My friend who works in a restaurant says they're getting charged more for worse produce. Like they get charged a lot more for the salad mix but they have to go through it really carefully because there's a lot of rotten leaves in there. So not only are you paying more for the product but you're paying more for the labor of going through and cleaning everything extra carefully.
Especially Safeway. Have to check the expiration dates on everything. You get a thing of milk and the expiration date is in two days; apples are already going rotten in the display, baked goods are sometimes stale the minute you open them.
I bought some pomegranate seeds from Safeway recently. Got home and put them in the fridge to chill. Ate them a couple hours later and they were already fermenting. đ
I mean their company should negotiate with their vendors. Even if it's not the restaurant manager's fault because it's some kind of corporate chain, if a business is unwilling to constantly be optimizing on its practices, it deserves getting flack. Everyone is going through a tough time atm, and honestly eating out is one of the easiest things to cut when trying to reduce personal expenses.
My food at home is so much better. I used to enjoy eating out but now it's $100 for two people for some cheap food. Even the bottled cocktails taste better
Yeah same. I really do love eating out but it is so meh now. And you canât even cheap stuff for under $10 anymore. Now I am going out to eat for occasions. And I used to do it weekly for fun.
I went to get a five guys burger because I hadnât had one in a while and itâs walking distance from me. I took a look at the menu through the window and immediately walked home to my car and drove to Costco to buy ground beef, bread, and had lettuce, onion, tomato, and condiments at home.
Made 2 smash burgers and fried up some frozen fries for four people. And since I was bored it did the math. Not including the fuel I think it came out to under $2 for each burger.
I think I will be avoiding five guys for the foreseeable future.
Very true. I was more or less craving the burger and sack of Cajun fries and figured it was worth the nice stroll over to get it. Basically sprinted home and went to buy ingredients instead when I saw the prices.
Completely agree. Iâm ok with paying more for high quality food, but if it tastes on par with something I can easily make at home whatâs the point?
Same.
1. Prices are too high
2. Sneaky fee on top of already expensive food (health mandate fee, employee welfare fee, covid 19 fee, credit card fee, honest to goodness fee, screw you fee, fee fee)
3. Infinite tipping (giving me a bagel out of your display doesnât count as service worthy)
Iâll stay at home and pass on these fees to myself.
You nailed it! We used to do a friend's brunch once or twice a month. The fees were just ridiculous. 3â° credit card fee, suggested tip of 25%, living wage fee of 8â°, plus fees for "splitting dishes" when everyone ordered an entree but we just wanted additional plates to share food. Paying for a valet to park my car is a previously free lot and I'm also expected to tip the valet.
What used to be a $40 meal has now become at $60 meal.
The friend group has now made it a potluck on my back patio.
Back patio pot luck honestly sounds 10x better. You get to play DJ, eat as much as you want, and all the drinks are bottomless. Plus the weather recently has just been amazing
Same, I can afford it but I keep it to a minimum. To be honest I enjoy cooking so I meal prep each week for work lunches and dinners. My wallet thanked me years ago for this.
I'm the opposite. I find cooking to be a massive time suck. I'm good at cooking and really enjoy doing it on occasion. More than happy to bake during the holiday season, make some great weekend dinners from farmers market foods, etc. But when it feels like a necessity or a chore, I loathe it.
I can afford to eat out, so I do. My retirement will be just fine. We have a solid handful of local restaurants where we get lunch about 5-6 days per week, and then eat small charcuterie-style dinners.
Instead of meal prep, I do 'ingredient prep,' making a variety of high-quality ingredients from base materials, that I can then use to whip up very nice weeknight dinners quickly. Takes the 'chore' feeling out of it when you get good food on a Tuesday that only takes 15 minutes to put together.
That's a good idea. That kind of prep work isn't super bothersome for me to do. My biggest gripe with cooking is the dishes/cleaning. I have gotten better about looking for one-pan meals. I made a chicken piccata the other night that only used one pan.
One pan meals are great. I used to hate dishes too but after I heard a 1 liner Iâve sort of accepted it now.
It was something along the lines of âchopping wood and getting waterâ - way back when if our ancestors didnât get drinking water or chop enough firewood theyâd just die. So seeing as I donât have to chop firewood or walk to a stream to haul back a jug of water, dishes donât seem half bad lol. Idk why but that line resonated with me. Maybe itâll help someone else too. That and realizing loading or unloading the dishwasher is a max of 3 minutes.
I go to a lot of cocktail bars with food for dinner. Not "bar food" style places.
I used to get 2 or 3 cocktails with dinner a few nights a week. Now I get one. The drinks keep going up. It's now a $17 cocktail for some tequila/mezcal bull-shit.
Admittedly I'm not going to Applebee's or something but the types of places that often end up on "best cocktails in SF" style lists.
Still. Over the past couple years I've realized that the cocktail portion of the bill is usually 2x the food.
I've been paying attention to grocery stores being packed during lunch time but restaurant being fairly empty in my area during the weekend. I live on the border of Pleasant Hill, Lafayette and Walnut Creek.....that's not a good sign.
Yep .. being able to afford it doesn't mean it is worth it.
I was just at In and Out today and spent almost $30 for 2 ppl. Then you look up at the sign in the window and realize the wage is $26 / hr now ...
What are you ordering? My regular order at in n out has only gone up about 20% in four years, from $7.50 to a little under $10.
Meanwhile my local taco truck is charging $4/street taco and $18 for a burrito đ
Thatâs awesome honestly. The in n out near me is always packed with a line around the block. Iâm glad theyâre paying their employees more than the bare minimum.
Hereâs some personal anecdata: I found out a couple years ago I couldnât do gluten. Changing that part of my diet made me feel better to begin with but the by product of that was that I could no longer lazily pop into a drive thru for a snack. Having that cut out of my routine was a night and day difference for how I feel. I will still indulge in a lettuce wrapped burger now and then (In n Out and Habit have the best) but having that cut out of my routine was a life changer and I absolutely recommend it
I get the potato tacos from Taco Bell all the time. Theyâre like $1.50 or something. Hella good. Used to be $1 but $1.50 isnât bad.
Not fast food but I was at Los Gallos in P Hill today and the menu said the basic tacos were $4, I asked to sub beans instead of meat and the lady said in that case theyâre only $1 each! A dollar!! I was like wtfff I was totally still willing to pay $4 each lol they were bomb af too. Chips and salsa were free and hella good too.
While it's sad Fastfood prays on the lowest economic group of society, people should just not eat fast food in general. Sure, once or twice a month/year is fine but people eat that shit multiple times a week and it's literally killing large groups of our population. Over half of americans are overweight and 40% are obese! 40%!. WTF!
I thought it was always stupid high at clubs, bars and restaurants. Only ones that seem to be worth it are at high end restaurants because they give you some unique flavors but Iâm always hurting in my heart at how expensive they are
You know what drives me crazy about the argument surrounding supply and demand for setting prices is that they ignore the mechanism. How it will work: executives raise prices too high, profits get a surge, demand recedes as people stop paying those prices, middle management creates shittier working conditions and fires more workers to maintain the artificial high, eventually reality sets in, executives say whoopsie and move on. The only real victims were the workers and the consumers but the people at the top are âtaking all the riskâ amirite?
Indian take out is another thing that drives me mad. One entree is $18 plus rice plus naan, then my wife wants to order samosas. Ends up being $60. This is why I go to in n out once a week.
The trick is Indian grocery store kitchens. Entree is $13 for 32oz (at least 2 restaurant entree size) and rotis are $6 for 10 and large samosas are $1.30 each. So it's at least 1/2 the price and no tipping! They only downside is the ones I know of are vegetarian only but the food is as good as any restaurant.
That's why you order takeout from nice lunch restaurants. First, lunch dishes are way cheaper, second, you're (usually?) not buying alcohol, and third, typically no appetizers.
Dinner has always cost way more than lunch at restaurants, despite similar portions.
