Do you enjoy eating out?

I’ve always loved eating out! I have become a connoisseur of afternoon teas over the past few years. Going for one tomorrow with DIL, her DM and my DD.

Love eating out. Obviously some places are better than others. Different prices, portions, menus etc but on the whole I enjoy it. We eat out about 2 - 3 times a week now retired. It’s not always ‘fancy dan’ but we like where we choose to go so it’s one of life’s pleasures in my opinion.

Definitely one of my favourite things to do. We have a good choice of cafes, restaurants and bistros on our island but they get too busy during holiday season. We tend to entertain at home during summer, always easier with bbqs and salads. We meet up with friends for lunch out in winter and try to go somewhere different each time.

Not any more. The people who used to accompany me on these gastronomic and wine filled experiences are, sadly, not around any more and no fun in going it alone. Too many memories.

I'm another eating out devotee. Love it. I'm particularly blessed to be within a bus ride of a large city which spoils me for choice. More importantly I have a reasonable circle of friends who all have different tastes and wallets. My particular joy is trying somewhere new that I've read about in some recent cafe culture magazine or current newspaper review. Re the smaller portions, I find it is ALWAYS advisable to ask. Many establishments will accommodate but don't go out of their way to advertise same. Skewed logic methinks but this has been my finding. My pleasure is lunchtime. Evening eating doesn't lend to good sleep for me nowadays. Jane10 if you would be willing to mail me with your fish mention, please?????

Jane10
Care to share the name?

Love it! So many restaurants and good pubs to try and do little time!

I hate foreign food unless it's Italian pasta (no meats) or Indian vegetable samosas, both of which I can cook myself exactly as I prefer.

We have a wonderful Tapas restaurant near us & I love going there but usually I like to cook.
I have always loved cooking & love the feeling of dishing up a good home cooked meal.
However when we are in Greece in the summer I thoroughly enjoy eating out every night ( & then when I get home I try out all the things we eat there!)
Win/win for me either way.

Why do so many people think eating out and enjoying cooking at home are mutually incompatible?

I enjoy my food and cooking, I used a new recipe this lunchtime to make a chestnut and spicy sausage risotto, lovely and warming on a cold day, definitely one to go i nto the repertoire.

But this doesn't stop me enjoying eating out. I go to my local bakery cafe and have their red onion and cheddar quiche with salad and six large chips for lunch and then buy the same quiche to take home and eat another time. But the overall experience is entirely different. The cafe is a lovely airy building, there are lots of other people there, we often meet people we know - and we usually finish the meal with one of their cakes or scones.

At home I will eat the same quiche with salad in the warmth of the kitchen and with the radio on in the background,enjoyable, but an entirely different experience.

There is more to a meal out than just the food.

Very rarely eat out for several reasons:
-lack of places I can afford
-ditto that cater for my own awkward dietary choices
-current obsession with weird ingredients (harissa paste, ras el hanout or the inevitable bloody chilli in everything, even chocolate!)
-prefer to eat mid day and most places here are only open evenings.
Happy to eat at home where the hours, food and costs suit me very well!

We had a great holiday in France this year. 10 days without cooking a thing. Breakfast was in the hotels and other meals were dined out! We had full-board at Disneyland Paris and went for privately owned restaurants for the other days. You don't see many of these in the UK which is a pity. Everything seems to be franchise.

Trip Adviser is brilliant. Is it tasty? Pleasant staff that are attentive but not intrusive? Good value?
Love that website

I like the idea of eating out, but after working in quite a few restaurant and pub kitchens, I am discouraged by the generally appalling food hygiene practices.
I’m sure there are some very clean establishments, but so many are below standard that I’m frankly scared!

I love eating out. Get fed up cooking now, have done it for 50 years any chance to eat out I will.

How much would you pay for a decent main......some sort of protein and accompaniments?

We love eating out though since retirement we enjoy lunches and afternoon teas more often. Less busy and don't always have to book which suits us as we like to go for a drive and call in to new places.

Not a treat anymore with so many pubs, restaurants and cafes. Amazing value too. We've found most "posh" restaurants disappointing and far too expensive,although for a special occasion, we have enjoyed fine dining at recommended restaurants. Always look forward to eating out, it's social, relaxing with no clearing up to do. Takeaways are good now and then but it's not quite the same. Wish I could eat out more often.

I like eating out but hate paying 12% or more service charge. Recently in London there was also a £2 per person cover charge. When you have paid £25 already for a £9 bottle of wine these extra charges are too much and put me off eating out. We had a very nice Waitrose curry and side dishes for around £10 for lunch today .

I'm in two minds- it is nice to be served and not have to do the washing up, but I can never manage half of what's on my plate - I prefer to eat little and often.

I really like eating out but round here so many restaurants have upgraded themselves it can be difficult to find really good food that doesn’t cost a fortune.
Norfolk Restaurant Week took place a couple of weeks ago so that was a good opportunity to try a couple of new venues without breaking the bank. We did and really liked both places.
We often share starters and puddings, no one seems to mind, they usually bring 2 spoons! I can’t manage 3 courses.
Like another poster I also have 2 starters at certain restaurants that seem to think we need huge portions.
I like looking forward to going out especially with friends.

Yes, eating out is something we like to do, when we can.

I prefer honest, unpretentious eateries although we do have one or two 'special' restaurants we use if the occasion demands it. Sadly, quite often those 'special' and more expensive restaurants have let us down - the standard of food varies and from time to time or the fancy recipes just don't work, or portion size is ridiculous and they charge a fortune for extras - ie: vegetables. We cross them off our list.

We have found one or two pubs which serve lovely home-cooked food at reasonable prices. We try to support independent cafes and bars but most we have found are charging extremely high prices for very little food and fancy presentation and often, fairly long waits and poor service.

Good, honest, (not microwaved!) hot pub grub tends to win out.

We haven't eaten out for AGES!
Around here, NE England, it's all fast food places. Even when we were in France it was either moules et frites or magret et frites.
The last really good meal out was ages ago - included lamb's liver with onion gravy yum.

Yes Alban, its a joke the cost and you can make something brilliant at home for 30 quid or a Waitrose ready meal, why not.

Afternoon tea at the Dorchester well worth a splurge.