Do you enjoy eating out?

No, not really. I have very rarely eaten anything out that I couldn't make better at home. Other than coffee and cookies/muffins I find 'out' food disappointing. Some waiting staff can be a bit supercilious as well, like the servers at Hotel Chocolat in Edinburgh who looked at me as if as I was peculiar when I asked them to put the teabag in the hot water rather than bringing it to me in a saucer for me to put into the off the boil water.

This has continued from a time in the late seventies when my father-in-law took us, en route back from Sutherland or Wester Ross, to a posh hotel near Aberdeen (he had a business meeting). I ordered fresh trout, hand fished from the river beside the hotel. It was overcooked.

Wait though... I did enjoy a steak pie that I had in the Kelpies cafe a few weeks ago.

I love eating out and average 2-3 times a week. I agree that the chains are much of a muchness and try to avoid them (which is probably why so many are going out of business). But there are so many independent restaurants where I live that we are really spoilt for choice. And I generally prefer lunch rather than dinner (one of the joys of being retired!). I also often have two starters rather than a starter and a main, but prefer sharing food especially tapas or Chinese. Generally I don't like food which is 'plated up', although I make an exception for Le Gavroche!

I could eat out right now , we have a great pub restaurant and a yummy chinese here in the village and I didn't make any tea ! Was reading and forgot ?

Dh as I eat out about twice a week. Always brunch on a Saturday in a local cafe/bistro which is very homely and everyone knows everyone else. Where the staff call us by name as we arrive and ask....the usual??

Possibly a lunch on another day or at teatime. I prefer not to eat out at night. There may also be a lunch or coffee myself meeting a friend.

Like annodomini I sometimes have two starters served as my main course and this is usually bbq ribs, duck spring rolls and salad.

Going out with family AC and dgc is usually a Sunday roast for a birthday or event.

Very occasionally dh and I will have a sneaky KFC after doing the grocery shopping. I had my first KFC just one year ago.

Eating out is one thing I don't mind spending on.
I don't mean a fortune, but a nice carvery. Lovely!

On the whole I prefer having meals at friends houses or having friends at ours. I find it more relaxing than eating out. Eating out also seems so expensive. A week's grocery money goes on one meal!

I'm a lot like your husband, greyduster, although I do eat Indian and Chinese.
I do tend to always have the same thing, just in case I try something new and don't like it.
I really enjoy English food, too.

I love eating out, late DH and I used to almost every week. Not so often now that I am on my own, but if I have a day out shopping I always find a nice restaurant for lunch. Don't mind eating out on my own. Been out three times in the last two weeks with family!

Like the OP and some others I, too, have gone off the experience of eating out. Used to love it. But it is so much of a muchness. My husband´s youngest brother is a great amateur cook and his dinners are far superior to anything you can get in a restaurant.

DH and I try to go out to eat with friends about once a month. It's usually to a pub/restaurant, but occasionally we try somewhere with a bit more class. Just recently we have had afternoon tea instead. I really enjoy eating out.

I do like eating out and wish we had some good places nearer to us.

I don't enjoy the whole process and it makes me anxious. Strange how we change, I used to love it.

Yes I love eating out and don't begrudge paying for something that I really enjoy and is good quality, using locally sourced ingredients.
One particular gastro pub we go to, which has won national awards, makes a point of using local suppliers, so we are supporting not onebut several local businesses.

It may seem expensive but when you take into account the cost of employing staff, complying with health & safety and hygiene, the prices are justified.

Eating out is not something I look forward to these days, especially as DH has very narrow tastes when it comes to food. He doesn’t do Italian, Indian, Chinese or anything else ending in ‘ese’!! Or Fish restaurants. So that leaves us with a carvery or a few country pubs that serve decent food, but I find it rather depressing that he orders the same thing wherever we go. We stumbled on a very good restaurant quite near to where we live, and thought we had struck gold, and then all of a sudden they announced they were closing. End of. It was rather out of the way and I suspect they had problems finding and keeping staff who could actually get to and from the place! If I go out with DD we sometimes have Japanese or Italian, or a vegetarian restaurant if we can find one.

I’m another who enjoys eating out. Fortunately we have 3 excellent restaurants within walking distance.
I remember being in France and on several occasions watching elegant elderly ladies dining out, some alone others in twos or threes. All were obviously known to the restaurants and treated very courteously.
I’d like to be able to do that as I age and for as long as I could!

I love eating out and do so at least twice a week. When with my husband, it'll be either a pub meal or the local curry house.

With family (AC, GC)we tend to go for somewhere in town and we have a Sunday roast. We always pay for the family and really enjoy all being together.

I find the helpings far too big for my appetite - perhaps I need to go to really posh restaurants where you get a minute heap of something in the middle of a tile or wooden platter, with a drizzle of something around the sides!

Eat out in the evening usually twice a week with husband, sometimes AC and GC will join us. Sometimes "fancy" others, local Indian, Malaysian, Turkish or Pub. We are lucky to have lots of choice.

Going up to Borough Market Saturday evening, 3 of AC and partners, 4 GC, my Sister and BIL. It is an upmarket restaurant, we have booked an early table so that the GC are not tired.

Love lazy Sunday brunches out, browsing the newspapers that we do not read at home. I know we are fortunate to be able to do all of the above, and I shall never take it for granted.

Lovely having someone else do the cooking! Really enjoy having lunch out. Usually a pub lunch. Can’t be doing with anything arty farty and don’t like eating too late.

Yes, I love it. Lots of restaurants, pubs and pop-ups round here that serve food of every origin. And many of them excellent value. We can have a great main course from our local Turkish or Indian (the one we've been going to since 1972!) for a fiver. We've plenty at the posh end as well, for special occasions.

I love eating out, but only in relaxed places.
I don't want to have to get dolled up to be able to have a nice meal.

I'm like Riverwalk, I love eating out and we have every kind of eatery round us from the standard chain pubs and restaurants, to lots of gastro pubs and non-chain cafes and restaurants.

As we live in a rural area, we have to drive to most, but fortunately I rarely drink, so that causes no problems.

I love eating out and would do it every other day if funds allowed.
That’s eating out with another person, or a group of friends, not eating out on my own.

Ooh yes, where I live we could eat a different cuisine every night of the month. I love a posh restaurant , friends and I often meet up somewhere smart , they often have special lunch deals , you can often get 2 courses for about £15 or £20 and occasionally you get a glass of fizz as well if you look on the websites such as Open Table. I also like more basic Indian or Middle Eastern restaurants where you can get loads of good food at reasonable prices. A friend and I found a Korean restaurant recently and had an amazing soup with noodles and mushrooms. Yum. Whats not to like about trying new dishes? The only restaurants I would avoid are places with loud piped music.

I've lost 3 of my life-long pals this last year and wouldn't dream of eating out anywhere----besides the fact that I'd miss them so much that they weren't with me that I wouldn't enjoy myself anyway so the best thing for me is to stay at home and eat ( and be miserable )
I'd known these friends since 1960.