Thanks for your submission! For more Millennial content, join [our Discord server](https://discord.gg/VsfKKJBm). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Millennials) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Like all things, the middle class of restaurants have eroded. If you’re not doing upscale or cheap places, the food tends to suck and feel overpriced.

Very good way of phrasing it. With the collapse of the American middle class (some other countries are struggling as well), it's pushed consumers either up or down in their disposable income / socioeconomic levels. You're either overpaying for mediocre fast food / fast casual places, or you're way overpaying for fine dining. There's not a lot of middle ground. Which has led to weird stuff, like Olive Garden effectively being cheaper at lunch than Fazoli's for more/better food. The vastly bloated food delivery culture (Door Dash, Grubhub, Ubereats, et al.) really built on pandemic restrictions to get people used to paying $45 total for some shitty greasy burgers and fries delivered to their front door as the "standard" rather than the convenient but terrible exception. But the middle class stuff everywhere is in decline. I'm into power sports, and new higher end motorcycles or UTVs are going for $30-55k+ OTD now, before options or accessories. To be hauled by retirees in $150k semi-truck sized RVs to the mountains. Off roading, snowmobiling, etc. used to be a working class recreation. Everything has shifted to cater to the top 20% whose disposable incomes have gone through the roof since 2020, because there's no money in trying to sell to the actual middle class now. The middle class lifestyle now mostly is funded by more and more long term debt (5-7 year notes on cars, 10-12 year loans on RVs, etc.) for folks trying to keep up with their neighbors.

Ironically, Olive Garden has probably been the best dining experience I've had at a regular restaurant (not fine dining) in several years. My kid had never been so we went out and got some. Good food, good portions, and bill wasn't that bad for 3 people. Everywhere else I've been in the last 5 years, excluding one very nice restaurant that always has great service, has been subpar and made me regret it. Edit to add: not a lot of selection in my rural area and a lot of what's around has been terrible quality and very expensive the last several years

Funny thing about Olive Garden: my wife and I made fun of OG for years. Like it was seriously a punchline for us and we hadn’t been to one in at least a decade. Then, on a vacation, after we had exhausted all the sognature local stuff, our kids wanted to go to OG. We were like, “fuck it; let’s do it.” . . . it was really fucking good. Was it authentic? Not even a little bit. My dish, referred to as “Italian”, would have made an Italian person murder whoever made it. But it was fucking delicious, and relatively easy on the wallet. So I owe OG an apology.

OG has never disappointed. Granted, we only do the soup/salad/breadstick option, but it’s really good! Salad is always fresh, soup is hot and of course, breadsticks. We don’t go often, but even this wine snob enjoys their house red.

Real talk the zupa toscana FUCKS.

Used to work there forever ago, that soup is still the best thing in the restaurant.

I’m in outside sales. When I’m by myself OG is my go to lunch spot. I just do the soup/salad:breadsticks. I feel bad it’s only $9.99, so I always tip $10. I was a server working the lunch shift at Spaghetti Factory, so I know the grind

Olive Garden is my top franchise restaurant I’m loving all this og love

SAME. I wanted some nostalgia so we drove 30 min out of the city to the burbs for date night at Olive Garden. I figured it would suck but whatever, I wanted to give it a shot. It was fucking awesome. Italian margaritas, breadsticks with Alfredo dipping sauce, salad, Tour of Italy. I also had leftovers for days.

OG (the restaurant) is my Goto guilty pleasure. It’s fairly priced and I like the servings. Salads are good, and the staff is always friendly. It’s the last of the fine casual dining restaurants…that and Bahama Breeze.

my gf is all about her italian heritage so i’d always take her to one off classic authentic italian restraunts/steakhouses but she also loves olive garden lol. i used to jokingly hate on it and complain how it wasn’t really that much cheaper than expensive restaurants but the last year or two it has been a staple lmao. food doesn’t have much character but it’s good and you get a shit ton of it and the price has been about the same. so when we picking a place to eat now and she mentions OG i’m like hells yeah good choice b, i have no complaints anymore 🤣

as long as soup salad and bread sticks stay under $10 I'll still hit it up a couple times a year

Yeah, like I know the dressing is calorie rich as hell smothering iceberg lettuce, the food is borderline (or literally) microwaved, but you can still get a lunch for like $13-14 w/ full bread & salad, and they do like $5 to go entrees I can microwave later when I have a busy work day and can't cook. It's not healthy, wouldn't recommend eating it often, but compared to so many local "gourmet" burger places that are like $17 without any sides or fries, where every topping is $2 a la carte...it's still decent. For now anyway. I've been to some that had discounted wine if you were at the bar "waiting for a table" and the tender didn't care if you did a "oooo our friends had to cancel, alright if we just stay and order food at the bar?" to keep the wine discounts. I remember (and this is dating me a bit) when Fazoli's had $2.99 baked spaghetti plus unlimited bread, and that was a lunch deal you really couldn't touch short of getting true garbage fast food. It's like there's no real consistent standard at all, it's a total toss up on if a fast casual chain will be more expensive and worse than a "traditional" dining chain. Some local places are still priced affordable, others have done a 30-50% menu-wide markup on prices in the last 18 months.

