Gransnet forums

Chat

Eating out, I don't enjoy it.

(87 Posts)
kircubbin2000 Fri 17-Feb-23 19:24:28

I really don't enjoy eating out. Today at lunch the restaurant was playing loud nondescript music and I couldn't hear what my friend was saying. I asked for it to be turned down and was told the owner liked it and they couldn't turn it down.
The main lunch price started at £18 and soup was £9 which seemed dear so we had a starter and coffee for £12.

Last week my son took me out and again loud music was annoying. Prices started at £20 for a light lunch and there was nothing on the menu I fancied. I'm not a fussy eater but I prefer to eat at home.

CanadianGran Fri 17-Feb-23 20:55:35

My DH doesn't like to eat out, so we don't very often. I think, like Kircubbin, that he just finds it loud, doesn't like everything on the menu, and why waste money when you can make a nice meal at home for less.

Really we only go out to eat a few times a year, for an occasion or while on vacation. I enjoy it a bit more, but it's more about the social event of meeting friends, than actually eating different food.

grandMattie Fri 17-Feb-23 21:00:23

Not sure. I took DD and family out for a pizza last night. Very noisy as the ceilings were high. It cost £125 for five of us… I feel it was rather a lot for a perfectly pleasant if unexceptional meal.

Hetty58 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:00:42

I enjoy eating out (no music, though) but lately, I'm more inclined to invite friends for a takeaway here. I can do the drinks, dessert, coffee etc. so it's much better value.

JackyB Fri 17-Feb-23 21:07:34

I don't enjoy eating the huge portions that are served, and always have to have half of it packed up to take home. Having said that, we ate out this evening and although I felt full afterwards, the food was very good and there was no music playing at all.

My mother always preferred to cook and eat at home - eating out was not a treat for her. My father was a travelling salesman and had to eat out several times a week, so, as my mother was such a good cook, this was fine by him.

We hardly ate out at all when I was little.

Nowadays it's nothing special to eat out, except for the fact that when there are a lot of us, we like to go to a restaurant as there is more space and no one is dashing backwards and forwards to the kitchen, and no one has to think about the washing up.

Generally, I can take it or leave it, though.

BlueBelle Fri 17-Feb-23 21:15:52

Tomorrow evening I m off to a Turkish restaurant for granddaughters birthday
I hate cooking so eating out is a real treat for me but I never go to expensive restaurants just ones with a good reputation

GrannyGravy13 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:27:35

BlueBelle

Tomorrow evening I m off to a Turkish restaurant for granddaughters birthday
I hate cooking so eating out is a real treat for me but I never go to expensive restaurants just ones with a good reputation

Our commuter village is swamped with Turkish Restaurants, some favoured by the TOWIE set, others what the GC call holiday Turkish. Cannot fault the food or service 👍🏻

Casdon Fri 17-Feb-23 21:33:00

I love eating out, it’s one of life’s treats, I find it far more fun to be out with friends or family eating different food, often things I wouldn’t make for myself, drinking and chatting than being at home, I’m there quite enough already. As long as background music isn’t intrusive it doesn’t bother me at all.

Skydancer Fri 17-Feb-23 21:34:27

I don't like eating out. It is expensive and I consider it a waste of money. I'd rather spend the money on my garden and have something to show for it. Unless you pay a lot, food is usually frozen and microwaved. We had a relative who was a chef and told many horror stories. He used to say never eat salad when you're out as the chef may not have washed their hands.

Hellogirl1 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:37:43

I love going out for a meal, although it doesn`t happen often enough. My only complaint is that wherever we go, the chairs are really heavy, and I have great difficulty in pulling my chair up to the table.

Hellogirl1 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:42:17

Doesn`t the chef not washing hands apply to any food?

Deedaa Fri 17-Feb-23 21:43:30

I do agree about the music. If I'm out with a group of friends it's hard enough to hear what everyone's saying without having music on top of it.
On the whole we are a pretty boring group and stick to a handful of restaurants where we know we can get a decent meal for a reasonable price.

AussieGran59 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:47:35

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GrannyGravy13 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:47:39

Oh dear I am obviously the odd one out, I love eating out, popping up to London, exploring other regions restaurants, why not if you can afford to.

I also love cooking as does DH

Kate1949 Fri 17-Feb-23 21:49:11

We had lunch out today. Two lunches, a pint for DH a glass of wine (large) for me. £15.50 Wetherspoons.

