Anonymous wrote:Where are you dining? I have not notices this, but I generally am dining at top tier restaurants.

It’s so sad though that the only option is a “top tier” place. Anywhere else in the world, you walk in to a no name place and food is fresh.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:A LOT of it is just Sysco food

This and Restaurant Depot. You can go and buy a nice fine gallon bucket of cole slaw or whatever. Plus ghost kitchens is another problem since some food isn’t even made onsite.

You’re going to the wrong places.

I don’t go to those places, just telling OP what part of the problem is. I used to eat out seven days a week, but it’s pretty rare now. There’s very little good food around here so I learned to cook.

Ugh. Why would you eat out 7 days a week? Your arteries must be so clogged.

Like I said, I used to do that. I’m an eat to live person, so eating isn’t much more than an irritating task I have to take care of every day. I started cooking to eat healthier, but I do have arterial sclerosis as you guessed. I’m not too worried about it any longer given our brave new world.

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Anonymous wrote:You answered your own question op.

Yes, cheaper ingredients brings down food quality. It's not a new concept.

What about the service going down? Is it labor shortage .

It’s entitled gen Z employees. They have $10/hr plus a 25% tip, and want to stand in the back socializing with their coworkers and flipping through the phone. Dont ask for anything, they don’t care. And don’t be a cheapskate and tip under 20%- they deserve your money

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Anonymous wrote:I never understood the fascination with restaurants. When you eat simple, fresh food, which is what you should eat, it's not that hard to prepare a tasty meal. Steam some vegetables, grill a piece of fish, make a quick sauce, add a loaf of bread or cook some rice...and it will cost you 1/2 of a restaurant and taste better in most cases. I am very hopeful that the number of restaurants will decrease as the prices rise and people finally see that the value is not there. But, people are endlessly lazy and "out of time" even though they are on their phones all day. Sigh.

We only go to restaurants that serve cuisines we cannot easily prepare at home, like Ethiopian.

This. I love Italian food, but rarely go out to eat it because it’s so easy and cheap to do at home.

We eat out and bring in more than we ever have. This is due to a combination of factors. The main one is that I am tired of cooking after being the sole chef for almost 30 years. Another reason is when we were younger we had little disposable income to treat ourselves but now we can. With that said, we have noticed a definite decline in quality and price hikes that make many places feel not worth it at all. Our list of restaurants has been shrinking. Off the top of my head, I can think of just 3 restaurants I really enjoy eating at. I do go to some places for the sake of DH and our teen and I always leave feeling dissatisfied and ripped off.

Probably asked ChatGPT for the recipes...

Anonymous wrote:Everyone in retail or service industries seems high these days.

Hate to break it to you, friend, but restaurant workers being high is an old trope/standard, for a reason. If you want to know where to find droogs in a new city, servers on smoke break are your best bet.

I agree. Restaurants keep raising prices and cutting quality, shortening menus, cutting down on portion size, going tasting-menu only, pushing table turnover, requiring deposits. There are fewer and fewer places where there’s any feeling of hospitality—the burden seems to have shifted to the customer “supporting” the enterprise and the staff. It’s killing the experience for me. I stick to the handful of places that don’t feel so corporate. And I eat a lot more at home.

It seems like everything got worse after Covid/2020. I think we gave a lot of restaurants extra support and excuses because of "supply chain issues", which was true at the time. But now that "it's okay if the quality is subpar, they're just trying to make it" mentality has persisted, and restaurants know they can get away with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of it is just Sysco food

This and Restaurant Depot. You can go and buy a nice fine gallon bucket of cole slaw or whatever. Plus ghost kitchens is another problem since some food isn’t even made onsite.

You’re going to the wrong places.

I don’t go to those places, just telling OP what part of the problem is. I used to eat out seven days a week, but it’s pretty rare now. There’s very little good food around here so I learned to cook.

Ugh. Why would you eat out 7 days a week? Your arteries must be so clogged.

Everyone in retail or service industries seems high these days.

Anonymous wrote:I understand why it’s getting more expensive.
But why is quality and service going down?
Is it because they are using cheaper ingredients at the same time increasing menu prices ?

Yes. Plus many ingredients are sourced overseas now from China and India.

Where are you dining? I have not notices this, but I generally am dining at top tier restaurants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of it is just Sysco food

This and Restaurant Depot. You can go and buy a nice fine gallon bucket of cole slaw or whatever. Plus ghost kitchens is another problem since some food isn’t even made onsite.

You’re going to the wrong places.

I don’t go to those places, just telling OP what part of the problem is. I used to eat out seven days a week, but it’s pretty rare now. There’s very little good food around here so I learned to cook.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A LOT of it is just Sysco food

This and Restaurant Depot. You can go and buy a nice fine gallon bucket of cole slaw or whatever. Plus ghost kitchens is another problem since some food isn’t even made onsite.

You’re going to the wrong places.