Eating Out becoming a Luxury?

combat14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771905#Comment_121771905

just the clayton vertigo bar menu .. nothing fancy

about 21.50 -23.50 per burger

8.20 pint, 11/12 for gin

total: 70 for 2 mains, 2 drinks and small tip on a tuesday night

https://www.claytonhotelcardifflane.com/restaurants-bars/vertigo-bar/

mariaalice

I never understood why anyone orders steak at a restaurant unless it was somewhere like the Hawksmoor where it's all about steak, try something different that would be difficult to cook at home.

We went to a restaurant in town about 2 weeks ago, dinner and drinks €140, a nice meal and a nice evening the cheapest bottle of wine was €40 which is pricy for the cheapest bottle of wine we went for a cocktail afterward and it was €14 that I do consider a bit of a rip off as it wasn't a 5* hotel.

Viscount Aggro

I noticed the other day...

A delivery guy, having to deliver the following, in the wind and rain.

A bag with 4 donuts, from Offbeat donuts. Cost on the bag was 19.99

There are some real lazy ****wits out there.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773101#Comment_121773101

I will often order steak from a set menu with limited options and dont fancy the other options. Rarely from an a la carte though for the reasons you note.

mariaalice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773166#Comment_121773166

In the UK you can get a coffee delivered.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773166#Comment_121773166

Wait until you discover Amazon and eBay.

BraveDonut

Local boozer are doing a promotion on a lager that they are pushing - Ri Ra

Every week they rotate a main course where you get a free pint.

We had 2 cheese and bacon burgers and 2 pints for €32

This week, its fish and chips

forrestgeorge

The value is not there any longer, you feel like you are been ripped of paying the prices asked, I can afford it but have zero interest paying way over the odds to only feel like a mug, so now save the money i would have spent in Ireland and go all out on holidays abroad, the best of everything and still not as expensive as here, food and drink are better quality and you don't feel like you have been taken for a fool.

0ph0rce0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784757#Comment_121784757

The drink away is DIRT no matter how you fool yourself into thinking it is.

The rest I'll give ya😂

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784757#Comment_121784757

How would you get on with the wages paid in those countries here in Ireland? Just asking, so there is no hypocrisy (should be relatively easy to find a wage comparison for your profession in most countries).

I agree with above poster, a lot of the cheap beers abroad are piss, if that’s your thing, drive on.

dalyboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785219#Comment_121785219

I pay €1.50 per beer in Spain. ALL of them are complete piss.

I’ve just come back from Leipzig , average €2.10 for a chilled 1 litre bottle of their local beer in a hotel bar. Exceptional value along with quality product. Restaurant prices are about 40% cheaper than here.

Their wages are not much different to ours btw.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785692#Comment_121785692

This site puts a domestic beer in Leipzig at €8 per litre. Seems you got very good value

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Leipzig

Look, like it or not, restaurants/bars here operate in a high cost commercial environment where rents, rates, utilities, insurance, food, drinks (including VAT) etc mean that the customer pays more than abroad, if they were making so much profit, they wouldn’t be closing. And like it or not, a good proportion of the public are willing to pay the prices charged. This type of debate over goods and services goes on all the time, people want to pay less but be paid the same or more. Ce La vie.

McGrath5

Visited a well known pub in Stepaside yesterday at 2.30, the place was packed and we were told to come back at 6 if we want to order food (3 adults in the party).

Ended up in a nice spot in Terenure, €14.95 each for a delicious meal with great service.

JDD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787354#Comment_121787354

I know the spot you were talking about. Went there for Sunday lunch recently. I booked beforehand.

I had a fish pie, husband had a roast. Three kids had the kids meals - no starters had by anyone. The kids meals came with icecream for dessert. Husband had two pints, and we had four cokes. €130.

Hooked

Wife and I swapped the lazy chinese salt-ridden take aways for a Friday sit down meal last year. So now, on Fridays - we hit the local golf club for dinner and a pint, instead. We take turns on who gets the pint.

Lately they are doing a 10oz steak and a pint for 25 quid! So, at worst - the 2 of us are spending 50-60 quid (if we have an extra drink or split dessert and a coffee, or a starter instead). Fantastic value compared to the 40 quid we were spending on an MSG laden take away! Most meals are in the 16-18 quid bracket (It's Limerick FYI).

We definitely don't see it as a luxury. It's a Friday treat. And the service, food and banter is always top notch. A great way to start the weekend.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728329#Comment_121728329

I remember a little cafe in Chicago around the corner from where i was staying used to let me bring in my Lyons tea bag myself.

Id buy my sandwich and they would give me a cup of hot water and some milk for 50c.

I got him a 240 box of Lyons tea and a bottle of Jameson when i flew home one week for his kindness while i was there.

Grayson

Is anyone else only checking this thread occasionally to see how many likes the second response has? :D

forrestgeorge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785197#Comment_121785197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785219#Comment_121785219

These post have revealed a lot about you two, there is far better drink to be had abroad, unless of course you two have only been on package holidays to Spain?

Czech republic has beer that is nectar, Prague can be expensive , just like temple bar, but a hundred meters of the main tourist traps in bars the locals drink in you will bet a beer for a quid. Get further afield out to Pilsen, Pilsner Urquell fresh from the brewery is like mothers milk, yet again 1 to 2 euro depending if in regular bar or fancy dan bar😉, its only a short train ride from Pilsen to České Budějovice the home of "Real" Budweiser.

