Restaurants getting harder based on reviews

[Shaun @ Tru6]

We go out to eat Friday and/or Saturday typically and have our regular places. Looking for something new on TripAdvisor, Yelp and Google just now, there's a theme of "used to be good" and "more expensive but smaller portions".

Our regular places that hasn't happened though the brewpub we love has had the most amazing burgers you can imagine. Last one a few weeks ago they clearly stopped getting the prime ground beef we've been accustomed to. Going to try again soon to see if it was a one off, hope so.

Anything good for your dinner tonight?

[Evans, Marv]

We've been eating more at home for some time now. Like you said, everyplace has had soaring prices and dimiishing portions. W've gotten so we've pretty drastically cut down on eating out. Part of ther reason is it's borderline insulting to be taken at the current prices. We have a favorite place we still go (Jewish themed deli/restaurant/bakery) once in a while, but it's the same story. I love their Rubin sandwiches with potato salad. I remember when the price was $7.99 (of course that was a long time ago), and now it's $23.99. I also love their eclairs that have gone from $3.99 to $9.99. The amazing thing is that the place is frequently jammed. Lots of the patrons are older - like 70s & 80s. I always thought lots of them had to really watch their budgets.

[Crowbob]

The 70-80 year-olds have all the money.

[Scott Douglas]

We haven't eaten out in a long, long time. Tonight we'll be having salmon I cooked yesterday before the weather changed. At @$28 for two large center cut pieces it'll give us about 5-6 meals. Last nights dinner it was good and I expect the same for tonight.
I do have a $10 gift card sitting here on my desk to In 'n Out but I kind of doubt if that'll even get me a decent meal now days.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Much like you we typically go out Friday and/or Saturday night and have our usual rotation. Wichita has a good selection of restaurants (not much else to do here!) but we obviously have our favorites. Also several that are reserved for special occasions due to cost. I feel like prices have definitely gone up but quality and service have generally stayed the same, at least at our regular joints. I don’t like it but also acknowledge that the price for almost everything has gone up, and restaurants have to make money too.

Tonight we are going to Wine Dive, a locally owned joint with a great drink menu, diverse menu, and reasonable prices.

[jyl]

I have a small circuit of places I go to, and they are mostly pretty low end.
- The Oxacan place near my house, they are super nice, totally authentic, and trying to get established, so I support them a lot. Taco $4.75, sope $4.00, burrito $12.
- An inexpensive but good sushi place, no frills but the fish is fresh and well prepared. Usually about $15-20 a head.
- A neighborhood Italian place near my house, excellent food, a bit nicer than my usual. Entrees $16-23.
- A Cuban place near my house, been going there 20 years. Entrees $16-20.
- A dim sum place, the best in Portland, which isn’t saying much to be honest, but it’s good and the ratio of Asians to others is acceptable. Usually end up around $20/head but we’re stuffed.
- A dive bar near my house, also been going there 20 years. Burger $12 which feels like a lot but these days it actually isn’t.
- A brewery near my house, here the food is a bit overpriced but I like the beer. Burger $16.

The theme “near my house” is recurrent. I don’t like going far to eat, and try to support my neighborhood shops.

I probably eat out once a week, maybe twice.

The cost of eating out is definitely becoming a deterrent. A buddy and I went to lunch, a place near our offices, nothing special - I think a big caesar salad with chicken, a meatball sub, two beers - ‘twas like $45 after tip. Yeah I can afford it but I increasingly don’t want to.

[berettafan]

The more I learn to cook the less I can tolerate from restaurants. I don't mind smaller portions at all and prefer that to price increases if I have a choice.

[vash]

I prefer smaller doses.

[Evans, Marv]

Wife & I met some friends of ours son down at the Mariotte Wednesday late afternoon. He was in town from Switzerland for a conference. We went to a casual restaurant on the ground floor to visit and have something to drink and munch on. Our beers were $14, my wife's drink was $20, and a smallish charcuterie plate was $25. I did'nt consider that too awfully out of range for the place. He was telling me some of the fairly regular rooms there were going for $1,000/night.

[john70t]

Big pressures on restaurants still..First shutdowns. Then inflation. Then supply chain. Then loss of customers with discretionary income.

If they are busy, hopefully they are doing well enough.

If not, and you want them around, order on off-peak times.
There are a few which still cook far better than chez johns. I don't even look at the bill.

[Brian 162]

We go to a diner themed restaurant for breakfast every Sunday. It costs around $50 with tip. A little pricey but the staff/owner knows us and we get good service.
We went to a chain steak house for dinner tonight, the bill was $183 before the tip. The same meal a few years ago at the same restaurant was around $120. Luckily tonight we had a gift card for $150. It’s usually my birthday dinner place.
We do go out maybe once a week for dinner, but we only spend $100 max.

[rockfan4]

The wife and I went to a fancy restaurant last week. Only had to sit through a 2 hour spiel on annuities. The food was meh, but the restaurant is closing up next month and maybe they don't care. Closing after 20 years or so of business. The same owner just sold another hotel and restaurant he owned down the street. Says he's getting out of the restaurant business, which admittedly was a side project for him.

Seems like we're on some list, and so we end up getting invited a few times a year to listen to sales pitches for annuities, home improvement, neuropathy, stuff like that. We'll maybe go a couple of times. They haven't convinced me to buy anything yet. The dinners are usually good.