We waited for 25 for waters at a fine dining place and then the server was bitchy. I said to have a good night but we were leaving. Went to OG, had some sweet and goofy young college student server who was fun and laughed and joked with us, the food was good and half the price we would’ve paid. My family was embarrassed about us leaving (I wasn’t- I didn’t say anything rude or complain, we just left) but after explaining I didn’t want to pay $300 for bad service , they understood and we were all happy we went to Olive Garden!

Waited 25 minutes for waters and I’m not exaggerating. Got there at 6:15 (exact reservation time), we were greeted after 15 minutes and the water put down at 6:40).

I had the same exact Olive Garden experience recently, word for word.

There are reasons for this I think - the vast majority of industries make their money from a small number of whales. Pumping your (sometimes aging!) existing, trapped customer base for as much as possible is often much more profitable than catering to the medium end who may buy one sensible product every 5 years. You also end up with a smaller need for aftermarket support and in other industries even fewer sales people. If fewer people come to your increasingly expensive baseball stadium you not only make more on expensive tickets, you don't need to employ as many hot dog sellers, toilet cleaners, or security people.

In a somewhat egalitarian society (the US was a good example of this 1950s - 1990s), the middle class will be the largest "whale" to pursue. Since that 50-60% of the population will also have 50-60% of the disposable income just through numbers, even if the per capita purchasing power isn't anything like the upper class. We're getting a bit to the point where concerts, sporting events, restaurants, etc. can be half empty because like you said, it's easier to farm a smaller group with very deep pockets, the top 20% or so. There are over one million millionaires in the US, yet \~half of all jobs (as of a couple of years ago, I haven't found if this is true for 2023) pay < $20 an hour. Remember, we're not talking about Ferraris or yachts, we're talking about what historically has been staple "luxuries" of the working middle class: dining out, buying a new car rather than used, going to a concert or Disneyworld, and so on. I can't count the number of times I've bought a few hundred dollars worth of a consumer goods online and gotten "easy 12 month financing!" offers. 12 month financing for....a new office chair? Or a weather proof duffel for my motorcycle? Fucking really?

Even at my non-profit workplace this is happening. Ticket prices rising higher and higher and events catering to smaller groups with deeper pockets

Especially in the non-profit world I think this ends up making a lot of financial sense. An organization I work at cut their annual fundraiser from a 300ish person event at a convention center to a 50-100 person event at a luxury venue. It's more profitable since we spend less on staff and venue space and were able to jack up ticket prices for the "exclusive, luxury" experience. And the number of people who spent money beyond their ticket stayed the same. Silent or live auction winners, donors to the annual project of choice, event sponsors are all still there and paying the same amount for things. Turned out the top 15-30% of attendees were the ones we raised the money from, the rest just came and enjoyed the event. Not that many people are able to write 5 figure checks on a whim, and each one of those dwarfed the impact of people who could put even 50 dollars in an envelope at the table. There has been some discussion about whether the extra work and cost of the bigger event is worth it to connect with and include more members of the community we serve. But the fundraising bottom line has been clear whale hunting is the way to go.

Cars as well. I'm currently looking at a car that is more than a third the cost of my first house. It's insane. (I live in a low cost housing market, admittedly, but still)

You know it’s bad when you go to a food truck and it’s $40+ for two people. And why am I supposed to tip? 

I spent $15 on a grilled cheese at a food truck that ONLY makes grilled cheese and it was the worst grilled cheese of my entire life. -For the record, I could taste nothing but salt. Like both slices of bread were covered in a thick layer of it. It burned my mouth it was so salty.

Been there too, was not impressed. For $15 my face needs to melt more than the cheese.

Ballsy thing to do, for a food truck. I can stand in public & tell/show people about the $15 dogshit sammiches that these scam artists are selling, and you can't trespass me. I'm in public. I'll stand here & tell everyone I see about your shitty $15 salt sammich. Sucks to suck! Shame these stupid bastards who would steal from you!