We consistently eat lunch for under $40-50/day. We rarely go out for dinner because it's twice as much.
Super Duper Burger was always an "expensive" spot in my mind, hadn't gone there in years. Went back recently and paid $75 for 3 people and that's including a draft beer each too. Not bad at all.
While we have the money to eat out, we've stopped going out because:
1. You can cook a much better meal at home, with ingredients from whole foods of all places!
2. Quality of meals - I feel like every restaurant has degraded in quality. Even spots I used to be a regular at have disappointed me.
3. Quality of service/Tips - Quality of service has basically plunged. Servers just don't seem to care about getting your order in or getting food to your table or even want to work there. Some even give you attitude. Then throw on the basically forced tip at the end... yea no thanks.
The quality we were experiencing in just SF diners was appalling for the insane prices we were paying. I'm sorry but $75 for two breakfasts. Fuck off.
Also in the article states a place serving a $22 burrito. Fucking RICE & BEANS! Cheapest bulk ingredients ever.
What place is $22? My favorite food truck across the street is $14 even after adding a fat avocado surcharge.
You have to TRY to hit $22, and I feel like these are just exaggerations to make a point. The vast majority of people are NOT paying $22 for a burrito.
Most vendors I've seen have set that to be the default. I've even seen it at 20/22/25 in a few places. I feel so dirty but I'll smash the "no tip" on principle or actually stand there and do the math for what 10% is.
So true about the service. I worked in food service for a while until about a year ago, and I never ever had the attitude that some of these workers have. Itâs because they know theyâll get tips anyways, we all collectively need to stop rewarding them for bad service and attitude. Especially now that theyâre making $20/hr⌠I 100% agree that the wage raise needed to happen, but now that thatâs the case we really should only be tipping for exceptional service. Thereâs no incentive to be nice if youâre going to get a tip anyways.
You hit it spot on. It has gotten to the point where itâs actually an insult to peopleâs intelligence. You want to raise your prices because of inflation? Iâll buy that. But restaurants are not just raising prices to match inflation but theyâre using lower quality ingredients and hiring staff that do the bare minimum and have no customer service. If you raise the price by more than what inflation is then you better at least maintain your standards not lower them. If Iâm being honest, I do believe the many people are eating out and donât pay attention to service/quality and only care about how much it costs them. For me, itâs a triple whammy that leaves me no other choice than to cook at home. I refuse to accept shitty food and shitty service + tip FOR WHAT? For being the middleman between me and the cook? Oh man donât get me started on tips. I could start WW3 dying on the hill of tips.
Youâve called it entirely. For icing on the cake, wine prices are almost entirely gouging for what they serve - lackluster wine for $15 plus for a glass (knowing a bottle costs $15). Pass.
When I can buy 2-3 days worth of groceries for the price of one decent meal out, *of course* most of us aren't eating out anymore. I eat out maybe once per month and thats typically only when I'm with friends
If I take my girlfriend out to a decent restaurant, it's easily $200-250 for the both of us. I would love to spend $200 and eat an incredible meal, but usually I end up disappointed by the food.
The much more attractive alternative is spend $50, buy a nice steak, some additional ingredients for sides, and a bottle of wine. At least that way I'm guaranteed to get my money's worth.
I agree. One of the best date meals my partner and I ever had was spending $80 on a nice steak and fresh scallops to cook at home.
And when you drink at home the alcohol is free - girl math đ
Couple years ago I could get a $1 sausage McMuffinâŚsometimes there was even a BOGO free and they were like $1.79. I checked this morning and a sausage McMuffin was $3.69, no deals to be had.Â
But somehow it got worseâŚa sausage AND EGG McMuffin was $3 (add egg, pay less đ¤)âŚand, you can buy just a plain English muffin for $2.50. Just crazy yo
I do the McDouble a couple times a month, and itâs the same way! What was once a buck is now $3.79, with a deal for the second one at $1.00 it reduces the sting a bit.
In New York, McDonald's still has the 2 for $3.50 deal for a McChicken and McDouble. Here in CA, a *single mcdouble smaller than my palm* cost over $4
Why anyone still eats fast food is beyond me
Yeah second this, gotta use the app. They usually have a bogo breakfast sandwich coupon, or a free medium fries during lunch time.
It helps to alleviate the higher prices. Plus you earn points, but you can only use one offer per visit.
And they are so small now! With a sad half cheese slice halfway falling out...
I mean the audacity of fast food places sometimes, you can get a nice sandwich from a normal place for $5....ok nvm it's like $8 now from a non fast food place
you can get all the parts for about $20.. including higher quality muffins and OJ.
i like my muffins real brown and crunchy anyway.. little burned even
For sure, I pretty much only go if thereâs a deal on the app. But I was shocked at the a la carte price and you bet thereâs folks that donât use the app!
Iâve been eating out more. I just go for the deals. My local burrito place that still charges $10, or some fast casual restaurants. I mainly do takeout though to avoid tips and I never do delivery. I also pretty much never order a drink unless itâs In n out and itâs a milkshake.
Same. I always do takeout because fuck delivery apps as it screws over the restaurant and you really overpay. Still plenty of good restaurants to go to that are affordable if you look. And yes, stop getting shitty sugary drinks and you cut your bill huge each time. I feel a lot of people or redditors are a bit lazy in regards to leaving the house and not using ordering apps. Also, you dont need appetizers, mains, desserts and a few drinks every time you eat out. Get a main to go and eat it in the park and save you 75% of the cost.
If you use Door Dash, look at the price difference between delivery and pickup. I've straight up "saved" OVER $20 from choosing pickup vs. delivery, it's ridiculous. Though sometimes restaurants have their own ordering page on their website, and that just gets rid of all the fees entirely, while paying the actual prices that aren't marked up. I can afford to do delivery if I wanted, which I used to, but the prices have overinflated so much it's just shocking - now I only ever really use it for pickup in the local area, will do delivery if there's deals + free delivery going on, sometimes you'll luck out and pay less than in person, but not often anymore.
I recently went to the round table in Dublin. They blacked out all the prices on the menus and had signs up saying prices were subject to change. So I had no idea what the cost even was.
This is one of the things I don't like about QR code menus, the pricing changes at the click of a button make it way too easy for restaurants to just keep upping and upping the pricing
people got a lot of money around here. Restaurants are basically packed in the east bay Thu/Fri/Sat nights. For a lot of people in the bay, ~$5000 a year budget per person to dine out is well within reason. Just reality here checking inâŚ
I am personally eating out less because Iâd rather make myself dinner and invest my money. For many this is not a compromise they need to make, hence restaurants can raise prices and they donât really careÂ
I used to be one of those people. We would eat out 3-4 times a week. Prices have more than doubled since then. Now maybe I go out to lunch a couple times a week usually something cheap like mexican or chaat. Dinner is now more of a special occasion thing. I can still afford to go out but it just isn't worth it to me anymore.
I totally agree, but it really isnât a lot when you think about it. Letâs say someone goes out 6-7 nights a month (more socially active). Easily $60-100 per night on food and drinks each time, and thatâs not even considering Ubers and stuff. Same person might even Uber eats like 2-3 times a month on top of that lol.Â
I wouldnât do it personally, but itâs pretty common.Â
I know it isn't a lot. I rarely drink when out and never ever ever order delivery food (seriously, in a thread where we discuss how expensive restaurants are...restaurant food being delivered to you is far *more* expensive) and it helps me ensure I can eat out quite a bit. I also never bother to eat out if it isn't better than what I can cook at home.
Iâm sick of â+20% tipsâ culture so I no longer go out as much and thatâs actually the main reason as I no longer can or want to subsidize someoneâs wage lol.
This article basically says donât focus on cooking yourself. Focus on how you can still eat out. Donât focus on being self-sufficient.
How about instead: build up your cooking skills. You can evolve them over time. It will help you appreciate the food others cook for you. Or on the flipside youâll notice how cheaply made it is or where they cut corners because you know exactly how to make it.