[GH85Carrera]

We get the invitations to a meal to listen to sales pitch things I have zero interest in. I just toss them in the trash. Two hours of my time is more valuable than the "free" meal.

My wife and I go out for dinner every Friday night, and Sunday morning for breakfast. Last night was a Mexican food place that used to be a short wait if you got there at 4:30, and a long wait at 5:00. They sold, and the new owner tired to use cheaper ingredients and changed the menu, and it was just not as good. Soon you could go at prime time and get right in. The new owner must have slapped his forehead and he went back to the old menu, and suppliers, just as Covid hit.

He struggled for a couple of years, but I guess word of mouth got around that the quality was back to the old ways. It was packed last night as we left, and we got there at 5:15.

The cost of eating out is just high. Most places serve so much food we have leftovers for most meals. $50 to $60 is average, prime rib may push it to $90. If we have 4 meals out of that, it is not so bad.

Since Covid, all the restaurants that used to be packed are way less busy because of the much higher prices of food. Our favorite BBQ place is still great, but two sliced brisket dinners can be 50 bucks. It used to be $25 for the two of us.

Chick-fil-A seems to be the one place that is always busy. Always busy, but they know how to keep the line moving.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by rockfan4

The wife and I went to a fancy restaurant last week. Only had to sit through a 2 hour spiel on annuities.

How many people show up at those things? I've always wondered.

i'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest you're not really getting the same meal you may have received as a conventional customer.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I should add that I've started writing more reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp. A friend of my gf recommended an Italian place and we went a week ago. Like our regulars, they did pretty much everything right with one small exception. The review I posted below, it was a really nice night. I have also noticed a lot of restaurants responding to negative reviews, thanking for positive ones, so many are reading them, I don't think they can afford not to and find it useful to know what they did right and wrong.


First, our server Kelsea was great! She was very accommodating with wine tasting for my girlfriend, friendly, attentive, got our special request for fries extra done crispy (not always done when asked for at other restaurants), got us requested bread & butter for the leftover Fra Diavolo sauce and was all around very pleasant. She helped make the night a really good time out.

My gf and I split the Fra Diavalo and the Burger. The Fra Diavolo as excellent in terms of taste, al dente buccatini (serious chew) and the seafood. What we didn't understand was why we got so little pasta in the dish. To be honest, it seemed like we got half an order of the buccatini which was a shame since the shellfish was great, sauce was great and again, pasta cooked perfectly. We will make sure to ask for more when we return. The focaccia and butter to mop up the remaining sauce at the end was phenomenal. We will probably try to order meatballs, sauce and bread & butter next time. It should be on the menu.

The burger was also excellent. The burger itself was extremely tasty, I hope they don't move to cheaper beef due to rising prices. Add a dollar if you need to.

Overall, a great night. I will say I think the deserts are a little pricey. We really wanted the baked Alaska but $14 seemed a little high. At $12 we would have ordered it. A mental thing I guess since the overall meal we thought was worth every penny.


We ordered:
Fra Diavolo $32
Wagyu Burger $22
Glass of red $12

$66 + $20 tip so just under $90

Given the quality of the food and service, we were happy with that. That our server cared about us was a big part. Leftover half burger and truffle fries was a good lunch next day.

[vash]

wife and I are minimum $60 every time we go out. getting stupid.

Sunday was "noodle Sunday" for us. we hit the best place. price creep for two bowls of noodle soup and a fish cake appetizer = $60. stupid.

we dialed it back to 3x per year. anyone thinking the economy is kickingass gets paid more than I do.

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by Gogar

How many people show up at those things? I've always wondered.

i'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest you're not really getting the same meal you may have received as a conventional customer.

They had 6 tables set up, 8 to a table. There were some empty spots, so let's say 44 people. They had the option of going on Tuesday or Thursday, so maybe a little over 80 total. They're probably happy with one sale and ecstatic with two.

I'm sure the food wasn't the same as their main fare, but you'd think they'd at least cook it properly. The steak was cold and the green beans weren't cooked enough.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by vash

wife and I are minimum $60 every time we go out. getting stupid.

Stupid indeed. We rarely order any alcohol when we go out. In fact, it's rare for us to drink anything but water, yet if we have anything beyond salads, burgers or sandwiches the final tally would often pay for half a week's grocery bill.

_

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by vash

wife and I are minimum $60 every time we go out. getting stupid.

Sunday was "noodle Sunday" for us. we hit the best place. price creep for two bowls of noodle soup and a fish cake appetizer = $60. stupid.

we dialed it back to 3x per year. anyone thinking the economy is kickingass gets paid more than I do.

That's high. We go to, what we consider, the best ramen shop in Boston. We've tried them all, could have done a YT thing. Anyway, 2 bowls of ramen is $34, we sometimes get takoyaki or chicken karaage as an app, $9 and $10. so $43/4. Usually get water, sometimes a beer or green tea but that tops out at $50 + tip. I always take home leftover broth and do a jammy yolk egg and 50 cent ramen package.

[stevej37]

Had this for lunch today. Chili Cheese Nachos w/Jalapenos....$8 for the food...$8 for the Beer. Very Good.
I eat at a restaurant, or bar/grille every day and sometimes twice. Sure, the price has gone up some...but not enough to affect my lifestyle.