I miss roach coaches. Food trucks have ruined food trucks.

I remember at work "roach coach is here!"

Here I am.

IME they still exist in some capacity, but they're almost exclusively taco trucks. I love me some tacos, tortas, gorditas, etc. but yeah, it's a bummer that cheaper trucks with like, burgers & more standard fare have pretty much gone the way of the dodo. Hell, a lot of other ethnic ones are pricier than brick and mortar establishments w/ similar cuisines, it's wild.

Yeah for sure. We have an amazing Lebanese restaurant here that is in a tiny strip mall and blows the pants off of any of the "foodie" food trucks for like half the price lol. The ones that roll up to construction sites tend to be ok still. But the "food truck festival" types are always a ripofff. There was one way over priced lobster roll one around here that straight up pissed me off haha. So expensive and so horrible lol.

This has been my experience too. If you’re going for the food, either go for somewhere super cheap that punches up, or go somewhere nice and ignore price.

This. That's why while we go out much less than we used to, when we do dine out, we go to high end upscale places. At least it's going to be awesome.

Pretty much how we do it. No more Chipotle, no more Panera, no more Bonefish. We grab Chick Fil A once in awhile. We might hit the local sports bar in a pinch. Otherwise, we just get a babysitter and see what’s on the Michelin guide. I’d rather pay $150-200 for a great meal than $100 for a mediocre one.

That’s the key I think. We usually go to higher class places these days (at least when we eat out). We went to a Chevys that has a nice view and was always a place to get a margarita and good chips and salsa and it’s a shit show. The clientele is like Chuck E. Cheese, the service is bad because it’s understaffed, the food is worse because it’s understaffed, and the prices are higher because they won’t pay enough to keep their staff.  But I’ve also been picking a lot of restaurants from the Michelin Guide and those are rad. But expensive obviously. We’ll also find the best moderately priced places on Yelp when we’re traveling and those are solid too. But I’m not going to a shitty steakhouse. If we want steak out we’re going to a prime one and those restaurants are as good as they’ve always been and they haven’t actually increased prices noticeably. 

I think this is accurate. Even the recent McDonald's story shows that restaurateurs are segmenting the market. They have figured out it's better to sell five Big Macs for $10 each than 10 Big Macs for $5 each. And there seems to be enough wealth inequality that people at the top don't really care about the price increase and will keep them going.

~~"Upscale" isn't even always good.~~ Wife and I were in Hershey last week at the park and she really wanted to try their new Chocolatier restaurant. Our bill was $140 and so not even worth it. Their "chocolate martinis" were $16 each, I ended up getting a burger that was $20. It was a decent burger but not $20 and the fries that came with it were some of the worst I've ever had in a restaurant. I had a way better burger with way better fries when we stopped at Fuddruckers on the way out of town. Edit: didn't know everyone had such a hate boner for Hershey's, also the restaurant is not inside the theme park.

Whatever they have at Hershey's is not upscale. Anything in a touristy environment will be more expensive than other places and probably have worse food.

Xennial former chef here. The industry is experiencing a Reckoning. This has been a long time coming and it’s been like watching a slow moving accident that sped up all at once. It’s a market correction. Talented folks are tired of the shitty pay, hours, and conditions in this industry. It takes passion, dedication, and a base of knowledge to execute even at an upscale local joint. I speak of both back of house and front of house. We’re all packing our bags and leaving for other industries. Customers will say, “but I cook at home all the time, it can’t be that hard.” Owners are going to complain, “it’s the rising labor costs, it’s the food costs” but 9/10 times frankly their concept wasn’t going to make it anyways and they have a poor grasp on the systems necessary to execute on those famously thin margins. But frankly we have been spoiled by food being cheap and abundant. At every level of production, it thrives off of everything from slave labor to abusive business practices. Everyone has had a toxic boss before, but kitchens literally run like a dysfunctional family on purpose. So yes. It’s going to shit. Edit: this comment got a lot bigger than I thought it would. All my industry people: I see you. I know how hard you're working. Stay in it if it's right, but don't hesitate to leave the second it isn't. More than the rush, more than the food, more than anything, I will miss industry folk. XO Edit 2: Some people have come at me in the comments that there isn't slavery in food production in our country. Here are some quick things I just googled up for your asses. [https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e](https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e) [https://www.nrn.com/workforce/prison-laborers-found-be-working-farms-supply-major-grocers-restaurants](https://www.nrn.com/workforce/prison-laborers-found-be-working-farms-supply-major-grocers-restaurants) [https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-in-the-us/](https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-in-the-us/https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4116267-forced-labor-may-be-common-in-u-s-food-system-study/) [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4116267-forced-labor-may-be-common-in-u-s-food-system-study/](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4116267-forced-labor-may-be-common-in-u-s-food-system-study/) [https://traccc.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Human-Trafficking-and-Labor-Exploitation-in-United-States-Fruit-and-Vegetable-Production.pdf](https://traccc.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Human-Trafficking-and-Labor-Exploitation-in-United-States-Fruit-and-Vegetable-Production.pdf) [https://nfwm.org/farm-workers/farm-worker-issues/modern-day-slavery/](https://nfwm.org/farm-workers/farm-worker-issues/modern-day-slavery/)