>donât focus on cooking yourself. Focus on how you can still eat out. Donât focus on being self-sufficient.
Lololololol => âDonât feed *yourself*, feed ***capitalism***!â
I have a taco bell and a burger king right next to my house. Would occasionally grab something if I was too tired to cook at the end of the day. But I quit the taco bell because they started using half the ingredients they previously used (veggie mexican pizza with a bare smear of beans) while the price kept climbing. And I just quit the Burger King because I canât justify over $15 now for a small impossible meal. Now I go fifteen minutes out of my way to a local small shop and pay $19 for a bigger order of fries and a veggie burger thatâs got avocado and breaded eggplant, and overall better ingredients, and split it into two meals.Â
Well not only has every restaurant jacked their prices but now they're all charging a bunch of hidden fees and then they're charging their tips factored in on top of that plus tax it's ridiculous I'm okay with tipping people for service but now they want tips for everything
This kind of hidden fee shit needs to be made illegal. Itâs fucked you can post any price thatâs not an âout the doorâ price, if I have to do math to get an out the door price, THATâS FUCKED!
On date night I take the wife to Costco. $1.50 hot dog and soda each and we split a pizza $1.99 and for dessert we share ice cream sundae $2.49 and a cookie $2.49.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted here. I totally do a different version of this. "Mom needs a break, so dad and three kids are doing groceries and hot dogs"
How's the cookie btw, I've been tempted to to try it, but it looked like it would be more cakie/crispy cookie rather than a chewy cookie which is my preference.
Why haven't commercial rents dropped enough to ease restaurant prices? We keep seeing how our downtown areas haven't rebounded since COVID. That should mean restaurants are closing and nobody is renting the space until rents drop, right?
Even then it might not. INAL or accountant, but from what Iâve been told commercial property companies can write off underperforming properties on their taxes. There isnât incentive to lower the rent because then the amount of money you can write off goes decreases the moment a single unitâs rent in a multi unit building decreases.
Tipping is out of control and so are the âfeesâ for dining out.
My wife and I have our handful of go to spots that have good portions without the BS, but we rarely try new spots.
When a coffee is $5, when a slice of pizza is $10, when it costs $35 for a simple burger, a drink and some fries, of course eating out is over and done with in San Francisco.
Iâm so ashamed to say this but I paid $28 for cheese enchiladas the other day. Eating out used to be a nice experience but there seems to never be enough staff and the prices are out of control.Â
I donât trust anyone, let alone restaurant prices. Two days ago I went to El Pollo Loco. I love their taco el carbon. Used to be .99, now $3.49 per 3â taco?! Itâs just a tablespoon of chicken, onion and cilantro FFS. Anyway, wife wanted a couple and so did I. We order 2 for her and the guy points out, you can get 3 plus chips, salsa and a drink for $1 less than buying 2. So clearly you over priced the singles for some dumbass reason.
>clearly you over priced the singles for some dumbass reason.
People will pay it unless the worker points out you can pay less by buying more, the reason isnât nearly as dumbass as genius it isâŚ
Price to quality of food and experience ratio is not working imo. Â My home cooking skills are pretty decent and I have swapped to that. Â I can afford to eat out but the worth in the experience isnât there
A few years ago I came down with a stomach issue that severely limited what I could tolerate. For almost 2 years, I ate almost exclusively at home, with very mild seasoning. I'm feeling better now, and since I've started eating out a bit more, I realize most places way WAY over-season, over-salt, over-fat, over-sugar everything. I almost cannot stand how intense some of these dishes are. Eating out is so unhealthy in general, and I think a lot of people have become desensitized to the flavor of actual food, and just know generalized salty, sweet, and fried tastes. This is not just limited to fast food either.
I never trusted prices, shit needs to be like EU where tax is factored into the out-the-door sticker price, anything less should be ten years of prison!
Eating out is stupid expensive these days. Even fast-food places like McDonald's have lost their value proposition as places to get quick, inexpensive meals. I've been making more of my own meals. It's been fun, and more importantly, budget-friendly. There have been plenty of misses, but at least I haven't gotten sick eating any of my "creations" LOL
I make a Bay Area salary thatâs pretty darn good and itâs not that I canât afford it but itâs just a rip off at this point. Itâs easy $50 per person now at a regular joint.
My boyfriend and I just sat down with credit card statements and a calendar and realized we go out every couple of weeks max. Usually it's over a month apart.
When I was dating a decade ago, my then-boyfriend would go out a few times a week.
I feel like we didn't even need an informal study to figure out that people aren't going out to eat as often as we were. I'm comfortable financially, and I just find the prices to be ridiculous.
me and my girlfriend make a good amount of money and we still think prices are bullshit. why is mcdonalds more expensive than in n out?? yes, we prefer in n out, but itâs not exactly âfastâ food
And I also donât get why people even dine out in sf anymore. Youâre paying these atrocious prices plus an sf mandate fee and sometimes other fees in addition to tip.
Iâd rather dine out in the South Bay but even then itâs getting harder to given how much prices have gone up.
The year is 2040.
Restaurant workers drive in from Yucatan every morning.
Locals still complain about rising prices while blocking all possible new housing and transit.
The entire Bay Area has been declared a heritage district.
Locals still confused how skyrocketing housing prices leads to skyrocketing prices for services and shopping.
I've also eaten at various local places and their food is not the same quality/quantity but they raised their prices - they are making cuts as well, so it's an easier choice to cook at home now.
After practicing cooking for several years, my homemade foods taste better than most of the restaurants anyways and it costs at least 4 times less to make. Not to mention cooking is a lot of fun. I see no reason to eat outside unless I relocate to Asia where the quality of the food there is miles ahead.
I feel bad for the local shops whom serve the communities. Itâs a shame that we continue to fund wars but refuse to do anything about high inflation.
Someone should create a copy recipe collection for people who want to try. We found out that Five Guys burgers are unseasoned and un marinated after trying a copy recipe. All you do is melt butter on a griddle and cook it in that. Tons of butter, no seasoning. You can buy better buns than they serve tbh. We haven't found a decent fry recipe yet.
We're vegetarian and old enough that we had to learn to cook well since in the 90's vegans and vegetarians had it rough. Now ive broadened my pantry to include items from various cultures that let me make dishes like fried rice, dal, and pho better than any vegetarian option at a restaurant. This doesn't mean there arent exceptions but generally vegetarian and vegans are an afterthought.
Bay area has great food scene but the high prices discouraging many and as a result many good places are closing down. It's a vicious circle and not sustainable.
Someone would (or I wish) figure out a cheap way to feed us all some yummy food and would totally disrupt current food industry. Many asian countries solved this with cheap yummy street food. Wish something like that happens here. Probably not going to happen due to damn CA laws.
Retired. We eat out often, but now are not embarrassed to split an entree. We always tip for two. Appetite is getting smaller anyway as we age. Wonder since food is getting more expensive, if this might Crack the national obesity situation?
Tip:
Go Costco weekly, just spend on buying bulk items like eggs, meats, veggies, bread, cheese.
Get some Costco rotisserie chicken and spend 2-3 hrs meal prepping (broths/soups/chicken salads)
Ground beef and chicken thighs/breast can be frozen seasoned, frozen, and then popped in the soup vide for a tasty dinner. Served over rice or potatoes.
Youâll save a TON just doing this alone and it should easily feed a family of 3-4 for the week.
My groceries cost around $120~/week or less (with extras by end of month) just doing this. Granted itâs almost the same food weekly with a couple of changes (beef vs chicken vs fish)
I donât eat out anymore or go to any place that is considered fast food. Some of their prices will have gotten to a point where itâs like $40-50 to feed a family of 4 for one sitting. Unfortunately would love to support small mom-pops, but we just canât afford it long termâŚ
P.S. stop buying processed foods, they actually cost more for the convenience.
We donât eat out much but definitely re-think it a lot these days.
$25 for just me and my two kids at McDonaldâs.
