In the city where I live here in the UK, as well as there being the usual chains such as Subway, Burger King, McDonald's and KFC, along with a number of high street chain restaurants serving all manner of different cuisines, we've recently seen an explosion of the so called fine dining restaurants springing up. What you get in these establishments is a la carte menu's, high quality decor and first class service and you usually have to abide by certain etiquette as well as adhere to a strict Dress Code just to get in. My question is, are they really worth the money? Some of these places are offering a lunch menu from £45 and while I know that if you want the best ingredients then you will be expecting to pay a little more, but how much would you be prepared to pay? Considering a McDonald's is £3.90 would you be prepared to pay an extra £41.10p just to eat lunch and say that you have been to a fine dining restaurant, or are you happy enough saving your money and having a 'normal' meal?
I prefer eating in Artisanal restaurants than of Fast Food Chains. It doesn't matter if I pay big as long as I experience the exquisiteness of the food since I love art, not only that, most of the Artisanal chefs doesn't only cook good foods, they also research the best and healthy foods they can service. Most fast foods these days have too much fat content which makes you crave more--We all know that it's very unhealthy.
I do get that the restaurants that serve the better quality food and ingredients are also going to be more healthy for us, but how many people are going to be able to justify paying that amount of money even if they could afford it just to eat organically grown veg instead of frozen for example? It appears to me that the people who do eat in these fine dining restaurants are only doing it to make themselves look good, and they role out the 'it's better for you' excuse simply because they don't want to appear pretentious which is usually exactly what they are!
Choose always an artisanal cuisine, food is better quality respect a big chain like Mc Donald's or Subway!!! The high cost of a fine dining is nothing compared your health and wellbeing of your body
If I have the time and money, I would usually go to such expensive establishments wth my family especially. If I just want a quick meal for myself and I'm very hungry, I'll just go for a fast food.
We are not that frugal when it comes to food but we don't splurge just for the heck of it. In fact, we were in an overnight stay 5-star hotel last week to avail of a voucher. But food is so expensive in the buffet restaurant of the hotel (to the tune of $80 per person) so we bought a fast food dinner and ate in the hotel room. For breakfast, we took a taxi to the nearest McDonald's outlet. Tomorrow, we will again avail of another overnight stay in that same hotel and we are again thinking of bringing along dinner. Don't get me wrong but we also eat in those expensive buffet restaurants but not every time, only on occasions.
I have my own reason, and reasons can be different in every individuals. I myself don't consider myself as an elite, but I do pamper myself most of the time, because I believe in the saying that loving yourself more than anyone makes you a good person inside out. I don't mind paying extra as long as I get something good, then I feel good. If one tells me to just buy fast foods because it taste good and it's cheap, then go tell that to your mom coz my mom cooks better than fast foods and it's a lot cheaper.
Looking at a few restaurant menu's though I still don't see how the prices can be justified no matter how good the ingredients are. I'm not comparing a gourmet burger made with the finest cuts of beef to a McDonald's burger of course, but is the gourmet burger worth $18 more? Really? The fine dining establishments around our way tend to be frequented by the pretentious people who are buying lunch and dinner on the company expenses or on mummy and daddy's credit card simply because they want to appear to be better than what they are, and I think that puts the 'normal' people off going which is a shame because I think we all deserve to eat the best.
Fine dining always. I don't like to have fast food like burger, pizza for my meals. Having them for snacks is okay, but not for meals. I want proper meal.
Fine dining is often a treat, when you go out to celebrate and enjoy yourself. I don't think it's pretentious at all, and people go for the experience, ambience and to have food that hasn't been microwaved or come from a packet. Fast food is cheap, not always nutritious and the ambience isn't always that great with teenagers, gangs of students, rough and dirty workmen coming in for a snack, and people with not so great manners at times. It doesn't bother me, but I don't stay any longer than I have to in these places, and it's not a dining experience, but a convenience. I like both depending on the situation, but don't knock fine dining, because in the right company it is fun and the food can be more inspirational.
I'm sure the fine dining experience can be good but a lot is going to depend on the clientele that go in there as well as the chef and the owners and how they treat the customers. I've been to two fine dining restaurants in the past, one very good and exactly what you'd expect. 5 star quality food, a relaxed, quiet atmosphere and you got the sense that the staff would do anything they could to help you make the most of your night. The other one was full of people who just wanted to pretend they was posh. They had no manners whatsoever and thought just because they was wearing a designer shirt and watch (that was probably fake), they could get away with anything they wanted and the staff let them.