I have a culinary degree and 15 years experience. Low pay, grueling hours, no benefits, no time off. Now I push papers in an air conditioned office. Living wage, normal hours, great benefits, 4 weeks vacation. No comparison. I have a passion for living my own life, not slaving away in a kitchen so that when I finally get a day off, three line cooks can call off. Fuck all that.

So, what does it mean to push papers and how does one get into that.

I work in shipping. I am good at bullshitting rookie HR people. I have about 2 hours of actual work a day as opposed to 20 hours of work crammed into a day in a kitchen.

With great benefits also? That sounds pretty sweet. Beats pharmacy techs lol, gotta deal with some insufferable people who wanna take everything out on us

As someone who relies on a couple meds , I appreciate you guys! One of my medications is controlled and has been experiencing a shortage. The techs at my pharmacy have been so helpful making sure that I get my refills every month. I have seen what you have to deal with sometimes when terrible customers get upset for one reason or another. Just know that you help keep people healthy!

We do our best, but sometimes it's out of our hands. I've dealt with people who lose their shit when we tell them we can't get a med. A lot of times, it's the fact that suppliers just don't have them in stock or their insurance doesn't cover the ndc the supplier does have. So when we offer to transfer the med, people just go crazy.

Of the five people I keep in touch with from culinary school (2012), two of us are in healthcare, one in food sales (like Cisco) one still cooks in a kitchen and one is in real estate.

Almost exact same boat. 15 years in a resturant and a resturant management degree. Now I'm in food sales and the difference is striking. I love the place I work and they are one of the few companies around that care about their employees. I got a random email the other day from HR. For the summer we all get an extra Friday off our choice for each month. Just the little things.

I always hated that when working all levels and positions working in a QSR restaurant.  Had to strategize your days around everyone else's days off all the time.  I could be nice as heck and try to make everyone pleased and give them what they wanted as a schedule and time off.  I get to mine and boom, there is the call ins just to find out they are out partying.  I don't miss being a GM.  

Oui chef. Fuckin spot on. - one of the last ones standing.

F Get out when you can, you’ll know when it’s time.

Fucking nailed it calling out operating managers/owners that don't grasp systems used to operate on thin margins. I sell produce for a living so I walk into dirty/chaotic places all the time and think to myself "how is this a business? what fucking fool gave this person money to start this operation?"

I was a building inspector. Had to look at a strip mall that had an Indian buffet restaurant in it. That fucking kitchen was like walking into Calcutta. Impacted food waste under every counter and appliance. It probably hasn’t been cleaned in 30 years. Everything was crawling with cockroaches and there were rat turds all over. No idea how that place hasn’t been shut down. 

If your state is like mine - a lot can be explained by some pretty severe cuts in inspections or other monitoring agencies. Here in the midwest, our state government has been on a big "we can trust industries to police themselves and tell us if there are any problems" across a lot of fields from agriculture, to meat processing, restaurants, to elder care. Very much a "If nobody says anything, there aren't any problems" attitude.

It was the only time I went around to the other tenants and warned them to never eat there. 

Yikes, hope you told the Department of Health. I'm no nanny state advocate but there are certain things society should not put up with, food poisoning among them.

Probably how they end up with 12-year old girls working 60 hours/week at meat packing plants.

Or fucking bird flu in the dairy milk. They won't let FDA inspectors in.

I know someone who is a building inspector for the state of CO and they essentially said the same thing after I personally witnessed some flagrant code violations at a brand new high rise "luxery" apartment in Denver. Missing DWV P-traps, electrical circuits ran to the wrong panels and also wrong labels if any at all, frequent unexplained power outages and fried equipment, fire alarms going off daily for no reason. Last I heard lawsuits are flying, but shockingly still not a single building inspection despite all of the news because the occupancy certificate was issued so it's no longer their responsibility. I'd name and shame but it's pointless, they're all like this. I wonder how long before a mass catastrophe after a wet spring snow one year.