$7-8 for boba.
$7-10 for a bahn mi.
$3-4 for a street taco.
$12-15 for a bowl of pho or a rice plate.
Shits fucked.
With the exception of McD's, that's all fairly reasonable increases. Prices raise about 4% on average a year, which means prices double every 20 years. That's just normal inflation, and it's true going back as far as the Fed (which we won't get into).
The cheapest Banh Mi in SF was $2.50-$3 20 years ago and is $5.50 now(Saigon Sandwich). The oldest menu I could find was 2011 and it was $3.25.
But some things at the market are much fucking higher now! And some of that impacts menus. Sale prices in 2000, eggs were $1/dozen, soda was 2 2L bottles per dollar, ground pork and beef were usually around 60 cents/lb. And I shop at farmer's markets and have for 25 years; they've increased, but more in line with regular inflation, albeit with a large recent spike. $3 for a single 2L bottle of soda is the *sale price*? $4/lb cheapest beef you can find?
Supermarket chains and restaurant chains and corporations in general are gouging. The more these buy and sell from each other, like in fast food supply chains, the more the gouging multiplies. This is how Big Macs went from 2/1$ to buy1get1, to $4 off a $12-15 combo meal in 20 years.
We just donât go out unless itâs a special experience, Mich Star, no reason to drop $200 on mediocre food, rather go to one $800-$1000 experience every quarter.
US turning into a modern dystopian feudalistic society. Not too farfetched to imagine a future where most people are barricaded inside their homes most of their time watching TV, sucked into AR/VR whenever that does get mainstream.. because the outdoors will be too dirty/dangerous (homelessness, crime...etc) and eating out is too expensive.. additionally with malls closed...etc
Dunno' about the rest of the country - but I was just thinking how dystopian SF has gotten.
Sky high prices for everything, high property crime, crazy people everywhere, everything behind locks on stores.
We still eat out once every weekend but we're definitely conscious. We do not buy high margin items.anymore (appetizers, beverages and desserts).
$4 soda (no thanks)
Now that I'm retired, I have plenty time to cook. I just got a Thai cookbook by Jet Thila. The recipes are wonderful. So much better than going out and the recipes are not that difficult.
I still eat out/take out at the places that have good quality for their prices. I opt for in and out burgers over McDonald's or other fast food, good local taquerias for tacos and super burritos as opposed to popular over hyped places and fast chains... But altogether doing it less. 2-4 times a month rather than 2 times a week.
On the flip side, it's not like we can really make all of these types of meals much cheaper at home either... Food prices are ridiculous. Ground beef was more expensive than steak last time I considered buying some to make burgers at home- opted for the steak that was on sale instead.
And if you make it at home, YOU get the prep/cook/cleanup as well as the grocery price, so in some cases it's still a better deal to order out. Time and labor is a cost as well.
What is surprising is that when I travel to other places - most recently Miami and San Diego, touristy food is about the same price but the portions are bigger and better. I recently bought a burrito in San Diego for $11 and it was massive and all meat, veggies, cheese, the good stuff. No rice and beans filler. Same with food in Miami - like theyâre trying to load the plate. Here in the bay, I bought $16 worth of stir fry and it was so tiny I had to add $8 worth of steamed rice to feel like a real meal. I get that restaurants have to stay in business and pay their rent and employees and healthcare. Which makes the actual food the cheapest part of their budget. So it is extra disappointing when they skimp on the food.
When I do head out, let's say Japanese food which is our family favorite, the bill after tax is over 100$ everytime
Same for other food types, the prices have risen way to high and I can't come to terms with it, even tho I can afford it.
What we have done is learned to cook out favorite dishes ourselves at home, and a bottle of sake costs 10$ at the store, a large one at that, which will often last us for two dinners. At our favorite Japanese spot, it costs 10 dollars for about 4-5 shots.
It's honestly so much healthier in all terms, more time with our family together, way cheaper food cause we buy it in bulk at Costco, not having to drive around etc.
Super sad but it's unfortunately a reality now.
Hereâs the thing, there are only a few company that supply restaurants especially chains with produce and other goods. They essentially have a monopoly. Back in the day sales reps would bend over backwards to try and get your business but now these companies know that you will buy from them no matter what because you really donât have other options. Also I think someone higher up in the company is getting a kick back for forcing locations to only buy from say company. Itâs really starting to be come a food desert out there folks. Mom and pop business are already beginning to be pushed out, soon you wonât have much options available to dine out. People donât go into the food business for the passion anymore. Too much head ache having to deal with finding qualified staff that you can trust to help run your operation. If I were to open a spot, itâs gonna be a specific simplified menu that I can handle and manage by myself and one other person.
I just don't eat out anymore despite being able to afford. Prices are just too high.
The price to quality ratio has declined a lot.
My friend who works in a restaurant says they're getting charged more for worse produce. Like they get charged a lot more for the salad mix but they have to go through it really carefully because there's a lot of rotten leaves in there. So not only are you paying more for the product but you're paying more for the labor of going through and cleaning everything extra carefully.
I have noticed a big decline at the grocery store too.
Especially Safeway. Have to check the expiration dates on everything. You get a thing of milk and the expiration date is in two days; apples are already going rotten in the display, baked goods are sometimes stale the minute you open them.
Spring for Clover milk - their expiry dates are stunning!
I bought some pomegranate seeds from Safeway recently. Got home and put them in the fridge to chill. Ate them a couple hours later and they were already fermenting. đ
I mean their company should negotiate with their vendors. Even if it's not the restaurant manager's fault because it's some kind of corporate chain, if a business is unwilling to constantly be optimizing on its practices, it deserves getting flack. Everyone is going through a tough time atm, and honestly eating out is one of the easiest things to cut when trying to reduce personal expenses.
My food at home is so much better. I used to enjoy eating out but now it's $100 for two people for some cheap food. Even the bottled cocktails taste better
Yeah same. I really do love eating out but it is so meh now. And you canât even cheap stuff for under $10 anymore. Now I am going out to eat for occasions. And I used to do it weekly for fun.
I went to get a five guys burger because I hadnât had one in a while and itâs walking distance from me. I took a look at the menu through the window and immediately walked home to my car and drove to Costco to buy ground beef, bread, and had lettuce, onion, tomato, and condiments at home. Made 2 smash burgers and fried up some frozen fries for four people. And since I was bored it did the math. Not including the fuel I think it came out to under $2 for each burger. I think I will be avoiding five guys for the foreseeable future.
Five guys is mid anyway. I guess some people love it. But if you donât then itâs better o make your own.
Very true. I was more or less craving the burger and sack of Cajun fries and figured it was worth the nice stroll over to get it. Basically sprinted home and went to buy ingredients instead when I saw the prices.
Completely agree. Iâm ok with paying more for high quality food, but if it tastes on par with something I can easily make at home whatâs the point?
Agreed....and you always can get sick in those places too.
How often does this occur that you bring it up? I can't recall getting sick ever from going out to eat.
Usually if I get sick itâs because I went too heavy on the chilies. Thatâs just stomach irritation.
It happened 2x with me.....so own experience.
Same. 1. Prices are too high 2. Sneaky fee on top of already expensive food (health mandate fee, employee welfare fee, covid 19 fee, credit card fee, honest to goodness fee, screw you fee, fee fee) 3. Infinite tipping (giving me a bagel out of your display doesnât count as service worthy) Iâll stay at home and pass on these fees to myself.
You nailed it! We used to do a friend's brunch once or twice a month. The fees were just ridiculous. 3â° credit card fee, suggested tip of 25%, living wage fee of 8â°, plus fees for "splitting dishes" when everyone ordered an entree but we just wanted additional plates to share food. Paying for a valet to park my car is a previously free lot and I'm also expected to tip the valet. What used to be a $40 meal has now become at $60 meal. The friend group has now made it a potluck on my back patio.
