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All this restaurant talk; what’s your upper limit?


MoseySusan

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I won’t spend more than $10 on a burger, more than $15 for just about anything else. We rarely go out to the steakhouses because it’s a $100+ and everything is an extra. The best Mexican food in town is a $6 plate. 

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It depends for me.  When we have our usual Friday family dinner we try to stay at places where it’s under $15 a person.  If I’m hankering sushi I already know it will be closer to $20 a person.  If we want a nice dinner out (not since Covid tho) we’ll easily go to places where $50 a person is the norm. When I get lunch for myself I try to keep it under $10.

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Unfortunately, I end up eating in expensive locations because of travel.  Breakfast in The Caymans is an easy $40 Cayman so $60 USD.  A bowl of Wonton soup in Zurich can be $60. I still feed 6 Adults so $300 for a decent dinner out is my comfort level.  Beyond that, I start questioning the value.  I will pay $100 per person for a celebratory dinner but only on very good food.  I don't do the whole Mortons or Ruth Chris thing.  Pricing is way out of line for quality of food. 

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We go to J Gilbert's about twice a year.  For 4 with desert, that's a $200 meal after tip, maybe even a bit more.  I just ate leftovers from a mexican meal yesterday that was $15 for me.  Otherwise a good hamburger around here is $10 so usually I just grill our own.  I never did lunch out when I was working.  I'm too cheap frugal when I can brown bag leftovers.

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If I cannot cook it myself, I’ll pay more than $15. Like curries and seafood, which I don’t cook at home because mr.’s mom is averse to the smell of seafood and never prepared fish, so he’s conditioned to be wary of it, too. I guess a celebration is cause for a spendy meal. Our steakhouse visits have been for anniversary dinners. We have a gift card for a local steakhouse that’s at least five years old because we can’t bring ourselves to want to go there. 

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5 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Unfortunately, I end up eating in expensive locations because of travel.  Breakfast in The Caymans is an easy $40 Cayman so $60 USD.  A bowl of Wonton soup in Zurich can be $60. I still feed 6 Adults so $300 for a decent dinner out is my comfort level.  Beyond that, I start questioning the value.  I will pay $100 per person for a celebratory dinner but only on very good food.  I don't do the whole Mortons or Ruth Chris thing.  Pricing is way out of line for quality of food. 

This made me think of a trip to Brugge in 2000.  We had a large group and the bill was several thousand Belgian francs. Holy hell look at all then commas!! We converted the exchange and it was like a $200 meal for 10 people.  

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Unless we're in a hurry and very occasionally for carryout, my local family members and I will do fast food.  But we've gotten so used to cooking for ourselves during the pandemic we get carryout now much less often and usually from Bob Evans or other not-so-fast-food place.

In normal times, about once a year, a group of us would go to a $60-$100 restaurant like Ruth's Chris Steak House, Fogo de Chao, or Tio Pepe's (Baltimore's expensive Spanish - as in Spain, not Hispanic America - restaurant).  On occasion, we try something unusual but a little cheaper for us like a Japanese Habachi restaurant where they cook in front of you or the Urban Hot Pot (Asian: ChrisL says it's "Shabu-Shabu Cuisine: my report: https://squarewheelscycling.com/index.php?/topic/108147-urban-hot-pot-unusual-and-fun-restaurant-experience/).

Sometimes we'll do a $20-$30 Chinese or Golden Corral Buffett - though I'm tempted to eat too much to get my "money's worth,"

Most of the time we go to a lower-cost, $25-$40 restaurant (including dessert and a couple beers or soft drinks) like Romanos (not the chain: an Italian-Greek-Maryland Seafood family-owned restaurant), Hellas (Greek and regular fare), Mi Pueblo (Mexican), or G&M (best crabcakes in Maryland - and therefore the world!) and lower-priced chains like Denny's (when I'm taking my nephews out for the day, that's where we eat breakfast) and Bob Evans.  These are all in Anne Arundel County, between Baltimore and Annapolis.

 

 

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We do pricy meals for anniversary and valentines. Up to $200 for two. Birthdays more people but a little less pricy. 
 

I go out to dinner with my daughter about once a week. This week it was a Cajun Restaurant. $80 and included a takeout entree for BuffCarla. 