Jaxjacky Fri 17-Feb-23 21:50:15

We both enjoy eating out, either together with friends, family, a mix of both or on our own. It’s a treat not to cook, although I enjoy doing so, trying different food and no clearing up for anyone.
We either use local pubs/restaurants we know, recommendations from friends or on holiday read reviews, then take pot luck. We’re rarely disappointed and enjoy supporting small businesses, we tend not to use chains.
We’re out this Sunday, a family meal for 8 of us, nothing better!

annsixty Fri 17-Feb-23 22:28:55

I too love eating out and when my H was alive and well we would eat out regularly with friends and on our own.
Now sadly so many friends have died or no longer well enough to go out .
I go out about twice a month with one friend , occasionally with my GD and tomorrow I shall be going to another friend for our monthly Chinese takeaway.
She doesn’t like paying for food out although she does do it now and then with a singles group she belongs to.
I really wish I could do it more.

aonk Fri 17-Feb-23 22:41:04

I love going out full stop! Although I’m lucky to have a comfortable home I like to go out everyday and almost never spend an entire day indoors. I love to eat out too and enjoy most types of food. I’m careful about what I spend so choose restaurants carefully. I realise I’m fortunate to afford these meals and will do so for as long as I can.

Kim19 Sat 18-Feb-23 01:45:59

Lunching out is definitely my favourite pastime and I do it regularly. Particularly enjoy trying out new restaurants. Have certainly noticed an escalation in prices but that is understandable under current inflationary financial chaos.

MissChateline Sat 18-Feb-23 04:30:35

Read this sitting outside a cafe in Hue Vietnam. Dinner for 2 with beer £3.50. Chatter of local diners and delicious noodle soup. Not complaining.

absent Sat 18-Feb-23 04:42:20

My ex and I usually celebrate our birthdays – one in September and one in May – with a lunch together at one of the many restaurants in the small town where we live. There is quite a wide choice of cuisines and, although it's not gourmet dining, it has always been very tasty. They are all reasonably priced and tipping is not expected in New Zealand.

I am secretly delighted that the McDonalds in the nearby shopping mall has closed. I have never eaten there but usually took the youngest grandchildren there once during the school holidays. There are a number of different kinds of food stalls, so I usually chose a "pick your own" plate of pretty standard Chinese – nothing special but it always fills the gap. There is another McDonalds not far away, which I guess is why the one in mall closed. It's a bit of a walk –I don't drive – so even the boys don't suggest going there. The do love sushi, although it's not my favourite, so perhaps next school holiday I'll treat them to some of that.

MayBee70 Sat 18-Feb-23 05:17:12

When the children were young we had a friend who was unmarried and childless and was much richer than we were. He used to take us out for a meal once a year so the children would have the experience of eating out. It was a real luxury back then. I think things changed ( especially in my village which has loads of pubs) when drinking and driving was clamped down on and pubs realised that, to attract customers, they had to provide cheaper meals so they relied more on that than the sale of alcohol. The children were much older when I realised that I could afford to have a coffee whilst out shopping and I think that came about when different coffees became available and I didn’t feel guilty about buying eg a cappuccino that I couldn’t make at home. And, again because of the clamp down on drinking and driving, pubs started to provide coffee. I’ll always remember DH saying how lovely it was to go into a pub and be greeted by the smell of coffee and not tobacco ( this was when we were in Ireland and smoking in pubs had been banned a few years before England).

Whitewavemark2 Sat 18-Feb-23 06:20:21

I don’t think that music is played often in restaurants in Sussex, as we eat out quite a bit and I can’t say I’ve ever noticed it except in a rather nice Indian restaurant, but I liked that, just wish I could understand what the singer was saying😄.

sodapop Sat 18-Feb-23 07:20:19

I like eating out as well, we mainly meet up with friends for lunch so it's a pleasant social occasion as well. Like JackyB I dislike have large portions of food on my plate puts me off the meal completely.

fancythat Sat 18-Feb-23 07:24:47

Kate1949

We had lunch out today. Two lunches, a pint for DH a glass of wine (large) for me. £15.50 Wetherspoons.

And Table Tab le /brewers fayre, whatever they are called, our area at any rate, can have the savers menu 12 - 6pm, two main meals, £9.95 in total. plus relatively cheap starter and pudd too with that, if desired.

notgran Sat 18-Feb-23 07:51:57

Love eating out, anywhere. Yesterday after the hairdressers I was supposed to be meeting DH at a nearby Wetherspoons, for a cheap and cheerful lunch. However my appointment over ran so the car park ticket was about to expire. Instead we came home and went to the local pub where they had changed the menu. It was good before and there were now even more different and delicious choices. We spent a lovely couple of hours enjoying an afternoon time lunch, followed by double G'nTs. Lovely and came home to a home as tidy as it was when I left it at 10.30 so could just sit and watch tv. So yes I love eating out and as we are off to North Wales tomorrow for a few days away I shall be loving much of the same next week.