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Eating Out becoming a Luxury?

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,123 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    And yet... eat out food places near me are always busy. Especially the good ones. You even have to book an order time.

    I'm not in Dublin., near regional town.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,800 ✭✭✭✭rob316


    There is a handful of restaurants in my city I go to that justify the price and I'm happy to go there spend my money and enjoy the eperience. But I do that 1 every couple of months. I perfer cooking my own food.

    The proliferation of Deliveroo/Just Eat has created a lazy generation though who don't cook and they are now complaining about the prices.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 708 ✭✭✭Sonic the Shaghog


    You only have to look at the media from before Christmas.

    The hospitality sector have been on several times moaning about reduced footfall and lots of places closing and having to close. The government has only started paying lip service by some sort of debt restructure thing in the last week.

    Moaning about the VAT rate and the last time it was cut they kept the same prices and even added a little bit in some cases.

    In my town there's 2 chippers and an ethnic takeaway. They used all be open to 11pm weekday now are closing at 9.30pm, you never see anyone in there. The pub owners whinging too when tho they are pushing nearly €7 a pint coming soon for a rural area.

    I keep saying it, a silent recession of sorts. I do remember when the crash hit in 2008 and half the nation getting laid off it was similar, gobeens kept raising prices for like the first year or two of it and then being shocked at having to close up shop. I remember 2 of 3 takeaways closing that time that I mentioned above and are under new owners now so am curious if it will be similar again due to inflation.



  • Posts: 19,923 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'd say the pubs could make good money bringing down the prices by a good bit but why would you when you have people willing to pay as is clear by them being generally packed out every week?

    Restaurants you can see a bit more value in now with good cooking over the pubs for not much more but the drink prices in most has stayed beyond the pubs. More palatable though because you probably don't drink as fast there.



  • Posts: 344 ✭✭ Addison Plain U-boat


    I think you are giving up on life and cutting back on a rare treat you that your wife enjoyed. Are you sure your wife agrees? “Date nights” / occasions are very healthy and important for marriages or they can quickly become stale. It’s a treat after a hard week of work, a chance to park life’s distractions and problems and have a good time and chat.

    Hate to be harsh but If you can’t afford a €20 meal (plenty of 2 course early birds out there you just have to make the effort) every two weeks which is €10 a week then I don’t think you can all yourself middle income.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,953 ✭✭✭✭yourdeadwright


    Went to a pub on Christmas eve at about 2 o'clock with the wife & 3 kids ,

    We all had a bite to eat & i had 2 pints & it was 80 euro ,

    That was 4 meals , (the youngest is only 2 months old), 1 diet coke for the wife, 2 juices for the kids, & 2 pints for myself , The kids also had 2 ice creams ,

    That's not to bad is it ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,186 ✭✭✭Jinglejangle69




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,033 ✭✭✭orangerhyme


    Really it's €60 for 4 meals which is decent.

    Eating out isn't that expensive considering what you're getting.

    They've a lot of overheads to pay. I think they make their money on the drinks and coffee.

    I think food trucks are a rip-off as they cost almost as much as restaurants and they've very few overheads.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,385 ✭✭✭SteM


    Here love, fancy going on a date night? Yeah, we can only go on Monday or Tuesday to Thursday between 4pm and 7pm and you can't have the steak, ribs or chef's special but it'll only cost us €26 each.

    How romantic.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,033 ✭✭✭orangerhyme


    Plenty of time for lovemaking after the early bird



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,994 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Yes, its called life. Or cutting your coat according to your cloth. Your relationship should not depend on your ability to splurge on expensive food in a restaurant. You need to apply a bit of imagination to your ideas for romance.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 708 ✭✭✭Sonic the Shaghog


    I understand you to a point about not being able to afford €20 but you have to consider what the mortgage is, childcare fees, electric is still nearly double what it should be despite "reduction" grocery shop in Aldi or Lidl they've gone mad in prices, I'm hearing Dunnes with the vouchers they offer bring them par.

    I will say tho not directed at the OP but there is a lot where people could cut back with won't too in fairness. Like ones I know on maybe €80 monthly for a **** phone plan to have the latest iPhone when an android or even keeping their iPhone rather than every 2 years having to upgrade. Then again maybe the eating out is the cut back 🙈

    In fairness it's funny I remember restaurants here when prices started to go mad smugly giving the old "if you can't afford x price then maybe you shouldn't be going out"

    Well we've seen where that's got a lot of em, the dole.

