[Koapaka]

We have found ourselves eating at home much more given the cost, crowds and weather.

Tonight we decided to enjoy dining on the patio of one of our favorite places and found that while the prices have only slightly increased, it seems to be at the expense of the quality of the food. A dish that I order often and have always loved there was something I would NEVER order again if that was my first experience enjoying it at that facility. It has to be awful as businesses struggle to meet the challenges of increased pricing AND trying to make their business to remain profitable.

My question is given the unprecedented times, would you as a villager prefer to pay the cost increase and keep the quality/serving expectation consistent with "what we have know and learned to expect" when you choose to dine out, or is it more important to you to keep the price closer to what we knew it to be and willing to accept cut the quality/serving???

Personally, to me it seems most venues are more focused on keep costs a consistent as possible. We are more inclined to expect the quality and consistency in making dining choices, knowing full well prices are fluid. I can not help but believe there are more than just us that would rather eat out less, but would appreciate the ability to come away from the evening not being disappointed, even if it cost a little more.

It appears to me that most of the dining venues we have visited seem to be leaning towards trying to cut corners in order to minimize inflation, when I personally would much prefer knowing I am going to be able to expect the quality I have learned to love and enjoy the meal paying a few dollars extra for it.

I would be most interested in other perspectives. Again, we enjoy dining out, but cooking at home more these days like most I suspect. (and even THAT cost more!) But at the same time, there are few reliant on food stamps here to make ends meet, and I think a little extra for quality vs cutting a few bucks raising cost might serve those that want to come away from a nice meal feeling satisfied with the experience. I guess what I am trying to convey is that given these strange days, inflation and shortages, are there still some that prefer known quality when deciding to celebrate and evening out. Thoughts? I truly believe there could be support for both options here. We have enough variance here in TV that you can buy wine from $7.00 per bottle to $80 per bottle...

[Bogie Shooter]

Yes.

[JMintzer]

They're damned of they do, damned of they don't.

People will complain of they raise their prices to ensure the quality remans the same, and they will complain if the quality suffers when they try to keep the prices the same...

I'm sensing a trend...

[Stu from NYC]

Would sure not want to own a restaurant now.

[davem4616]

I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for those in the restaurant industry to stay afloat in this era of Covid, add to it the damn inflation, supply chain issues and shortage of employees that are willing to work and it's almost a perfect storm

yes it would be great if the quality, quantity and service level stayed exactly where it was....IMHO, as much as the owners try, I just don't think that's going to happen.

So, continue to go there, but order dishes that you know won't be affected by all of the above...and maybe go when they're not slammed and the waitstaff isn't in the weeds, because they're short handed and your food will sit getting cold waiting to be picked up

We need to support these businesses...every restaurant owner I've ever known has put their heart and soul into their business....if you want an inside view of what it's like to run a restaurant...read the book Sous Chef....it's one day in the life of a Sous Chef,

huge, huge eye opener on what goes on behind the scenes that we never see, and it's a decent read

[Babubhat]

4 dollar sodas are the last straw. Often cheaper to drink beer

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Babubhat

4 dollar sodas are the last straw. Often cheaper to drink beer

Except that soda drinkers get free refills. Beer drinkers don't. So, it's only cheaper if you drink one beer. Who drinks one beer?

[JSR22]

I eat lunch or dinner out 6 or 7 times per week. I would prefer a cost adjustment on the prices to keep up the food quality. I only go to restaurants that take a reservation.

[MDLNB]

I never did like to stand in line to be seated, so I rarely eat out during "snow bird" months. I am usually patient with servers, but don't accept bad service that shouldn't be bad. Years ago, I went to one popular restaurant here and after waiting a long time to be seated (only because we were with visitors did we not leave) we had to wait almost an hour before our order was taken. Then, an additional long time to be served. The food was average. It was a long time before I tried again. When we returned, two orders were under cooked and one order was overcooked/dry and crusty. I returned during the Covid period for carryout and found that the item I wanted was no longer on the menu. I won't be going back. I would rather have good service at a fast food place than poor service, poor meals at a nice, classy restaurant. I pay for the meal, not the atmosphere. For average service, I give the minim tip(20%) and for good service I give a decent tip, regardless of the quality of the meal. I do not penalize the servers for the poor quality meal.
Once, at my favorite spot I received a very poorly prepared menu item, which was unusual. As I was paying the employee asked me how my meal was and I told her that I was very surprised that my meal was so bad, and added that I frequent their establishment on a regular basis and it was very unusual. She said she was going to discount my bill and I replied that I did not expect to have it discounted, just give the person that prepared it a warning that the meal was unacceptable. She still insisted on giving me a discount, so I accepted it just to get out of the place as I was holding up others that wished to pay and exit.
Eating out has become costly, likely due to the cost of supplies and labor costs. I realize that. However, if you are going to be expected to pay double what you would have a little over a year ago, then compensate the customer with great service and great food preparation.

[tsmall22204]

Why are you so long winded about a subject that isn't that complicated?

[banjobob]

Having owned and operated restaurants for years , I find that quality of the food plus the consistency of the food ,that it is the same every time, plus service are the factors that people expect. The price according to The National Restaurant Association ranks way down the list as to why people go to a restaurant.

[Bethwill]

Originally Posted by tsmall22204

Why are you so long winded about a subject that isn't that complicated?

Why are you so rude? Nobody forced you to finish reading it.

[GRACEALLEMAN]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

We have found ourselves eating at home much more given the cost, crowds and weather.

Tonight we decided to enjoy dining on the patio of one of our favorite places and found that while the prices have only slightly increased, it seems to be at the expense of the quality of the food. A dish that I order often and have always loved there was something I would NEVER order again if that was my first experience enjoying it at that facility. It has to be awful as businesses struggle to meet the challenges of increased pricing AND trying to make their business to remain profitable.

My question is given the unprecedented times, would you as a villager prefer to pay the cost increase and keep the quality/serving expectation consistent with "what we have know and learned to expect" when you choose to dine out, or is it more important to you to keep the price closer to what we knew it to be and willing to accept cut the quality/serving???

Personally, to me it seems most venues are more focused on keep costs a consistent as possible. We are more inclined to expect the quality and consistency in making dining choices, knowing full well prices are fluid. I can not help but believe there are more than just us that would rather eat out less, but would appreciate the ability to come away from the evening not being disappointed, even if it cost a little more.

It appears to me that most of the dining venues we have visited seem to be leaning towards trying to cut corners in order to minimize inflation, when I personally would much prefer knowing I am going to be able to expect the quality I have learned to love and enjoy the meal paying a few dollars extra for it.

I would be most interested in other perspectives. Again, we enjoy dining out, but cooking at home more these days like most I suspect. (and even THAT cost more!) But at the same time, there are few reliant on food stamps here to make ends meet, and I think a little extra for quality vs cutting a few bucks raising cost might serve those that want to come away from a nice meal feeling satisfied with the experience. I guess what I am trying to convey is that given these strange days, inflation and shortages, are there still some that prefer known quality when deciding to celebrate and evening out. Thoughts? I truly believe there could be support for both options here. We have enough variance here in TV that you can buy wine from $7.00 per bottle to $80 per bottle...

As far as the quality of the food you were talking about that you usually order. It all boils down to the cook that made it. It has nothing to do with anything else. If you have a bad cook or chef then it's gonna taste awful.

[gloriam1]

I would prefer quality over cost.

[toeser]

We have all but ceased eating out. It's not that we cannot afford to, we just choose not to. Much easier to maintain the waistline and have unclogged veins.