's, bah

True that you get more thrifty as you get older. When I took my H.S. girlfriend out to one of the nicer places on prom night (1960), I paid around $2.50/$2.75 each for our meals. From that perspective, paying $14 for a restaurant cheeseburger now days is kind of an insult. I realize things have gone up during the ensuing time period, but I look at that cheeseburger and remember the difference in price from then to now. It's easy for us to go out for meals when it's convenient, but if you let yourself get in that habit, the cost can get pretty ridiculous. As I get older, I find myself being torn between the cost of it and the attitude of "what the hell, I'm old and can afford it."