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WoW and I pretty much expect Friday dinner out is going to be in the $50 range with tip. There is a Salvadoran place we go for the papusas. We can get out of there under $20 including a generous tip. Last night we split a small pizza and wings. With drinks and tip it was about $30. Kinkaider will be about $60. 

I don't go to steak houses much. I can grill a pretty good steak. There are only a couple places I can think of where the steak left enough of an impression to go back for the steak. 

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The burger and fries with my neighbor was $14.96 with tax today...kinda our top price for lunch..or dinner for that matter..a few years ago one of my single friends would treat 2 or 3 of us to a "nice" dinner...for Christmas or a mid year birthday thing...exactly because we didn't have a special occasion reason to go to a swank restaurant...for three of us drinks and zert would run $250 ish..I think we probably did that for 4 or 5 years..

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WoBG and I have just about always gone out on a date on Friday. (at least for 38 years)  Now that we are retired, we still got out on Friday, and once or twice more during the week. 

I'll guess we spend between $50 and $80 for most dinners.   This last Friday, dinner and drinks were $115.  That was expensive but they have good food.

This was a long time ago.  The most was spent was on vacation in Bar Harbor Maine.  We had a 'travel guide' for Maine, and the restaurant was rated 5 stars.   $300 for dinner for 3 of us, WoBG, our grandson and me.   The best part our grandson calls home and talking to his mom (our daughter) he says something like...  "Yeah we went out to dinner and grandpa spent $300 for crap." 

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4 hours ago, Longjohn said:

Anniversaries and stuff I would spend sixty dollars plus’s tip. I guess I won’t be doing that anymore. 😥

If, we went out for anniversary or birthday (which is not annually for either of those events. It's whatever one feels like..), it would be closer to $80-100 for 2 or abit more. 

I probably sound privileged because I don't have children... approx. $35.00 max. limit / person for dinner. I'm happy to find something $15.00 / person for dinner. That would exclude any drink.

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Try keeping under 25 per person. I can cook my own steak and mix my own drinks and I don't mind. 

We have some friends who love to eat at high end restaurants and mine and Wo46's bill was over 100 bucks without tip. I didn't think the steak was any better than what I could do for around 10 bucks. 

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6 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

I won’t spend more than $10 on a burger, more than $15 for just about anything else. We rarely go out to the steakhouses because it’s a $100+ and everything is an extra. The best Mexican food in town is a $6 plate. 

You would starve in Jackson. I'm not even sure you could eat at the golden arches for under $10

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20 minutes ago, denniS said:

You would starve in Jackson. I'm not even sure you could eat at the golden arches for under $10

So one can hope as a service worker to be fed by restaurant employer? That sounds abit abnormal.  I know people bitch about really high housing costs in Vancovuer and Toronto.  It's all true. However in terms of some restaurant prices..there are some decent amazing restaurant meals at quite reasonable prices. For sure, over and over I see Calgary restaurants more abit expensive in general. 

Last wk. I was with a friend in suburbs of Metro Vancouver where you can still have choice ethnic restaurants. So we each had delicous Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl with pork, spring roll, basil etc.  Each huge bowl was $13.00CAN per person for dinner. The restaurant was only 3 yrs. old, modern and spotless.  

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19 minutes ago, denniS said:

You would starve in Jackson. I'm not even sure you could eat at the golden arches for under $10

We ate breakfast there at a diner on the northwest side of town. I don’t remember it being too expensive. Lunch was picnic sandwiches. But we did not get espresso  lattes in town. I remember saying no to that. 

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7 hours ago, ChrisL said:

This made me think of a trip to Brugge

We had something like that in Turkey two years ago. Fancy lamb place in the middle of Ankara's Soho like district, fancy atmosphere, incredible service and food was absolutely delicious. Full 5 courses with drinks. Bill came for 9 of us, I did the conversion and it was $75 USD. We paid for everyone. 

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1 hour ago, Kirby said:

I've never been a big fan of "fancy" restaurants.  I tend to be happier at a more casual restaurant with a $20 -$25 per person range.  But my Mom really used to enjoy celebrating special events such as birthdays at a "nice" restaurant. I think it was probably more of a treat for her because she did most of the cooking at the house  (Including planning all the meals).  Plus when we were younger, there really wasn't money  for fancy restaurants,  So if she wanted to go to a 'nice" restaurant, I was fine with whatever it cost.     She'd enjoy casual restaurants too, but liked a "treat". 

