Anonymous wrote:We are still dining out 1-3x a week as a family, but only at reatuarants that are not exactly geared towards the middle class.

Like where?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular places are absolutely not worth the money to me as it will be $150 for lunch at a mediocre place for my family if 4. And high end places piss me off with their unearned self importance and $200+ price tag for two which is boring, unoriginal, and just, you know… fine. The shows that glorify chefs may be part of the problem. Stop taking yourselves so seriously. You create something that lasts a few minutes and isn’t life changing and you want *how much* for it? No. You are not Michelangelo. Whatever you’re doing is simply not that effing hard. No thank you. I am 100% disenchanted with the food industry. A bunch of self important, uncreative, narcissistic, mediocre trolls. I’m mostly done.

Do what the rest of us do. Pay for meals you crave but that you cannot make at home. Just had a $16 bowl of ramen with a few dollars worth of gyoza that made me very happy. I can do a killer beef Wellington myself at home.

+1

The only take out we spend on are things like sushi, Ethiopian food, dumplings, etc. We also take out Mexican food because we just can’t make it as good at home and it usually leaves us with leftovers and isn’t insanely priced yet.

I’m tired of fancy “new American” places charging an arm and a leg for what is basically upscale bar food. No, I don’t want to pay $24 for a French dip sandwich or buy an $18 flat bread.

Occasionally we admit defeat at the end of the week and order pizza for our family of 5 even though we can make that at home. But I always have a promo code since I have the store app and we do curbside pickup to avoid delivery fees. Through using BOGO deals I’ve gotten our order down to ~$25 including a $2 tip. I’m willing to throw that much at not cooking at the end of the work week.

You tip your delivery person $2? Holy cheapskate.

The one thing that makes fine dining worth it to me is the service IF it's truly top notch. I think that's really what you're paying for -- a very high end restaurant should make you feel cared for in a way that feels special. I think the vast majority of restaurants fail on the service side (because it's actually way harder than the food) and that's what kills the experience.

Since Covid I think restaurants have generally become more hostile towards customers and I think it's killing the industry. Now when I get really good service it really stands out and is memorable. The most recent great customer service experience I had was at a bagel place in Bronxville just outside NYC. Dude running the counter was an absolute gem. Knew how to talk to customers and make people feel good but also knew how the move the line and keep things going. Bagels were also phenomenal but also I walked out of there just feeling good about the world because the people working there seemed to really like and appreciate their customers and treat them really well. Gave them like a 40% tip simply because I wanted to with absolutely no pressure on their end.

Whereas the last 10 fine dining experiences I've had have been totally unmemorable from a customer service standpoint. I get warmer and more attentive service from our favorite waiter at the mid-priced mexican place that is our go to for family dinner with kids when we don't feel like cooking or takeout. That guy always looks happy to see us and treats our kids well. We've had special occasion meals recently at Pastis and Daru and Rose's Luxury and the service has been... fine. Sure the food is better than the mexican joint but it also costs way more and I have to put a lot more effort into getting reservations and I can't take my kids to the fancy places because even though they have decent table manners I feel like neither the restaurant nor other customers really want them there (plus I don't want to spend $30 on an entree for a kid who will take 5 bites and then ask if we are getting dessert).

I kind of feel like I've outgrown fine dining.

Fancy new American with the $18 flatbread is dead-on. We have also cut back. I'm a good cook, and I mostly enjoy it, though I get in ruts.

We are still dining out 1-3x a week as a family, but only at reatuarants that are not exactly geared towards the middle class.

I can't think of any expensive restaurant that was a quality that justified the mark up. The best restaurant food us usually from scrappy ethnic hole in the walls or food trucks. They try harder.

I got takeout Indian on Doordash for a friend helping me with some big home chores and it cost almost as much as a week of groceries!!

Anonymous wrote:At this point in my life, I almost don’t care about the food. I’m just so grateful that someone else is cooking it and doing the dishes. I care about the dining room being comfortable and feeling special if it’s a nice place, and the people being nice.

+1 and this also applies to why I’ll deal with mediocre, overpriced take-out. It’s because I didn’t have to cook it! I just don’t enjoy cooking like I used to.

Count me in (or out)! It started with all of the trendy restaurants not taking reservations so you needed to stand in line at 5pm to get on the list. That got old fast. Then came the serious decline in service - not just due to Covid - where you’re lucky to see your wait person more than twice, it’s now okay to have runners come auction off dishes to the table rather than knowing who gets what, it’s often impossible to flag down anyone to bring something that you need, etc. Not relaxing or enjoyable.

Yes I find it to be a big waste of money, even for a date night with DH. Add in alcohol and it's truly insane. We recently went on a big night out with two other couples who love to splurge on dinner and I felt like we were hemorrhaging money.