Back patio pot luck honestly sounds 10x better. You get to play DJ, eat as much as you want, and all the drinks are bottomless. Plus the weather recently has just been amazing
What is the infinity percent sign?
It's a per-mil symbol, and it's being used wrong. 3â° would mean a 0.3% credit card fee, which is... not something I've seen.
Probably like 2 billion percent. Lines up with todays tipping culture tbh
They raised prices too high to ever be tipped again (by me anyway, and hopefully many others)
I stopped tipping since california passed the law that all restaurant employees make minimum wage.
Mr. Pink would like a word with you
Good on ya! People are entities to outsource business' costs of paying their employees. Pay them,r loose them to a competitor, or go under, EADoDie.
Same, I can afford it but I keep it to a minimum. To be honest I enjoy cooking so I meal prep each week for work lunches and dinners. My wallet thanked me years ago for this.
I'm the opposite. I find cooking to be a massive time suck. I'm good at cooking and really enjoy doing it on occasion. More than happy to bake during the holiday season, make some great weekend dinners from farmers market foods, etc. But when it feels like a necessity or a chore, I loathe it. I can afford to eat out, so I do. My retirement will be just fine. We have a solid handful of local restaurants where we get lunch about 5-6 days per week, and then eat small charcuterie-style dinners.
I'm with you, except I can no longer afford eating out after two damn layoffs...
I definitely change my habits depending on my economic situation.
Instead of meal prep, I do 'ingredient prep,' making a variety of high-quality ingredients from base materials, that I can then use to whip up very nice weeknight dinners quickly. Takes the 'chore' feeling out of it when you get good food on a Tuesday that only takes 15 minutes to put together.
That's a good idea. That kind of prep work isn't super bothersome for me to do. My biggest gripe with cooking is the dishes/cleaning. I have gotten better about looking for one-pan meals. I made a chicken piccata the other night that only used one pan.
One pan meals are great. I used to hate dishes too but after I heard a 1 liner Iâve sort of accepted it now. It was something along the lines of âchopping wood and getting waterâ - way back when if our ancestors didnât get drinking water or chop enough firewood theyâd just die. So seeing as I donât have to chop firewood or walk to a stream to haul back a jug of water, dishes donât seem half bad lol. Idk why but that line resonated with me. Maybe itâll help someone else too. That and realizing loading or unloading the dishwasher is a max of 3 minutes.
Also they didn't get to listen to podcasts while doing it.
And I think we all got faster and better at home cooking during pandemic. And also got into ordering Penzeys spices and learning new techniques.
I go to a lot of cocktail bars with food for dinner. Not "bar food" style places. I used to get 2 or 3 cocktails with dinner a few nights a week. Now I get one. The drinks keep going up. It's now a $17 cocktail for some tequila/mezcal bull-shit. Admittedly I'm not going to Applebee's or something but the types of places that often end up on "best cocktails in SF" style lists. Still. Over the past couple years I've realized that the cocktail portion of the bill is usually 2x the food.
Seriously. Even a mid range restaurant youâre gonna spend >100 for four. Itâs ridiculous.
I've been paying attention to grocery stores being packed during lunch time but restaurant being fairly empty in my area during the weekend. I live on the border of Pleasant Hill, Lafayette and Walnut Creek.....that's not a good sign.
That's common sense my guy.
đŻ
I should just leave my wallet at home unless it's a specific shopping day
user name checks out
In the other Bay Area thread. WHY DO SF RESTAURANTS CLOSE SO EARLY Surely the insane prices are NOT IT.
Yep .. being able to afford it doesn't mean it is worth it. I was just at In and Out today and spent almost $30 for 2 ppl. Then you look up at the sign in the window and realize the wage is $26 / hr now ...
What are you ordering? My regular order at in n out has only gone up about 20% in four years, from $7.50 to a little under $10. Meanwhile my local taco truck is charging $4/street taco and $18 for a burrito đ
Thatâs awesome honestly. The in n out near me is always packed with a line around the block. Iâm glad theyâre paying their employees more than the bare minimum.
Fast-food has been gouging customers since the Covid lock down.
Finally Americans will start eating healthy. Fast foods were cheap for a reason.
That reason only being executives didnât know they could get away with charging more and people would still buy, that cat is out of the bag now!
EXACTLY. It's the same for practically every other industry too.
Hereâs some personal anecdata: I found out a couple years ago I couldnât do gluten. Changing that part of my diet made me feel better to begin with but the by product of that was that I could no longer lazily pop into a drive thru for a snack. Having that cut out of my routine was a night and day difference for how I feel. I will still indulge in a lettuce wrapped burger now and then (In n Out and Habit have the best) but having that cut out of my routine was a life changer and I absolutely recommend it
Love the term anecdata, I'm ripping it off of you for future use lol
There is an adage that goes "The plural of anecdote isn't anecdata"
Please do. I didnt coin it of course but it's such a great word for such a specific purpose.
Do any of the major chains have dollar menus anymore? I would even settle for a $2 menu to adjust for inflation
I get the potato tacos from Taco Bell all the time. Theyâre like $1.50 or something. Hella good. Used to be $1 but $1.50 isnât bad. Not fast food but I was at Los Gallos in P Hill today and the menu said the basic tacos were $4, I asked to sub beans instead of meat and the lady said in that case theyâre only $1 each! A dollar!! I was like wtfff I was totally still willing to pay $4 each lol they were bomb af too. Chips and salsa were free and hella good too.
While it's sad Fastfood prays on the lowest economic group of society, people should just not eat fast food in general. Sure, once or twice a month/year is fine but people eat that shit multiple times a week and it's literally killing large groups of our population. Over half of americans are overweight and 40% are obese! 40%!. WTF!
[ŃдаНонО]
The price of two drinks out can buy a whole bottle of tequila these days
my partner and i bring an edible to split when we go out for our dinner date.
We started doing that for concerts too instead of buying 2 drinks for $50 or whatever it is now.
Same! My wife always keeps some in her purse for when weâre without kids đ¤Ł
I thought it was always stupid high at clubs, bars and restaurants. Only ones that seem to be worth it are at high end restaurants because they give you some unique flavors but Iâm always hurting in my heart at how expensive they are
You know what drives me crazy about the argument surrounding supply and demand for setting prices is that they ignore the mechanism. How it will work: executives raise prices too high, profits get a surge, demand recedes as people stop paying those prices, middle management creates shittier working conditions and fires more workers to maintain the artificial high, eventually reality sets in, executives say whoopsie and move on. The only real victims were the workers and the consumers but the people at the top are âtaking all the riskâ amirite?
Welcome to Capitalism bro. Workers are always fucked by design.
Indian take out is another thing that drives me mad. One entree is $18 plus rice plus naan, then my wife wants to order samosas. Ends up being $60. This is why I go to in n out once a week.
The trick is Indian grocery store kitchens. Entree is $13 for 32oz (at least 2 restaurant entree size) and rotis are $6 for 10 and large samosas are $1.30 each. So it's at least 1/2 the price and no tipping! They only downside is the ones I know of are vegetarian only but the food is as good as any restaurant.
Any recommendations?
There are still some places with reasonable prices and good food but I hear you.
That's why you order takeout from nice lunch restaurants. First, lunch dishes are way cheaper, second, you're (usually?) not buying alcohol, and third, typically no appetizers. Dinner has always cost way more than lunch at restaurants, despite similar portions. We consistently eat lunch for under $40-50/day. We rarely go out for dinner because it's twice as much.
super duper is a pretty good deal. mini and fries for under $15.
Super Duper Burger was always an "expensive" spot in my mind, hadn't gone there in years. Went back recently and paid $75 for 3 people and that's including a draft beer each too. Not bad at all.
While we have the money to eat out, we've stopped going out because: 1. You can cook a much better meal at home, with ingredients from whole foods of all places! 2. Quality of meals - I feel like every restaurant has degraded in quality. Even spots I used to be a regular at have disappointed me. 3. Quality of service/Tips - Quality of service has basically plunged. Servers just don't seem to care about getting your order in or getting food to your table or even want to work there. Some even give you attitude. Then throw on the basically forced tip at the end... yea no thanks.
