Eating out, I don't enjoy it.

Happygirl79

I rarely eat out as it's too expensive for my limited budget, but on the rare occasions I do, I'm often disappointed with the poor quality of the food I'm served. I also have food allergies, so I'm happiest to cook from scratch at home

This. All of this. I'd much rather not waste funds on food we could make as well or much better in our pleasant home.

Of course others feel differently.

Casdon An interesting article. If I am doing something that needs me to concentrate then to me music, any music is a distraction and ncredibly irritating. It is the same at home when I really need to concentrate, the radio goes off, it has suddenly become an irritant.

My neural diversity may play into this I have been diagnosed with dyspraxia, which has mental aspects as well as the physical and almost certainly have ADHD. Both DS and DGS have it and we have a lot of shared characteristics.

I rarely eat out as it's too expensive for my limited budget, but on the rare occasions I do, I'm often disappointed with the poor quality of the food I'm served. I also have food allergies, so I'm happiest to cook from scratch at home

I find eating out is hope over experience. I can count on one hand the times a meal has come up 10 out of 10.
Hubs and I rarely eat out from home say, but if we are out then we will have a meal. Some nice some not so nice.
Prefer lunch to evenings now as don't like night driving anymore.

Like to eat out when I can. I meet a friend for lunch sometimes at a local Italian , you can have 2 courses a glass of wine or beer for £12-95.

We also have a local Wetherspoons where two main courses are cheap as chips.

My favourite is going to a local steak restaurant with the granddaughters and my daughter ( their auntie) when Mum and dad go on a “date night” It is more expensive but the service is great, no music, and you can choose any variation on steak/salad dressing/ hot sauce choice with the steak. I’m not a huge drinker but they do a great Cosmopolitan too!

I think eating out is a really nice thing to do ( I understand it’s not for everyone ) and Im in complete agreement over no loud music .

My favourite place to eat out is the takeaway café at a local beauty spot. Lovely bacon roll and a large tea for under £6. The people and dog watching is first class - all shapes and sizes! Firefighters, paramedics and police often roll up for a quick bite, plus motorbike enthusiasts coming together to compare notes on their gleaming machines.

M0nica

I know how much I want to eat when I go out for a meal and am very unlikely to decide to eat more wheni get there, muzak or no muzak.

I have one or two courses and know in advance how much I want. If having two courses, I have a starter and main course. I do not eat steak, so I am not buying the most expensive dishes, muzak will not persuade me to order a steak, I do not like it. Ditto with desserts, I do not really like them. Very occasionally I will be tempted by a plain creme brulee, may be once or twice a year. Nothing to do with muzak. Same with drink. i drink per meal - and a jug of tapwater- and usually a coffee.

Muzak, irritating and a waste of time as it doen't affect my buying decisison. Those are made before I even get to the restaurant.

You’re clearly a ‘contemplative purchaser’ Monica, but that doesn’t mean that Muzak doesn’t work for some purchasers in both shops and restaurants. Interesting article from BBC here.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36424854

I know how much I want to eat when I go out for a meal and am very unlikely to decide to eat more wheni get there, muzak or no muzak.

I have one or two courses and know in advance how much I want. If having two courses, I have a starter and main course. I do not eat steak, so I am not buying the most expensive dishes, muzak will not persuade me to order a steak, I do not like it. Ditto with desserts, I do not really like them. Very occasionally I will be tempted by a plain creme brulee, may be once or twice a year. Nothing to do with muzak. Same with drink. i drink per meal - and a jug of tapwater- and usually a coffee.

Muzak, irritating and a waste of time as it doen't affect my buying decisison. Those are made before I even get to the restaurant.

So why do they often seem to get it so wrong?

I can't even guess how many times I've walked out of premises because of the intrusive muzak.

We enjoy lunching out, either just us or with friends, or separately with different friends. Pub in village does good basic pub grub or we drive to another favourite which has a more varied menu. We are mid-way between two Cote restaurants, and particularly enjoy their breakfasts on a Sunday followed by a leisurely stroll.

We only eat out when we are with friends or family.
It is far more relaxing eating at home.

varian

Perhaps we need to explain to shops and restaurants that they are losing customers if they impose MUZAC on them.

I assume they mistakenly think that MUZAK attracts customers. Otherwise why would they inflict it on us?