I am a really good cook *brushes shoulders off* so I can make a delish meal at home for a fraction of the cost of going out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I was early to this party because we live in the District, which was an early adopter of all the specious 'pro employee' legislation and fees that have led us to the logical result: $33 hamburgers. (Tipped servers now earn $17.50/hr instead of $2/hr. 20% mandatory service charge added to the check, but "tips are (still) welcome !!!!" on top of that; $5 flat Covid supplies fee in ... 2024. 3.5% "recovery" fees ...

We suck.

These Helpful Tools Are Tracking Every Restaurant Fee Across DC
https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/01/11/these-helpful-tools-are-tracking-every-restaurant-fee-across-dc/

It’s absolutely worse in DC. I moved away from DC pre-Covid, and back then restaurants in the relatively LCOL city I live in were not that much cheaper than DC. My town has seen inflation, like everywhere, but I spent some time in DC recently, and I was shocked at the price differential now. Also worse food, in most cases. Notably, the almost complete absence of good mid-range restaurants. Everything was either ridiculously expensive for a non-5 star meal, or takeout. We did find a few good hole in the wall ethnic places, but those weren’t cheap. It’s got to be the government imposed expense, plus real estate costs, but I also think that over the last 5-10 years, talented young chefs are going out into the hinterlands to start restaurants, because they can afford to do it there. I ate a wonderful, reasonably priced, meal at a small, very cool, place in a tiny town the other day that was run by a young couple that was just starting out. The DC restaurant scene has become the equivalent of that cool boutique shopping district that became popular and real estate got so expensive that now all it has is chains.

+1. I have been so consistently disappointed by the DC restaurant scene every time I have returned.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, me! It can often be disappointing, overly salted, and lacking in fruits and vegetables. I just cannot do fried food any more when my family wants to order that.

It is also costly, and perplexing, to be asked to tip when picking up food. OK, I tip 20% there which is is expensive. But then you'd think that a sit-down place would be a higher tip, or else counter pickup a lower tip.

I feel this way too. I wish it would go back to 10% is the norm for takeout. When I was younger, it was nothing or 10%. I don't think it should be the same as a sit down where they are filling drinks, explaining menu, etc. A small amount for packing it up but there is no service. $15 for a normal chinese takeout pickup to pack up in a bag is insane. It takes about 5 min.

I tip $1 per item. So if we get 1 app, 2 entrees, and 1 dessert, it’s $4. If I’m getting like 1 or 2 cheap items I may round up a bit. I always choose custom and never do the automatic tip amounts. Some of them are 15%, 20%, and 25%. Who in their right mind is tipping this much on to go or counter service?

Me, I’m doing great on money so I just tip a lot everywhere basically. I tipped $20 yesterday for a $25 car wash. I tip 40% at restaurants sometimes especially if our bill is on the low end because of no alcohol or fewer courses.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I was early to this party because we live in the District, which was an early adopter of all the specious 'pro employee' legislation and fees that have led us to the logical result: $33 hamburgers. (Tipped servers now earn $17.50/hr instead of $2/hr. 20% mandatory service charge added to the check, but "tips are (still) welcome !!!!" on top of that; $5 flat Covid supplies fee in ... 2024. 3.5% "recovery" fees ...

We suck.

These Helpful Tools Are Tracking Every Restaurant Fee Across DC
https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/01/11/these-helpful-tools-are-tracking-every-restaurant-fee-across-dc/

It’s absolutely worse in DC. I moved away from DC pre-Covid, and back then restaurants in the relatively LCOL city I live in were not that much cheaper than DC. My town has seen inflation, like everywhere, but I spent some time in DC recently, and I was shocked at the price differential now. Also worse food, in most cases. Notably, the almost complete absence of good mid-range restaurants. Everything was either ridiculously expensive for a non-5 star meal, or takeout. We did find a few good hole in the wall ethnic places, but those weren’t cheap. It’s got to be the government imposed expense, plus real estate costs, but I also think that over the last 5-10 years, talented young chefs are going out into the hinterlands to start restaurants, because they can afford to do it there. I ate a wonderful, reasonably priced, meal at a small, very cool, place in a tiny town the other day that was run by a young couple that was just starting out. The DC restaurant scene has become the equivalent of that cool boutique shopping district that became popular and real estate got so expensive that now all it has is chains.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went out to dinner during Restaurant week in DC and it was still $190 with no alcohol.

Also, why is the service charge on the taxed amount rather than the pre-tax amount? When did this change?

$190 for how many people?

The whole point of restaurant week is that it's prix fixe, I'm not sure how you're getting surprised by the bill when it's literally just "price x people."

DP but it’s probably one of those $50 dinner x 2 people = $100 but then with service fee, COVID recovery, meals tax, tip, it is $190.

At this point in my life, I almost don’t care about the food. I’m just so grateful that someone else is cooking it and doing the dishes. I care about the dining room being comfortable and feeling special if it’s a nice place, and the people being nice.