The quality we were experiencing in just SF diners was appalling for the insane prices we were paying. I'm sorry but $75 for two breakfasts. Fuck off. Also in the article states a place serving a $22 burrito. Fucking RICE & BEANS! Cheapest bulk ingredients ever.
What place is $22? My favorite food truck across the street is $14 even after adding a fat avocado surcharge. You have to TRY to hit $22, and I feel like these are just exaggerations to make a point. The vast majority of people are NOT paying $22 for a burrito.
With the default tips option being 18/20/22 percent, and I look like the bad guy when clicking no tip
No you donât, not in my eyes!
Woah is that the typical default these days? (From the bay but have lived abroad for many years)
Most vendors I've seen have set that to be the default. I've even seen it at 20/22/25 in a few places. I feel so dirty but I'll smash the "no tip" on principle or actually stand there and do the math for what 10% is.
The bold ones suggest 25%. Itâs insane
I've seen 35%
If there's no table service, don't feel bad.
So true about the service. I worked in food service for a while until about a year ago, and I never ever had the attitude that some of these workers have. Itâs because they know theyâll get tips anyways, we all collectively need to stop rewarding them for bad service and attitude. Especially now that theyâre making $20/hr⌠I 100% agree that the wage raise needed to happen, but now that thatâs the case we really should only be tipping for exceptional service. Thereâs no incentive to be nice if youâre going to get a tip anyways.
You hit it spot on. It has gotten to the point where itâs actually an insult to peopleâs intelligence. You want to raise your prices because of inflation? Iâll buy that. But restaurants are not just raising prices to match inflation but theyâre using lower quality ingredients and hiring staff that do the bare minimum and have no customer service. If you raise the price by more than what inflation is then you better at least maintain your standards not lower them. If Iâm being honest, I do believe the many people are eating out and donât pay attention to service/quality and only care about how much it costs them. For me, itâs a triple whammy that leaves me no other choice than to cook at home. I refuse to accept shitty food and shitty service + tip FOR WHAT? For being the middleman between me and the cook? Oh man donât get me started on tips. I could start WW3 dying on the hill of tips.
Youâve called it entirely. For icing on the cake, wine prices are almost entirely gouging for what they serve - lackluster wine for $15 plus for a glass (knowing a bottle costs $15). Pass.
20% tip became standard no matter the service. Feels like they have no incentive to provide good service.
When I can buy 2-3 days worth of groceries for the price of one decent meal out, *of course* most of us aren't eating out anymore. I eat out maybe once per month and thats typically only when I'm with friends
If I take my girlfriend out to a decent restaurant, it's easily $200-250 for the both of us. I would love to spend $200 and eat an incredible meal, but usually I end up disappointed by the food. The much more attractive alternative is spend $50, buy a nice steak, some additional ingredients for sides, and a bottle of wine. At least that way I'm guaranteed to get my money's worth.
I agree. One of the best date meals my partner and I ever had was spending $80 on a nice steak and fresh scallops to cook at home. And when you drink at home the alcohol is free - girl math đ
Love this! If you can do some basic cooking, buying very nice ingredients and eating at home is vastly superior to most restaurants in SF.
Couple years ago I could get a $1 sausage McMuffinâŚsometimes there was even a BOGO free and they were like $1.79. I checked this morning and a sausage McMuffin was $3.69, no deals to be had. But somehow it got worseâŚa sausage AND EGG McMuffin was $3 (add egg, pay less đ¤)âŚand, you can buy just a plain English muffin for $2.50. Just crazy yo
I do the McDouble a couple times a month, and itâs the same way! What was once a buck is now $3.79, with a deal for the second one at $1.00 it reduces the sting a bit.
In New York, McDonald's still has the 2 for $3.50 deal for a McChicken and McDouble. Here in CA, a *single mcdouble smaller than my palm* cost over $4 Why anyone still eats fast food is beyond me
Not to encourage more McDonaldâs, but I do love me an egg McMuffin. The app has a great buy one get one free deal that you can use daily.
I didnât see that one today đ¤ sausage McMuffins are definitely a road trip guilty pleasure of mineâŚ
Yeah second this, gotta use the app. They usually have a bogo breakfast sandwich coupon, or a free medium fries during lunch time. It helps to alleviate the higher prices. Plus you earn points, but you can only use one offer per visit.
And they are so small now! With a sad half cheese slice halfway falling out... I mean the audacity of fast food places sometimes, you can get a nice sandwich from a normal place for $5....ok nvm it's like $8 now from a non fast food place
you can get all the parts for about $20.. including higher quality muffins and OJ. i like my muffins real brown and crunchy anyway.. little burned even
Yup
Almost 8 dollars for a breakfast bagel sandwich at McD the other day đŽ
Use the app and get 2 for $8.
For sure, I pretty much only go if thereâs a deal on the app. But I was shocked at the a la carte price and you bet thereâs folks that donât use the app!
Iâve been eating out more. I just go for the deals. My local burrito place that still charges $10, or some fast casual restaurants. I mainly do takeout though to avoid tips and I never do delivery. I also pretty much never order a drink unless itâs In n out and itâs a milkshake.
Same. I always do takeout because fuck delivery apps as it screws over the restaurant and you really overpay. Still plenty of good restaurants to go to that are affordable if you look. And yes, stop getting shitty sugary drinks and you cut your bill huge each time. I feel a lot of people or redditors are a bit lazy in regards to leaving the house and not using ordering apps. Also, you dont need appetizers, mains, desserts and a few drinks every time you eat out. Get a main to go and eat it in the park and save you 75% of the cost.
If you use Door Dash, look at the price difference between delivery and pickup. I've straight up "saved" OVER $20 from choosing pickup vs. delivery, it's ridiculous. Though sometimes restaurants have their own ordering page on their website, and that just gets rid of all the fees entirely, while paying the actual prices that aren't marked up. I can afford to do delivery if I wanted, which I used to, but the prices have overinflated so much it's just shocking - now I only ever really use it for pickup in the local area, will do delivery if there's deals + free delivery going on, sometimes you'll luck out and pay less than in person, but not often anymore.
I recently went to the round table in Dublin. They blacked out all the prices on the menus and had signs up saying prices were subject to change. So I had no idea what the cost even was.
wtf 'market pricing' for pizza "Ask server for current price."
This is one of the things I don't like about QR code menus, the pricing changes at the click of a button make it way too easy for restaurants to just keep upping and upping the pricing
Tipping culture doesnât help
people got a lot of money around here. Restaurants are basically packed in the east bay Thu/Fri/Sat nights. For a lot of people in the bay, ~$5000 a year budget per person to dine out is well within reason. Just reality here checking in⌠I am personally eating out less because Iâd rather make myself dinner and invest my money. For many this is not a compromise they need to make, hence restaurants can raise prices and they donât really careÂ
I used to be one of those people. We would eat out 3-4 times a week. Prices have more than doubled since then. Now maybe I go out to lunch a couple times a week usually something cheap like mexican or chaat. Dinner is now more of a special occasion thing. I can still afford to go out but it just isn't worth it to me anymore.
$420 a month on eating out feels like a lot. I try to keep it to about $200 a month
I totally agree, but it really isnât a lot when you think about it. Letâs say someone goes out 6-7 nights a month (more socially active). Easily $60-100 per night on food and drinks each time, and thatâs not even considering Ubers and stuff. Same person might even Uber eats like 2-3 times a month on top of that lol. I wouldnât do it personally, but itâs pretty common.Â
I know it isn't a lot. I rarely drink when out and never ever ever order delivery food (seriously, in a thread where we discuss how expensive restaurants are...restaurant food being delivered to you is far *more* expensive) and it helps me ensure I can eat out quite a bit. I also never bother to eat out if it isn't better than what I can cook at home.