In the occasions when I am in a hurry or don't have much money I tend to go for fast food restaurants. I usually do fine dining when I am with family and plan out having a nice dinner together, but this happens once in a while. Both are just fine but the experience of fine dining is really nice especially with good company.
I usually choose something in between. I prefer sit down restaurants to the drive thru style, and I'm more likely to pick a homegrown one than a chain. I guess I choose restaurants similar to the way I shop. I tend to go for mid range rather than low or high end. We have been to a few fine dining establishments over the years, but that's generally been reserved for special occasions. For example, we went to a lovely place for our anniversary. I wouldn't consider doing something like that for an everyday lunch (though I might consider celebrating there during lunch instead of dinner, since lunch menus are usually less expensive than dinner menus).
I consider spending such an amount of money in a fast food restaurant as a form of vanity since I can tug along someone less fortunate and still have my cash largely intact. I would consider such establishments occasionally to celebrate an achievement or milestone instead of going out for a full might of partying which would no doubt result in more spending.
Fine dining is better than fast food but it does not come cheap. As much as I wanted to eat in fine dinings, I always think of the money that I would spend compared if I would eat in a fast food chain. That's why what I usually do instead is buy some stocks and just cook at home, that way, I can definitely enjoy my meal without spending a lot outside. But I would still love to eat in fine dinings once in a while.
I think that's the point I'm trying to make, and we have to look at value for money, not if something is cheap or expensive. I'm sure that none of us would begrudge paying a lot of money if the whole fine dining experience was worth it, but a lot of places simply aren't, and they're just trying to cash in on a celebrity chef's name for example. If the food and the setting, service and the whole experience is worth paying for then I have no problems in paying for it, but I've been to some places and the food is pretty much what you would get from a burger joint. They just put it on a fancy plate and make it look nice and charge 5 times as much, and that's what annoys me the most.
I totally feel you man. I really don't understand why they keep on doing that. I know fine dining is fine dining and it really is more expensive than most of the restaurants out there but overcharging the food ain't really fair. Like when we ate at a particular fine restaurant in our place, we've ordered a chicken and vegetable salad as well as chicken and fries, and I was really shocked when it was worth $32. Well I guess it's fine since it was just for free (a friend's treat) but there's no way that I'll be purchasing that with my own money. I can have an entire full day meal with that amount.
Some of the prices in those places can be ridiculous and that's my argument really. W like the better quality food and the better atmosphere, but can we justify paying that much just for in your case a chicken and vegetable salad. We could have got the same meal for about $10 at the most in a lot of other places but just because it's been prepared by a chef that's been trained by a so called expert, we are paying a lot more. While I do like my food and I eat out quite regularly, I'm not sure that even I would be able to taste the difference between a $10 salad and a $32 one!
Some people could eat for a week on $32.00. That is a lot of money for some basic lunch. I get what you guys are saying. It really depends on what you're having too, and the occasion does matter. You don't want some run of the mill meal for a landmark anniversary, for example. Still, it's hard for me to spend a large amount of money on one meal. When I have enjoyed fine dining, it was in places that I felt were worth the extra expense. If not, I would certainly let them know it. That happened once as well. We ordered lobster for an anniversary dinner, and of course, lobster is expensive, but it was a rare splurge. We were enjoying the atmosphere and the meal right up until one of the wait staff began vacuuming around us. She wanted to go home early and it was her turn to vacuum. Imagine, lobster, nice wine, candle light.... and a roaring vacuum cleaner. My husband immediately found the manager. We were offered free dessert, which was okay I guess, but the moment had already been ruined. We never went there again.
If fine dining (and if take-out was allowed in the establishment,) I would go for the fine dining. I am constantly searching for meals that I don't have to cook, or buy (a.k.a. frozen meals) in grocery stores. So when you go out to eat or even order food to go, you have two choices: Fast food that is less expensive, or finer dining which will cost more, but the food quality is so much better, and better for you. I've been ordering from restaurants lately, instead of buying groceries. It's just this new thing I'm trying, since food from the grocery stores just hasn't been tasting all that great to me lately. And fast food, let's face it. It makes you fat, and is so terrible for your arteries/cholesterol. But even when I go for finer dining restaurants, I usually end up ordering some kind of club sandwich with fries...and it makes me think, how much better is this for me than fast food? So yes, I would be willing to pay more for higher-quality food that is healthier as well, but I still need to find a place that actually offers it.
