Eating Out becoming a Luxury?

Next time I eat out will be in Malaysia in August where I can expect to get a lunch consisting of start, main course and a pint for €3.40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121814926#Comment_121814926

Think I’ll go to Norway to get better value

Wanderer2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638444#Comment_121638444

What if you enjoy carvery? Do we have to spend money on only the items and activities that are pre approved by you?

Juran

I was in London last week, in a local suburb, not central.London.

We ate in a popular Indian/Pakistan casual resturant (not a dive). Food was fresh, so tasty and we left totally satisfied.

Main courses £6.50 .. one meal was enough for 2 people to be honest.

Our Samosa starters plus dips were £1.20 for two pieces.

Naan bread plain was 80p and was huge.

As its a muslim run resturant, they dont serve alcohol but customers are welcome to bring their own. This is common in London. No corkage fees if you bring wine. We brought our own beer, from the local corner shop for £1 per bottle. Supermarket multipacks or cans are cheaper, but hey, still so cheap, wont complain.

So a starter, mains, half naan bread, plus 2 beers for £10 per person.

thinkabouit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787749#Comment_121787749

Ouch, if you had to cook that at home instead, how much would it of cost you?

McGrath5

I was in Liffey Valley yesterday, had a bit of time to kill so went into Costa. €4.25 for a cup of very bland flat white. There must of been 5 or 6 staff working….it was very busy. I know they have their overheads etc but still that is way overpriced for me.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121814926#Comment_121814926

If someone handed me that menu I'd just get up and walk out.

enricoh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121815035#Comment_121815035

Was in brick lane London a few years ago, couldn't get over the value. Don't bother with indian take aways here- far too expensive.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787749#Comment_121787749

Alot of new homes going up around Stepaside.

The couple of pubs that are there have a large and growing market alright.

dalyboy

Talking about Indians ….. I got an Indian takeaway order in north county Dublin last week. A prawn madras with a nam bread. €31. First time customer of this place & never again.

This was a TAKEAWAY. It was mediocre in overall quality too. I could have bought six SuperValu signature quality chill packed Indian meals for that price FFS

StudentDad

I'm quickly reaching the point where any spare cash I have goes into the 'next holiday' jar. I try not to dip into it. Essentially though, discretionary spending here is at an absolute minimum. The prices in some shops and restaurants are frankly hilarious. Planning a trip to France/Spain next year and I'm looking forward to not wincing when the waiter brings the bill at the end of the evening.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770321#Comment_121770321

the only time I have steaks these days is at home much like yourself

foxsake

my local pub which in fairest has tried to keep the price of food down somewhat reasonable hits you for 2.50 for a pint of miwadi, so they are loading some items to compensate for lesser increases in big draws like Guinness or carvery

we used to eat out as a family every few months and that is now gone. takeaways would be even less than once a month whereas up till inflation kicked in pretty quick was probably every week or 2.

casual pints are pretty much gone now too , i'd only go to the pub for a night out

Bobson Dugnutt

I was in Dublin with herself on Saturday night and every restaurant was full. There’s a lot of people still eating out on a regular basis. We had booked Glovers Alley and had to book that weeks in advance.

There’s plenty of couples who consider spending between 300 and 400 quid on a top class meal using premium ingredients and with a considered wine list to be a good use of their disposable income.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787749#Comment_121787749

For comparison to this (and I've paid similar Irish prices as we.. you know.. live here!) on holiday in Brittany last year, we had a 3 course meal for 4 people with house wine for around the same. Except this was at a multi star restaurant, we got beef that was reared on site, and I had the nicest steak tartare I have ever had.

We are charged so much more here for so much less. I'm not a heavy drinker per se, but I could easily spend less than 10 quid on an evening's drink in france (as a takeout, wine or beer/cider), you'd be looking at multiples of that here. It extends beyond simply the cost of eating out, it's the cost of food and drink and services anyway.

SAMTALK

I have eaten out 3 time since Christmas and 1 was shocking and 2 were only ok

The 1st one was so bad it's not worth even talking about. Did say it to the waitress when paying , she saw all the plates were hardly touched but just shrugged her shoulders and said "I'll say it to chef ".

the other 2 were served with the most bland cheap frozen chips ever.