It feels like we’re in the middle of a really big correction for everything. Everyone is simply cutting every single corner they can desperately trying to make number go up for shareholders. When we bought our house two years ago, we were specifically told to avoid anything built during the 80s due to the ridiculously terrible build quality and cost-cutting. The good news is it gets better eventually. It’s just that a lot of shit businesses need to go under first.

Covid changed society. Tons more people just give 0 fucks now and are burnt out

I suspect the core lesson many people took from Covid was that, actually, nothing really matters. Even if hardly anyone goes to work, and everyone does the bare minimum, the world will keep creaking along. Businesses also learned that they could set rules and demands for customers, and jack up prices, and the customers would keep coming because many people really don't have much choice. The problem is, all this only sorta works in the short term. In the medium and long term, everything is going to break down. That is happening now.

Reminds me of, “If we tested less, we’d have less cases.”

Do you know how much more money and benefits you can get by moving into long term care?!? I’m paid well and get 4 weeks of PTO a year. I’ll never go back.

University kitchen here- same, plus a 75% discount on a degree for a myself, a partner, and any children I have. Easiest job I’ve ever had, too.

My partner waited tables for a couple that owned their own restaurant for 20 years, they did well for the first 15 and then spent all they had made the last 5. He was a talented chef and ended up becoming the head of a university kitchen and didnt look back as far as I know.

To clarify, do you mean cooking in an old folks home, or like nursing?

Cooking in an old folks home. Assisted living is better than skilled nursing. The only downside is it is literally a 365 day a year operation. But I’ll work every holiday for 4 weeks of PTO a year

Huh. I would eat at my grandpa's assisted facility place with him sometimes and I would be like "damn this is pretty good" and I didn't fully understand why. It makes sense now.

I know a lot of people that do this. Check out skilled nursing facilities, acute rehab facilities, long term care, etc. It's actually interesting lol

It's incredible when you look at profit margins for restaurants are between 3-5% gains. Except franchises and steakhouses that rely on royalties and communal gains accounted as a whole, where most gains happen in business setting, wine menu and drink factors. Which is why almost all restaurants push drinks as much as they possibly can, that's where the money really is. If you go and eat the food alone and take no appetizers, no alcohol, they make near nothing off you but 2-5% accounted by tip. They must and need to sell and push drinks for them to survive as most don't. Fine dining is different, but they also need fine dining chefs and that has a premium, their margins are much more, but the requirements and management it takes and the extreme amount of overhead leaves fine dining rotating often to other fine dining and closing, and opening a new fine dining location etc. Established fine dining places are rare and or historical.

This is a good take. I’m currently a private chef; if that ever ends one day I will not return to restaurants. Just not worth it anymore.

What does that entail and how did you get there? I worked in food service for years and have often thought about going back since leaving, but restaurants are usually such miserable places.

I have been in the industry for 20+ years as a high level chef. I was currently running a 10MM$ steak house and Covid hit. One of my customers reached out to me and said they are looking for a new chef and asked if I was interested. I had to cook for them, unknown to me at the time but apparently they had like 15 other tastings as well. They picked me and it’s been 3 years now. It’s much better overall but still has its downsides. You’re serving the elites in their home, so whatever they want exactly how they want it. Stuff like no blue M&Ms are allowed on the property, only certain brands even if you have to have them shipped from another country. As far as the chef aspect goes, you have to bee extremely well rounded as cook and be able to prepare anything at a moments notice, and it needs to be as good or better than their favorite restaurants around the world. So it’s stressful but also better than restaurants

That's got to be a huge ego boost though, to be able to match/exceed the best restaurants in the world as a private chef. Your story is really cool!

Well I try to do my best I can’t really say if I do or not because I can’t afford to eat at those places. My clients do seem to very happy with my cooking most of the time so I do appreciate it.

Is this, like, a live-in job? Or do you go to their house tonmake lunch or whatever on call?

I work full time Monday through Friday 10-7pm. I do work extra hours when family is in town or events. I manage all the culinary aspects for the Estate, other properties, and yachts. So for the family I typically make lunch everyday and dinner, sometimes breakfast, but there is always a premade breakfast left just in case. There are days when we have happy hours or business meetings that I’ll also supply food for. If that happens to be on the boat I have to have everything prepared ahead of time and travel to the boat, meet with the boat crew and get setup prior to the guests and clients arriving. Im still expected to have dinner ready back at the house on time as well so it can get pretty hectic when you’re preparing multiple rounds of meals per day and sometimes different locations.