    Post edited by Boards.ie: Mike on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,385 ✭✭✭SteM


    It doesn't, we're both much happier cooking the food we like, spending time together cooking and then sitting down to eat it. Your relationship should not depend on going out to restaurants at times you don't want to eat to buy food from a limited menu.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,488 ✭✭✭McGrath5


    Agree on the Covid box style food vans. There is a local cafe to me that does nice sandwich's / toasties/ wraps for €7 with table service in a warm & cozy setting. Meanwhile the food van 2 minutes away is doing pretty much the same "gourmet" sandwich's for €12 with much smaller overheads.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,033 ✭✭✭orangerhyme


    This place case in point.

    I'm sure it's lovely but it should be cheaper if you're sitting outside on the side of the road.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,823 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    what gets me is the paying high prices for really ordinary food. I actually think restaurant food was better 20 years ago. Too often when I go to a restaurant now its meh.....

    Luxury implies you are getting something good.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,823 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    Should be cheaper than what?

    Sandwiches to go are routinely 8 euros.

    These guys are charging 12 for a main.

    All those pizza vans are charging minimum 12 for a Margerita.

    I dont think the prices here are out of sync.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,385 ✭✭✭SteM


    I couoldn;t figure out where that place was until I went into Streetview, it was a car park the last time I was down that neck of the woods I think.



  • Posts: 3,330 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    A big mac meal is about a tenner. Every minimum wage hike is being passed on to the consumer.



  • Posts: 3,330 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Who are you tipping? Cut that straight away. We aren't in America.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,033 ✭✭✭orangerhyme


    €16 for a Biryani is sit down prices.

    I just think lots of food trucks are taking the piss.

    They've no rates or bills or waiting staff to pay.

    I know they've some overheads but far fewer.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Not one for McDs but I couldn't believe the price of their meals when I went in there. A bag of chips is €3.99 now in my local chippers. Coffee shops are another one to watch out for. I used to grab a coffee (caramel macchiato) in Butlers on a Saturday and Sunday. Last December they increased the price from €4 to €4.40; the second price hike in 2023. Cut it down to one a week now.



  • Posts: 3,330 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    You think a tenner for a burger, chips and a drink, served in a fast food restaurant, is expensive?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,445 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    Not sure why Dosa Dosa was singled out, I've had it and the quality is worth the admission price. It's in an affluent area with a lot of multi-cultural offices around, the fact it's still operating tells you a few things, it's popular and they're doing enough to keep the truck running, I doubt they are absolutely rolling in it, and if they are? Fair play to them!

    This thread is fascinating, for a long time I believe eating out and getting value for money has been a thing no one gave a second thought to. Costs have risen and those that were on razor thin margins have kept the doors opened by dropping the quality of raw ingredients, reducing portion size etc.

    Those not on razor thin margins have increase their prices too but you still see the value in it (to some degree, probably less than before).

    Eating out used to be a weekly affair for me 5-10 years ago, now, due to multiple factors eating out is maybe once every three months but mainly in higher-end restaurants the upside is I get a much better experience and I enjoy it more as I look forward to it. Doing it weekly it was just part of a routine.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,350 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    yea we ve all made a bollcoks of our economies by financialising them, which has just drove up the price of critical needs, in particular property related, so the rest is history....



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,627 ✭✭✭Padre_Pio


    White Rabbit owner was on Claire Byrne last week.

    He said that his food is 50% more expensive to make today compared to a few years ago. They increased prices by 20% but there's diminishing returns increasing any more than that. People won't pay it.

    One point he made is that even though he has no one on minimum wage, when min wage was increased, the staff asked for a matching pay increase. Also the VAT increase added an extra 5% more to the cost of everything, and during COVID, Revenue allowed restaurants to defer payment, but these are now due, with interest.



  • Posts: 3,330 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Did White Rabbit owner pass the decrease in VAT on to his customers during Covid?

    Restaurant owners are very quick now to whinge about the VAT restoration (not an increase, it has been put back to its original rate). I didn't hear a peep out of them when the rate was reduced from 13.5% to 9% a few years ago.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,627 ✭✭✭Padre_Pio


    Probably didn't, probably already operating on a slim margin what with COVID closures. Remember that restaurants had to reduce capacity while still providing the same service.



  • Posts: 3,330 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Ah, so they stealth increased their prices by keeping the VAT reduction for themselves, and now whinge about VAT increasing.

    Clowns.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,627 ✭✭✭Padre_Pio


    You're right, I'm sure restaurants closing up and down the country is another plot to scam people out of their hard earned.



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