In a years time we eat out at about a dozen restaurants/ bars.

We used to go three times a week , then cut to two times a week, then as costs have almost doubled we are now at once a week.

Then costs kept rising, we now split a meal.

We found this manageable, until , we ordered an $11.99 chef salad, and they charged us $17.00 for it.

To get an extra salad bowl it costs you five bucks.

I was told all four and five star restaurants do this, it's very common practice.

This was a good restaurant, but no where near a four or five star restaurant.

That's ridiculous. Should be free, especially at 5 star restaurants. It may be policy, now or back when, but I've never been charged for splitting a plate or especially sharing at the table.

The only time I've been charged a nominal fee is when we've split an entree and but they doubled the sides (ie - we split salmon filet (in the kitchen, not at the table) but both got a full side of mashed potatoes).

Get a bowl. Make it a hat.
Go to the restaurant, eat half the salad from your own hat.

It will be as sanitary as their bowls.

(Don't forget your fork)

If they say anything, tell them I said it was OK, and to contact me.

And if you wear your hat home, shower and wash your hair...

Four previous restaurants did not charge extra.

I guess they know what they have to do to make a profit

Its not that we can’t afford it. Its not even that its a significant amount of money.
But we have stopped going to a couple of restaurants simply due to bullshit practices like that. We are fortunate to have enough really good restaurants here to be able to fire the sleazy ones.

My wife never makes me pay to eat out

One of our favorite places to eat implemented a 3% convenience fee. It's on the bill and it's not the 3% credit card fee. When we asked the server she said it was part of doing business now days. Rather than penalize her by deducting it from the tip we no longer frequent the restaurant. In many other places were are seeing reduction in portion sizes.

The high costs of eating out isn't a surprise to me. Restaurant owners got to eat too.

But I go to a new breakfast place across from the town square. It's a second location and their first one is in the big city.

$18 a breakfast dish. Okay, it's steeper than the $12 to $15 I currently pay. And I realize, $12 was what I used to pay for lunch. I figure it's for the tourists and they're charging tourist prices.

But what got to me when I got the check was a pre-charge of 3% for credit card use. I can understand small mom and pop places charging for credit card use and the justification is so they can keep the prices down.

But for a business that has a place in the big city and their second place is next to the town square in a tourist location to charge 3% on top of their already high prices, that's just nickel and diming people. They could have just as well added 3% to their menu prices and people who would be willing to pay $18 a dish would still pay the $18 with the 3% added on. But to see it as a separate charge just bugged the shit out of me.

How many sales taxes have the local populace voted to add to the bill?

One of the biggest differences in the restaurant business is local governments deciding to make bars and restaurants subsidize developers.

In SC, the state and local governments now take 1/3 of the profit.

I dine out very frequently. Luckily there’s a lot of restaurants around here so not patronizing places that shaft customers is easy. Their goal is to extract as much as possible and with all the tourists it works for awhile but nobody feels bad when they nickel and dime themselves into bankruptcy.

We went to a breakfast/lunch place we hadn't been to in a couple of months. New (higher) prices, only open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. No Wednesdays or weekends? Apparently no one wants to work weekends. Help wanted ad was at the bottom of our bill. New split plate charge and have had the 3% CC charge for a while. If it weren't for one waitress we've know for a long time, we'd stop going. BTW, she IS willing to work weekends - not enough others are.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSauerP226:
My wife never makes me pay to eat out

I had $22 cash. Went for breakfast at a small place nearby.
They had a sign for an upcharge to get their specialty bacon.

I usually order hot tea and it usually isn't that much to complain about.

My big mistake was not asking the prices.
The single bag of tea was $4!

Usually an upcharge isn't that much.
Got the bill and it was $9!

Not enough cash now, got hit with their 3% CC use.
It was a very good breakfast. I could have been a regular due to the location.
With those prices, I'll never go back.

Why be upset about the 3% CC fee?

The ones around here do not charge that for cash or debit cards.

The cost going up bothers me less than the fact that as prices went up, the quality of the food went down and menu options shrank.

The place I mentioned, debit card use also pays the 3% fee. It was called, "non cash adjustment"

quote:

Originally posted by P210:
I dine out very frequently. Luckily there’s a lot of restaurants around here so not patronizing places that shaft customers is easy.

My wife and I dine out for dinner at sit-down restaurants average 1-2 times per week, and get take out 2-3 times per week as well for /dinner/lunch. We usually hit our favorites, and they don't charge us on stupid shit. For dinner, it is mostly Tex-Mex, BBQ and ethnic food- Thai, Japanese, Chinese, etc. Stuff I don't usually cook at home; a four course Thai meal is way too much work for my tastes.

Oddball, we think alike in regards to getting what is harder to make at home.
However, my family members often get spaghetti. Go figure!

Used to eat out a lot. The one thing COVID did was show us the money we waste. We eat out only about once a week, usually on the weekends.

We got home late and didn’t want to cook one night and went to a Mexican joint. $45 for two. We didn’t eat anything fancy or big.

Wasn’t too long ago that two could eat the same meal for $17

Never eat out just to eat out.

If an outing brackets my usual lunch time and I don't expect to be home within a reasonable time, I might grab a sub or something but that's about it.

Nothing in particular (other than the ridiculous prices) against the concept, mostly that we can't be bothered to clean up and drive 20+ miles only to have mediocre choices.