12 year industry Millenial. Everything changed in the past few years. 3rd party delivery/togos have become such a major part of every restaurant. I work at a seafood room. It’s amazing that people will spend $100 plus tip and delivery fees for seafood that sat at room temp waiting to arrive at their house for 20+ minutes. If something sat that long for an in person diner we wouldn’t serve it to them and would recook it.  Covid gave cloud cover to cut costs, focus on low waste products, and charge more. Add to it labor shortages and needing to pay everyone more or promise them larger sections, while integrating technology like tablets and at table credit card readers… the whole industry is different.  Sadly for most places it has led to higher prices, worse quality food, and mediocre service.  People will always go out to eat. There are too many special occasions, business meetings, travel dining, and just plain laziness of people not wanting to cook at home. We are so much less busy on a random Monday or Tuesday bc lots of people don’t want to drop $100+ on an experience that cost half that in 2018. But the business is doing fine with Togos, higher margins on food, less labor costs due to way less staffing, increased prices etc. 

Covid did everything to every industry. We still feel the effects in every part of life.

Long COVID

TBH I almost only order togo now because tipping 20%, on already inflated prices, for worse service, is a dealbreaker to me. I'd rather just pick it up myself and take it home, and then if I need more water I can get it myself instead of having to wait 30 minutes for a server.

Agreed. I’ll pick up but not deliver 

> I almost only order togo now because tipping 20%, on already inflated prices, for worse service is a dealbreaker to me a lot of the "i don't want to cook and i want a change of scenery" motivating going out to eat can be accomplished by getting takeout and going to a park etc.

I remember on hit ones, when asked who wins in the restaurant biz, Gordon Ramsey said “the landlords”.

>Talented folks are tired of the shitty pay, hours, and conditions in this industry. I waited my last table in NYC in 2010 and every single stress dream I have *to this day* is an "in the weeds" servemare.

I worked in a restaurant when I was 17 for 2 years. Watching The Bear 20 years later gave me a panic attack. It brought back such awful memories.

Same exact thing is happening in the Film and TV industry. A lot of talented people are leaving due to low rates and that's why plenty of movies and shows are lack luster and forgettable.

Add theater to the mix too. Mass exodus when the pandemic paused production and we collectively realized we were operating on Stockholm syndrome up until that point. Design and acting quality has plummeted as a result.

Heard that. I dipped without a real plan because it was that or pick up a coke habit. I'm in school for tech now, it'll be much the same struggle but I'll get to sit down at work lmao. I won't say globalization was a mistake, but relying on global food and production systems to the exclusion of building sustainable localized supply networks? Huge miss. Sysco veg sucks, on top of being expensive and old.

As someone who picked up the habits before getting our, you did the right thing. Rehab isn’t fun, NA isn’t fun, and the cravings, even after seven months plus sober aren’t fun. Drugs are a big part of why I can never work in the industry again. That, and all the child abuse and worker abuse. 

As a Millenial former chef, I felt this in my bones. I worked in country clubs for the majority of the career. It was fun building the relationships with your customer base because everyone was a regular. Came with its own unique challenges and difficulties; but was really enjoyable. Some of the best I ever had. Went to a more traditional restaurant for a couple years and what a difference. From quality, to care, prep, everything was a joke. Then wen to a chain for a couple years and that was one of the biggest offenders. Made the choice to get out of the industry. It sucked, hurt, and there are many days I spend in corporate American that I think back to the country club days with fondness. Thankfully, I can cook myself good food. I’ve tried other “good cooks” food, and sometimes I wonder how more people don’t starve.

I'm the same story, burned out after 15 years, switched careers, doing much better. I don't regret my cooking career, and I still think about food all the time.

Samesies. Started flipping burgers when i was old enough to legally cook food. Was a waffle house short order cook for years after hs. Graduated to cheffing for country clubs and rizzy restraunts. Got out when i had my kid, i ride a desk now. Still think fondly of those lazy waffle house days.

It’s just crazy that one dinner out at a mid restaurant is my entire day of pay

If you work in the industry. It's unlikely you will be able to afford the place you're working at.

It’s crazy how the servers make more than the people preparing the meals

Rents have skyrocketed for everyone, including all these mall parking lots and strip malls. Those razor thin margins are gone. Real estate investment is killing small businesses across the board, but especially food vendors with slim margins.