Why not go to Germany, pay top dollar, 2.50😁 for a beautiful beer, same bargains and magnificent beer to be had all over central and eastern Europe, Beer not your tipple, well fear not, there is a little know but magnificent wine scene going on over there as well, all cost buttons.

Granted the beer in Greece and Turkey is brutal, if you think beer is bad abroad get out of Spain, Portugal next door has Super Bock its lovely, usually on Sale in Lidl during the summer, pick up a box.

You can go abroad and get a weekend with flights , hotel and food and drink all for the price a meal and drinks in Ireland, that's reality, and these people banging on about lovely pints of Guinness only available in Ireland, you only drink it because its the cheapest in the pub, if larger was the same price no one would touch it, who the hell wants to be farting like a horse the next day? Your only fooling yourself in saying Guinness is the best drink, you know it, we all know it, you drink it because you are cheap.😂🤣

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773193#Comment_121773193

You can get a coffee delivered in Ireland too, I often see the Deliveroo guys bringing Starbucks to my neighbour in suburban Dublin. It must be stone cold by the time he gets it but sure leave him at it.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787810#Comment_121787810

If I'm away from home I usually look for the nearest golf club as the food is usually excellent and not too pricy. You can walk into any of them and they won't refuse the business.

rob316

I dont really have a problem paying top whack for great food, the local indian to me which is exceptional is charging 20 euro for a lamb curry with no sides. There's a pub next door to it then charging 20 euro for a burger and chips, chips are frozen crap and the burger patty is drier than the Sahara.

If your 20 euro for a main course, the ingredients should warrant it. Not something I can cook better at home.

People will always pay for great food, I see alot of places closing and they are no loss.

Hooked

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121796608#Comment_121796608

Being from the "city", I always assumed (wrongly) that these clubs had a few notions about them. How wrong I was. Super staff. Great vibe about the place. And food so good we went back on Monday night. LOL

andekwarhola

What's actually really shocking is the price of takeaway food. For what I got hit for the other night for a family, I'm just knocking it on the head and paying the extra for a decent family restaurant meal once a month instead.

Viscount Aggro

The problem is... the average person has gotten too used to eating out.

It should only be for special occasions.

I am seeing places such as Avoca packed out, even during midweek. There must be a split in Irish society - these are people who will continue to pay high prices for eating out. I will not be paying 18.95 for a baked potato.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121797233#Comment_121797233

I've probably said it before on the thread, but I remember the days when Dublin had only a handful of restaurants. Most suburbs had none at all. These days, you can't walk down most streets in town without passing a restaurant of some form and suburbia has a glut of them. We have gotten too used to eating out, when before it would have been a very occasional occurrence for the vast majority of people irrespective of income.

However, if we do go back to the way it was before we'll end up seeing more and more restaurants closing up because the footfall won't be there. A 1980's footfall ratio would be an absolute nightmare to the industry.

However, I share your reluctance about paying over the odds for appallingly average fare and I will not do it myself.

miamee

When restaurants were scarce and eating out was even more scarce most households were supporting a family on one wage. For the most part the families were bigger than your average family today.

Nowadays both adults in a family are likely work outside the home with less time for cooking. So once in a while a takeaway or a meal out will happen, times change. I don't see how anyone eats out all of the time though, after any period away from home I am usually happy to get home to my own kitchen and I am no more than an average cook.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121797205#Comment_121797205

You can blame deliveroo for the price of takeaway food, the commission they charge is huge.

0ph0rce0

I don't eat out anymore myself. Maybe the odd time the kids are around and getting out for a catch up.

Before the covid shite I would have stopped off anywhere for a bite if I was out and about, be it a quick chipper takeaway, some fast food, a cafe, a bar.

Prices weren't all that bad. Lunch special for a fiver, McDonalds meal for about 6 ish quid, a carvery for 11-12 quid, something off the bar menu like a steak sandwich for about 14 sometimes less.

Even out with mates for a match and a few pints you'd grab a platter from the pub for a tenner and feed two people.

Pint is now near 7euro, Steak sambo 20+, Carvery 20, Chipper and Chinese you're spending 20+ on one meal. If you're paying for a family it's nuts.

They got rid of the platters in my local so you'll buy something off the a la carte menu so when I go to the pub now and I feel hungry I just head down to spar and get a ham cheese toastie and eat it in the pub anyway. 3 quid.

I know there's inflation but it's gone crazy. This publican owns the building so he doesn't pay any rent or anything and I'd say it's similar for a lot of places.

We got chinese for family last week, 6 adults and 3 kids, small kids so they don't eat much. Starters and mains and some sides to share around. Came to nearly 160 euro with delivery hahaha.

Will never get another chinese again.

wolfyboy555

Nice place for a stroll outside Clonmellon. They've just started doing food. Doing think I'll be taking them up on the €27 full Irish even if it has fancy eggs and sausages. €54 for two breakfasts and then if 2 kids wanted an orange juice and croissant that's another €22. Crazy stuff.

NIMAN

Heading out to the North for something to eat today. I'd be expecting to be spending £100 or so.