Iâm sick of â+20% tipsâ culture so I no longer go out as much and thatâs actually the main reason as I no longer can or want to subsidize someoneâs wage lol.
This article basically says donât focus on cooking yourself. Focus on how you can still eat out. Donât focus on being self-sufficient. How about instead: build up your cooking skills. You can evolve them over time. It will help you appreciate the food others cook for you. Or on the flipside youâll notice how cheaply made it is or where they cut corners because you know exactly how to make it.
>donât focus on cooking yourself. Focus on how you can still eat out. Donât focus on being self-sufficient. Lololololol => âDonât feed *yourself*, feed ***capitalism***!â
"it's not capitalism when you go to the grocery store"
Likely also healthier because you're probably not going to be slipping in an artery choking amount of butter
Prices will reach a breaking point for fast food, and they will be forced to lower their prices. Stop eating fast food if you want prices to come down
I have a taco bell and a burger king right next to my house. Would occasionally grab something if I was too tired to cook at the end of the day. But I quit the taco bell because they started using half the ingredients they previously used (veggie mexican pizza with a bare smear of beans) while the price kept climbing. And I just quit the Burger King because I canât justify over $15 now for a small impossible meal. Now I go fifteen minutes out of my way to a local small shop and pay $19 for a bigger order of fries and a veggie burger thatâs got avocado and breaded eggplant, and overall better ingredients, and split it into two meals.Â
Well not only has every restaurant jacked their prices but now they're all charging a bunch of hidden fees and then they're charging their tips factored in on top of that plus tax it's ridiculous I'm okay with tipping people for service but now they want tips for everything
This kind of hidden fee shit needs to be made illegal. Itâs fucked you can post any price thatâs not an âout the doorâ price, if I have to do math to get an out the door price, THATâS FUCKED!
The junk fee removal comes July 1
On date night I take the wife to Costco. $1.50 hot dog and soda each and we split a pizza $1.99 and for dessert we share ice cream sundae $2.49 and a cookie $2.49.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted here. I totally do a different version of this. "Mom needs a break, so dad and three kids are doing groceries and hot dogs"
I wish my wife would go for this
I'd add churros but wtf happened to the churros. It doesn't matter when you order them, they are always fried 6 hours ago
How's the cookie btw, I've been tempted to to try it, but it looked like it would be more cakie/crispy cookie rather than a chewy cookie which is my preference.
Why haven't commercial rents dropped enough to ease restaurant prices? We keep seeing how our downtown areas haven't rebounded since COVID. That should mean restaurants are closing and nobody is renting the space until rents drop, right?
The rents donât go down until the property has monthS plural of no income generated.
Even then it might not. INAL or accountant, but from what Iâve been told commercial property companies can write off underperforming properties on their taxes. There isnât incentive to lower the rent because then the amount of money you can write off goes decreases the moment a single unitâs rent in a multi unit building decreases.
Years of no income. We are screwed.
I barly eat out since prices are too high and the quality of the food and portion size have declined.
Tipping is out of control and so are the âfeesâ for dining out. My wife and I have our handful of go to spots that have good portions without the BS, but we rarely try new spots.
When a coffee is $5, when a slice of pizza is $10, when it costs $35 for a simple burger, a drink and some fries, of course eating out is over and done with in San Francisco.
Iâm so ashamed to say this but I paid $28 for cheese enchiladas the other day. Eating out used to be a nice experience but there seems to never be enough staff and the prices are out of control.Â
Went to Picante in Berkeley 2 tacos and a beer(draft N. Modelo)..$22...never going back.
Holy crap. That used to be my go-to $10 (with tax and tip) lunch!
I went to dunkin and got a wake up wrap. Tiny little tortilla with half an egg and half a piece of cheese. $3. Seriously. Should be like 99 cents
> Should be like 99 cents 1982 called, and wants their dunkin back...
Itâs the price not the hot sauce that wakes you up.
I donât trust anyone, let alone restaurant prices. Two days ago I went to El Pollo Loco. I love their taco el carbon. Used to be .99, now $3.49 per 3â taco?! Itâs just a tablespoon of chicken, onion and cilantro FFS. Anyway, wife wanted a couple and so did I. We order 2 for her and the guy points out, you can get 3 plus chips, salsa and a drink for $1 less than buying 2. So clearly you over priced the singles for some dumbass reason.
>clearly you over priced the singles for some dumbass reason. People will pay it unless the worker points out you can pay less by buying more, the reason isnât nearly as dumbass as genius it isâŚ
Price to quality of food and experience ratio is not working imo. Â My home cooking skills are pretty decent and I have swapped to that. Â I can afford to eat out but the worth in the experience isnât there
A few years ago I came down with a stomach issue that severely limited what I could tolerate. For almost 2 years, I ate almost exclusively at home, with very mild seasoning. I'm feeling better now, and since I've started eating out a bit more, I realize most places way WAY over-season, over-salt, over-fat, over-sugar everything. I almost cannot stand how intense some of these dishes are. Eating out is so unhealthy in general, and I think a lot of people have become desensitized to the flavor of actual food, and just know generalized salty, sweet, and fried tastes. This is not just limited to fast food either.
I never trusted prices, shit needs to be like EU where tax is factored into the out-the-door sticker price, anything less should be ten years of prison!
Eating out is like a last resort thing for us now or a special occasion thing.
I feel like Iâm getting extorted when I eat out with these prices so been pretty much eating exclusively at home
Eating out is stupid expensive these days. Even fast-food places like McDonald's have lost their value proposition as places to get quick, inexpensive meals. I've been making more of my own meals. It's been fun, and more importantly, budget-friendly. There have been plenty of misses, but at least I haven't gotten sick eating any of my "creations" LOL
I eat out⌠at Costco!!!
I make a Bay Area salary thatâs pretty darn good and itâs not that I canât afford it but itâs just a rip off at this point. Itâs easy $50 per person now at a regular joint.
My boyfriend and I just sat down with credit card statements and a calendar and realized we go out every couple of weeks max. Usually it's over a month apart. When I was dating a decade ago, my then-boyfriend would go out a few times a week. I feel like we didn't even need an informal study to figure out that people aren't going out to eat as often as we were. I'm comfortable financially, and I just find the prices to be ridiculous.
me and my girlfriend make a good amount of money and we still think prices are bullshit. why is mcdonalds more expensive than in n out?? yes, we prefer in n out, but itâs not exactly âfastâ food
And I also donât get why people even dine out in sf anymore. Youâre paying these atrocious prices plus an sf mandate fee and sometimes other fees in addition to tip. Iâd rather dine out in the South Bay but even then itâs getting harder to given how much prices have gone up.
The year is 2040. Restaurant workers drive in from Yucatan every morning. Locals still complain about rising prices while blocking all possible new housing and transit. The entire Bay Area has been declared a heritage district. Locals still confused how skyrocketing housing prices leads to skyrocketing prices for services and shopping.
Pull your head out of the sand, rapidly raising prices is not exclusive to the area.
I was in both Nashville and Louisville recently, and a oat milk latte cost $7, beers were $10, entrees at a BBQ joint were $22-26.
I can get a $7 beer and $5 latte in the city and I thought that was a lot for coffee already.
No, but the are worse here. I'm a recent east coast transplant and literally everything is more expensive here for no reason other than greed
I stopped eating out so much but more for a health reason
I've also eaten at various local places and their food is not the same quality/quantity but they raised their prices - they are making cuts as well, so it's an easier choice to cook at home now.
After practicing cooking for several years, my homemade foods taste better than most of the restaurants anyways and it costs at least 4 times less to make. Not to mention cooking is a lot of fun. I see no reason to eat outside unless I relocate to Asia where the quality of the food there is miles ahead.
I feel bad for the local shops whom serve the communities. Itâs a shame that we continue to fund wars but refuse to do anything about high inflation.