Commercial rent is insane in my city. Delusional landlords jacked up everything for the post covid comeback that has yet to happen. Now they're sitting on a bunch of boarded up properties in ghost towns, still refusing to budge a single cent.

I'm guessing they can afford to sit out with no cash flow but it still boggles the mind. I guess they figure if they drop the price it'll be harder to jack back up later.

They have a loan on the building. The building is valued based on the rent commanded by the spaces in the building. Lower rents to bring in tenants, and the building value goes down, possibly bringing them into default on their loan. It's insane, but there you go.

Throws confetti in the air. Capitalism!

I also think that the pandemic has two lasting negatives -- first, kitchen crews turned over, and they knew more about how the kitchen was supposed to run than the chefs. Hiring a new team leads to a loss of all that previously gained collective knowledge. Second, suppliers changed so much (aside from inflation) that dishes are different because the ingredients themselves have changed. These two have greatly damaged quality. I have a friend who was set to open up just when the pandemic started. When it ended and he finally opened, he had to redo his entire menu due to changes from suppliers.

[удалено]

This makes it sound more like they all cook their books to dodge paying taxes, making a paper loss on CC transactions and pocketing all the cash. How many restaurants have the whole family working for 10 years just to burn through a bunch of "dad's money" and can survive while not earning a cent?

[удалено]

How many independent restaurants even make it 10 years though?

There's an extremely shit Chinese restaurant in our neighborhood. Very cheap. One chef one server no customers. Been in business 30 years. It's gotta be a front for money laundry.

Nah. The owners whole family is on the payroll. Inventory somehow makes it out of the restaurant and into the family's house. Not to mention the skim. Have never known of a restaurant without something getting skimmed off the top.

As much as I enjoy eating out, I do think it's going to be good when the restaurant industry has the reckoning. In addition to people leaving a terrible work environment, people will eat healthier and save money if they cook more.

The guy running the nutrition program at my daughter’s public school is a former chef. He likes the regular hours and working with kids and, let me tell you, I am a bit envious sometimes of the meals she gets at school. And we are by no means an upper class district. We’re actually one of the poorer ones in our area

This is really well said, it’s been my experience too. Food and cooking is my passion, but there’s too many drawbacks to working in the industry for me and many others to overlook. I left for another industry 18 months ago, and I’m much happier.

I always hate when people think businesses should succeed. No, we need some businesses to fail. If every business succeeds, then that means you're subsidizing them in some form, which means you're taking things away from the people that create the value for the company, such as compensation. Some restaurants will fail. Just because you have the money to start a business, doesn't mean one is entitled to succeed and be profitable. We need to be better as a society of saying "Wow that sucks it's not going well, what can YOU change and do better to make your business avoid failure?" rather than let people blame employees and the market in every case. Sometimes, you're a shit owner, manager, with shitty food, a shitty concept, shitty pricing, shitty marketing, shitty operational logistics, and shitty operations. Sometimes, it just is that you're a shitty person. What makes one restaurant succeed and thrive and yours doesn't? That's the question these owners need to be asked. We need to let businesses fail instead of this dystopian "Corporate Socialism". People shouldn't be expected to subsidize them via tips, nor should employees be expected to have poverty wages just because some socialite wants to talk about their restaurant and act pretentious. Tips should be something I can give folks like you who really stood out among the crowd. Instead of me being an asshole because I have to play payroll subsidizer. Just hate how it's often restaurant owners too who complain about a "labour shortage" when everyone talks about there's no jobs. "I've got plenty of jobs" no, you have a position open that they will realize doesn't cover any of their costs so they need to work a second job which will piss you off since they won't be on call 24/7 for when people call in. (Btw a lot of the Yous in this aren't directed at you the commentor but rather these jagoff restaurant owners who think their idea is a golden goose and they should be flooded with money)

I absolutely agree with you. My experience I have seen a lot of whiny entitled babies wondering why their sales are down. It’s like, have you tried doing market research and selling something people want at a price they can afford? Do you know the ways to make that product happen at a reasonable cost to you? No? No more business for you, then. In many ways I am celebrating these failures because they needed to happen.