When I visit my family in Toronto, there is usually 1-2 big extended family dinners, 1 of them at a restaurant..this is almost 20 people.  We just go to middle of the road Chinese restaurant in terms of quality.  Usually a big place where it's frequented by other Asians...with their families also.  I would say per person it's $15.00 or less. and it's ALOT of food and multiple communal dishes.  The focus is finding a place where we don't have to worry much about the bill and enjoy each other's company.

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8 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

I want to live in Belgium. 

I remember going to a bathroom in a cafe in Brugge. There was a date on the wall where the date escapes me but probably 1500’s as I recall thinking shit, when Jamestown was settled this building had already been built & occupied.

 

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2 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

We ate breakfast there at a diner on the northwest side of town. I don’t remember it being too expensive. Lunch was picnic sandwiches. But we did not get espresso  lattes in town. I remember saying no to that. 

Pre-covid. Prices have exploded especially in the places the tourists eat. 

I'll eat out during the shoulder season when it's two for one or when I win a GC answering a trivia question on the radio.

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7 hours ago, Kirby said:

I've never been a big fan of "fancy" restaurants.  I tend to be happier at a more casual restaurant with a $20 -$25 per person range.  But my Mom really used to enjoy celebrating special events such as birthdays at a "nice" restaurant. I think it was probably more of a treat for her because she did most of the cooking at the house  (Including planning all the meals).  Plus when we were younger, there really wasn't money  for fancy restaurants,  So if she wanted to go to a 'nice" restaurant, I was fine with whatever it cost.     She'd enjoy casual restaurants too, but liked a "treat". 

My grandmother was a very cheap date. She loved to eat at places like Shoneys.  Same deal for her, she cooked a Brazilian meals in her long lifetime so any time he didn’t have to cook was a real treat.  We all got a good laugh how she was a connoisseur of nice restrrooms. Her all time favourite was one in a revamped train station. Sadly that restaurant in my backwater hometown  lasted just months.  

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10 hours ago, shootingstar said:

When I visit my family in Toronto, there is usually 1-2 big extended family dinners, 1 of them at a restaurant..this is almost 20 people.  We just go to middle of the road Chinese restaurant in terms of quality.  Usually a big place where it's frequented by other Asians...with their families also.  I would say per person it's $15.00 or less. and it's ALOT of food and multiple communal dishes.  The focus is finding a place where we don't have to worry much about the bill and enjoy each other's company.

A childhood friend of mine has the majority of his family here in Toronto.  While some operate an Asian restaurant in Cornwall, they always gather at the Mandarin for large family meals.  Especially when the all-you can eat lobster deal runs.  I have eaten at the restaurant in Cornwall and it is very authentic, unlike the Mandarin. 

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10 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

A childhood friend of mine has the majority of his family here in Toronto.  While some operate an Asian restaurant in Cornwall, they always gather at the Mandarin for large family meals.  Especially when the all-you can eat lobster deal runs.  I have eaten at the restaurant in Cornwall and it is very authentic, unlike the Mandarin. 

I’ve been to that one in Cornwall. My parents live near there and we’d stop there before crossing the border in Massena. 

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1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

A childhood friend of mine has the majority of his family here in Toronto.  While some operate an Asian restaurant in Cornwall, they always gather at the Mandarin for large family meals.  Especially when the all-you can eat lobster deal runs.  I have eaten at the restaurant in Cornwall and it is very authentic, unlike the Mandarin. 

I might have been at the Mandarin once in my life.  Now looking at the menu.... it makes me laugh when they give the calories.  Ok, if the dish is 1200 calories, it better be shared among 6 people!  

Yes, the Chinese population enjoys their lobster.  I do too... I started at age 8 yr. old.

Some of the restaurants my family choose have had a buffet, but inevitably we order a few dishes off the menu ...that's not anywhere in the buffet.  I gave the incorrect dollar per head for these large family dinners....more like $9.00 / head or less.  Up to 10 different communal dishes, with some dishes that alot of folks in forum wouldn't be familiar.

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