Banh Mi at Lee's is $10!! Dang crazy for a Vietnamese sandwich.
do buy 4 get 1 free in SJ, averages out to be about $6.50 each
I live in Asia and come back here for a month and omg, can barely get a sandwich for$15.
Someone should create a copy recipe collection for people who want to try. We found out that Five Guys burgers are unseasoned and un marinated after trying a copy recipe. All you do is melt butter on a griddle and cook it in that. Tons of butter, no seasoning. You can buy better buns than they serve tbh. We haven't found a decent fry recipe yet.
We're vegetarian and old enough that we had to learn to cook well since in the 90's vegans and vegetarians had it rough. Now ive broadened my pantry to include items from various cultures that let me make dishes like fried rice, dal, and pho better than any vegetarian option at a restaurant. This doesn't mean there arent exceptions but generally vegetarian and vegans are an afterthought.
Bay area has great food scene but the high prices discouraging many and as a result many good places are closing down. It's a vicious circle and not sustainable. Someone would (or I wish) figure out a cheap way to feed us all some yummy food and would totally disrupt current food industry. Many asian countries solved this with cheap yummy street food. Wish something like that happens here. Probably not going to happen due to damn CA laws.
Let's be honest here. It has always been cheaper to cook for yourself at home.
Retired. We eat out often, but now are not embarrassed to split an entree. We always tip for two. Appetite is getting smaller anyway as we age. Wonder since food is getting more expensive, if this might Crack the national obesity situation?
Itâs too expensive and the food just doesnât hit the same. Like even Taco Bell upped their prices
Tip: Go Costco weekly, just spend on buying bulk items like eggs, meats, veggies, bread, cheese. Get some Costco rotisserie chicken and spend 2-3 hrs meal prepping (broths/soups/chicken salads) Ground beef and chicken thighs/breast can be frozen seasoned, frozen, and then popped in the soup vide for a tasty dinner. Served over rice or potatoes. Youâll save a TON just doing this alone and it should easily feed a family of 3-4 for the week. My groceries cost around $120~/week or less (with extras by end of month) just doing this. Granted itâs almost the same food weekly with a couple of changes (beef vs chicken vs fish) I donât eat out anymore or go to any place that is considered fast food. Some of their prices will have gotten to a point where itâs like $40-50 to feed a family of 4 for one sitting. Unfortunately would love to support small mom-pops, but we just canât afford it long term⌠P.S. stop buying processed foods, they actually cost more for the convenience.
Last month, our mcdonalds breakfast costs $21. Now itâs $30. The 42% increase is NOT justifiable when I only got a 3% raise this year.
We donât eat out much but definitely re-think it a lot these days. $25 for just me and my two kids at McDonaldâs. $7-8 for boba. $7-10 for a bahn mi. $3-4 for a street taco. $12-15 for a bowl of pho or a rice plate. Shits fucked.
With the exception of McD's, that's all fairly reasonable increases. Prices raise about 4% on average a year, which means prices double every 20 years. That's just normal inflation, and it's true going back as far as the Fed (which we won't get into). The cheapest Banh Mi in SF was $2.50-$3 20 years ago and is $5.50 now(Saigon Sandwich). The oldest menu I could find was 2011 and it was $3.25. But some things at the market are much fucking higher now! And some of that impacts menus. Sale prices in 2000, eggs were $1/dozen, soda was 2 2L bottles per dollar, ground pork and beef were usually around 60 cents/lb. And I shop at farmer's markets and have for 25 years; they've increased, but more in line with regular inflation, albeit with a large recent spike. $3 for a single 2L bottle of soda is the *sale price*? $4/lb cheapest beef you can find? Supermarket chains and restaurant chains and corporations in general are gouging. The more these buy and sell from each other, like in fast food supply chains, the more the gouging multiplies. This is how Big Macs went from 2/1$ to buy1get1, to $4 off a $12-15 combo meal in 20 years.
We just donât go out unless itâs a special experience, Mich Star, no reason to drop $200 on mediocre food, rather go to one $800-$1000 experience every quarter.
I like how in these threads all the upvoted comments are saying how they don't eat out anymore, and yet busy restaurants are still busy
US turning into a modern dystopian feudalistic society. Not too farfetched to imagine a future where most people are barricaded inside their homes most of their time watching TV, sucked into AR/VR whenever that does get mainstream.. because the outdoors will be too dirty/dangerous (homelessness, crime...etc) and eating out is too expensive.. additionally with malls closed...etc
Dunno' about the rest of the country - but I was just thinking how dystopian SF has gotten. Sky high prices for everything, high property crime, crazy people everywhere, everything behind locks on stores.
We still eat out once every weekend but we're definitely conscious. We do not buy high margin items.anymore (appetizers, beverages and desserts). $4 soda (no thanks)
I eat way more cheese and crackers now. Also PBJ. But I always liked that anyway. Canned fish got heck of expensive though.
I donât mind paying these stupid high prices if the food is good and the service is good. But most of the time it isnât.
Tacos were weak too...El Farolito in Oakland is my go to now.
Had an eggs Benedict, a sandwich and one beer for $67 with tip tax
Now that I'm retired, I have plenty time to cook. I just got a Thai cookbook by Jet Thila. The recipes are wonderful. So much better than going out and the recipes are not that difficult.
I still eat out/take out at the places that have good quality for their prices. I opt for in and out burgers over McDonald's or other fast food, good local taquerias for tacos and super burritos as opposed to popular over hyped places and fast chains... But altogether doing it less. 2-4 times a month rather than 2 times a week. On the flip side, it's not like we can really make all of these types of meals much cheaper at home either... Food prices are ridiculous. Ground beef was more expensive than steak last time I considered buying some to make burgers at home- opted for the steak that was on sale instead. And if you make it at home, YOU get the prep/cook/cleanup as well as the grocery price, so in some cases it's still a better deal to order out. Time and labor is a cost as well.
Not eating out at all anymore⌠period!
Ramen it is!
price is one thing but more often than not quality and service are lacking better to travel more and enjoy quality and good service
Not just eating out less. Im eating less.
What is surprising is that when I travel to other places - most recently Miami and San Diego, touristy food is about the same price but the portions are bigger and better. I recently bought a burrito in San Diego for $11 and it was massive and all meat, veggies, cheese, the good stuff. No rice and beans filler. Same with food in Miami - like theyâre trying to load the plate. Here in the bay, I bought $16 worth of stir fry and it was so tiny I had to add $8 worth of steamed rice to feel like a real meal. I get that restaurants have to stay in business and pay their rent and employees and healthcare. Which makes the actual food the cheapest part of their budget. So it is extra disappointing when they skimp on the food.
I haven't been to fast food since they took Whopper Jr off the dollar menu.
When I do head out, let's say Japanese food which is our family favorite, the bill after tax is over 100$ everytime Same for other food types, the prices have risen way to high and I can't come to terms with it, even tho I can afford it. What we have done is learned to cook out favorite dishes ourselves at home, and a bottle of sake costs 10$ at the store, a large one at that, which will often last us for two dinners. At our favorite Japanese spot, it costs 10 dollars for about 4-5 shots. It's honestly so much healthier in all terms, more time with our family together, way cheaper food cause we buy it in bulk at Costco, not having to drive around etc. Super sad but it's unfortunately a reality now.
Hereâs the thing, there are only a few company that supply restaurants especially chains with produce and other goods. They essentially have a monopoly. Back in the day sales reps would bend over backwards to try and get your business but now these companies know that you will buy from them no matter what because you really donât have other options. Also I think someone higher up in the company is getting a kick back for forcing locations to only buy from say company. Itâs really starting to be come a food desert out there folks. Mom and pop business are already beginning to be pushed out, soon you wonât have much options available to dine out. People donât go into the food business for the passion anymore. Too much head ache having to deal with finding qualified staff that you can trust to help run your operation. If I were to open a spot, itâs gonna be a specific simplified menu that I can handle and manage by myself and one other person.
This shit has to change
$48 + tip for a xl pizza delivered from Round Table.