Think it will be a while before I eat out again

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823233#Comment_121823233

In fairness there's not really much she can do is there? Her job is just to bring you the food and take the money. She's no control over the quality of the fare on offer or the pricing either.

All you can do in a situation like this is to make the complaint, which will fall on deaf ears, and mark the place as somewhere not to go in future.

Frankly, restaurants like that need to die.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823233#Comment_121823233

Maybe go to better restaurants?

Like, sorry to be flippant but a cheap bad meal is much worse value than an expensive good meal.

bnt

Whenever there is a financial squeeze, luxuries are the first things to go. This shouldn't be surprising. There's a saying in the restaurant business which goes something like this: if you want to make $1M, start by putting $2M in to a restaurant. It's not an easy business to be in, but as a big-ticket luxury item, they have no right to existence.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822915#Comment_121822915

Nail on the head.

The majority of Dublin restaurants are full and we arent even in tourist season yet.

With all the new hotels going up around Dublin City Centre, there is more accommodation available for tourists than ever.

I imagine its a very different story in rural ireland though and even some Dublin places have been unable to survive - though these are generally quickly replaced.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822863#Comment_121822863

There is a new place opened in city centre basically a copy of entrecote and similar places in London (well it is more a French thing originally). Garlic bread, steak/chicken, fries, a sauce and a salad, then profiteroles for 29.99 fixed price. It is decent value and the steak was good, place rammed.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823679#Comment_121823679

I think places outside city centre but still in Dublin feeling the pinch too. I noticed in Blackrock, Coal has closed, it had been going for 8 years and owners clearly said issue was it wasnt economically viable

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823774#Comment_121823774

A good point about Coal. Although new restaurants have opened in the area. Ruchii have expanded, the empty restaurant next door has been let and Daata recently moved into Flash Harrys.

So overall, there is still growth in Blackrock.

The new apartments coming onstream will help also.

I wonder how long the Coal unit will be empty.

Jinglejangle69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121792729#Comment_121792729

Hold on, you claim you can get, flights, hotel for a weekend, drinks and meals for the price of a meal and drinks in Ireland?

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823774#Comment_121823774

owners clearly said issue was it wasnt economically viable

But there are plenty of other places in Blackrock that continue to trade, in fact there are loads of them. Just because one restaurant can't make a go of it doesn't mean the restaurant business as a whole is not viable.

Running a restaurant succesfully relies on a heap of things - location, food, service, price, local competition, word of mouth, target market, etc - closing down is unlikely to have been down to any single cause.

tom1ie

Said to the missus we’d go out for lunch today- nothing special, just a cafe.

Full Irish, + poached eggs on avocado toast+ orange juice+ glass bottle of coke+ tea for two (which I thought would’ve been included with breakfast but no) = €38.

Felt that was a bit pricey tbh- won’t be going back.

Viscount Aggro

I was in a place recently on the Cooley peninsula, Louth. Fitzpatrick's gastro pub. It was 12.95 for a bowl of soup. This is the place that had 2 different tills . One for card payments, the other for cash.

Quay_Koncept

I treat myself and partner every weekend to an Indian meal, was always 27.95 which I considered great value x 2 meals and 4 nan breads, very filling. We dont do anything else its our only treat. Last week I collected and its gone up tp 32.95 (exact same meal). I definitly wont be ordering on a weekly basis anymore every 2 or 3 weeks or maybe even start making the food ourselves. That jump past the 30 euro I just cant justify it anymore. Sucks but sure I guess they need to pass on the gas bills etc, wage rises etc.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823911#Comment_121823911

I've been to Fitzpatricks... that seems a bit out of line... soup of the day shows as €7.95?

€12.95 is the price for a main serving of the seafood chowder. Was it any good?

https://www.fitzpatricksbar.com/dinner-2

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823919#Comment_121823919

Jaysus where are ya getting an Indian for €32.95- that’s brilliant value compared to the prices in my area.

€27.95 was as you said great value.