It’s true though, studies show that Muzak really does make people buy more, and they use classical music in expensive shops so they spend more too. In restaurants it’s to relax you so you eat and drink more. If they get it wrong they lose business, but if they get it right it enhances their profits - all very clever.

I don't enjoy eating out either, with me it's more about sitting on the hard wooden seats in most pubs/restaurants. Even though I'm only 58 I have alot of arthritis and tendinopathy in both hips . Makes sitting for too long uncomfortable,

We do eat out as often as possible. I was glad to see a lady on her own in Cote yesterday. She had taken herself out for a lovely lunch and gave every impression of enjoying it.

Eating out isn’t attractive choice for me. I’m always disappointed. I haven’t eaten out since before Covid shutdown. I do enjoy a coffee and a piece of cake but can’t remember my last visit to even a cafe possibly last September.

I love eating out, even though I am on my own now. I make a point of having a nice lunch out if I have a day out shopping. Don't feel awkward at all, I sit enjoying my glass(es)! of wine while perusing the menu, and then enjoy a meal cooked by someone else. Background music doesn't bother me.

Those who are responsible for the MUZAC should listen to a the celebrated musician Daniel Barenbaum.

"When I hear something like "Muzak" in a mall or on some public place, I don't really care about it. I hear it and find it tiresome usually. But most of this music is intended as background-music. What I find disgusting is, when I hear a classical piece of music, which really "deserves" to be listened to with care, as some sort of “aural background”. I once heard the beginning-chords of the Hammerklavier as a jingle in a drugstore. No more Moonlight at the meat-table, no more Claire-de-lune in the underwear-section!

This is my point of view, the view of a musician."

What Daniel Barenboim means is the effect of the music-pollution on the "not-music-addicted" people. I fear I cannot judge that, so I'll keep my cents at my own for now.

www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=6f4d35ccac6c1ab19b7a8e23e2dcf2a2&topic=17074.msg182852#msg182852

Perhaps we need to explain to shops and restaurants that they are losing customers if they impose MUZAC on them.

I assume they mistakenly think that MUZAK attracts customers. Otherwise why would they inflict it on us?

I wouldn't be able to hear anything if music was on as well as being in a busy restaurant.

You have to know the hidden places where we live. The popular or ones in Newspaper articles are booked up months in advance even in winter..One DD intending to visit at Easter could not get bookings at Christmas for where she wanted.
We have a local pub that does good basic meals the rest are a tedious drive not suitable after a drink so we entertain the family at home.
We pop out for special meals for birthdays, anniversaries etc. ourselves.

I hate eating out,i only do it because Dh likes to.
I find i get het up with peoples bad table manners,especially noisy eaters GRRRRRR.

Re the noise factor, we once booked a table at a riverside Argentinian steak restaurant, for 6 of us, inc. 2 lots of old friends we only saw about once a year. One couple were Indian and believe it or not, he was a great carnivore and ate no veg at all except potatoes - hence the choice of restaurant.

We’d been to look at the place one lunchtime - it seemed fine.
But in the evening, oh dear, there was deafeningly loud, banging music - conversation was almost impossible unless you shouted across the table.

After that (it was an annual thing) we made sure to stress when booking anywhere that we absolutely did need relative peace and quiet.

We eat out less now. As Kircubbin said, high prices and Muzak put us off and I like home cooked food.
We do eat out though, especially with some friends who we used to entertain at home. People’s dietary needs e.g. cœliac, or requirements, e.g. low-carb, low-fat, vegan, or vegetarian make cooking a meal for a group less simple. When we go out, it’s easier to find a restaurant that serves dishes for all those groups, leaving us free to enjoy conversation along with the meal.

We only really eat out when a) we have guests, or b) are away from home, or are (separately) meeting ex colleagues for lunch. It’s not a question of money - we just don’t feel the need, and don’t particularly want to.

Having said that, I do really miss a brilliant Thai restaurant that used to be walking distance down the road. That was our favourite by a mile - lovely food I’d never even try to replicate at home.

If I really can’t be bothered to cook, feeling rough or just tired, there are a couple of super-lazy meals I can make, or else dh enjoys the odd raid on Waitrose’s ready meals.

We definitely prefer lunch out to dinner out. Obviously, we do have to eat later if on holiday but, even then, I can only really manage two courses. Goodness knows why I'm the size I am!