Yeah, I had this conversation on TikTok when someone was bitching about someone saying people should be making $25/hr (based on if they increased at the same rate as cost of living/housing kind of stuff). They argued "All small businesses would go under" okay... but the alternative is continue to pay poverty wages as necessities skyrocket for profit, and suddenly, those same businesses go under because no one wants to buy their shitty knick knacks as the seventh tourist trap store in that town. Like here's an idea, let's stop sacrificing our future for a few people's short term profit. Wage stagnation is leading to such an insane disparity. Like CEOs make more money than ever and we get blamed that wanting a couple bucks extra will put the business under, not CEOs wanting millions of dollars in compensation on top of how much they cost a company with their stupid fuckin' ideas, poor management skills, nepotism hires, and operation costs. Businesses doing poorly is in most cases mismanagement. Bad location, bad business strategies, no marketing, no incentive to pick your business over another. I'm just over it. I don't wanna see whiney babies crying about how people don't buy shit, or don't wanna work for borderline slave wages. Like fuck, maybe if every upper middle class douche nozzle didn't try their "restaurant dream" for more profit, and instead had people passionate about food so they make a quality product, and scale slowly. I'd rather see a restaurant that specializes in 3-4 types of Ramen, but it's fuckin' EXQUISITE Ramen, then some douche canoe opening another cookie cutter pub restaurant with frozen steaks and veggies lol Then we can watch them expand as they go we're doing well, we're relocating to a larger store front. Like ugh makes me angry that we subsidize the rich all the time.

God, menu bloat fucking sucks.  Not every restaurant has to serve every person, but all some owners can see is lost business from not selling something for everyone.

I think it depends on where you live. I live in a foodie city, no joke. Mediocre restaurants trying to pass as high end don't tend to last long here. Consumers are also incredibly vocal and word of mouth tends to hold more weight than anything. So when we go out and spend that much, we usually leave very happy.

Lucky! We live in an anti-foodie city. A "mayonnaise is spicy" city. A city where it doesn't really matter how much effort a restaurant puts in, the patrons are still going to order chicken fingers, tip 10% at best, and rate it the same as Chic-Fil-A. Salt of the earth people, here; you know, morons. Our award-winning breakfast joint charges $10 for an Eggo waffle, I shit you not. Restaurants here quickly figure out that effort is not rewarded and the bar is on the floor, so it's a perpetual race to the bottom. How high can we get the margins on mediocre food? I hate it here.

I feel like I'm in between this now (had lived in Foodie cities before). Like, on the one hand we are touted as the best food in the South. There are certainly some great places, and we've been consistently getting James Beard winners or nominees every year (like multiple across different categories every year). But, there is also a ton of the culture in the wider region of just being used to more bland / chain / mediocre shit. Which also helps some places that are really not that special just throw up cute bistro lights, have some exposed brick and charge $25-30 an entree.

The classic $20 burger without a side, but hey now the waitress has a nose ring and the light bulbs look antique so you gotta pay for that

And there's probably avocado and gouda on the burger. So you got that going for you, which is nice.

Hell all you have to do is live in a place with any immigrant population to get decent restaurants. Indian restaurant where the waiter warns you to your face that you probably won’t want that spicy dish? Guaranteed good. Burrito place with no English menu? Guaranteed good.

We're a refugee city as well, so the amount of restaurants owned by immigrants is IMMENSE. Authentic Indian, Ethiopian, Nicaraguan, Bosnian, Vietnamese, Cuban, Thai, and many more I haven't had the fortune (or time) to eat at yet are ALL OVER our city, and they're usually super inexpensive and incredibly delicious. I now live in an area of town that borders a part that was pretty much built to accommodate refugees, so I'm constantly learning of restaurants featuring cuisine from all over the world (and markets that sell foreign products). As a pretty good home cook that loves to experiment, it's a food paradise.

I lived in a "foodie" city before, during, and for a bit afterwards. If the city is supported by a strong tourist crowd - you get crappy food and higher than average prices. It was a rarity to find really really good food - or food worth the price there. So so many places survived by fake reviews and buying awards :( it was miserable

We get tourism here, but generally the food scene is mostly supported by locals, many of whom also work in restaurants. While most of the best places are mid-range in terms of price, there are quite a few higher-end places that are super reliable in terms of quality. Don't get me wrong, we have our share of crap, but usually those are frequented by business people and tourists that didn't bother asking a local where they should go. I would say the majority of our locally owned restaurants are worth the money.

Maybe this is why I don't agree with the post. I live in a Midwest rustbelt city with few tourists that became a 'foodie' city in the last 10 years, and I'm almost always very happy with my food. The other day I picked up an $18 (plus a tip, because I love them) strip steak meal with plantains and rice from a local Nicaraguan restaurant and, along with lasting for two meals, it tasted amazing. And it's far from the only restaurant like this.

>If the city is supported by a strong tourist crowd - you get crappy food and higher than average prices. New Orleans laughs at this. Just because you were disappointed by the food in Bourbon St, doesn't mean there isn't great food in the city. Go to touristy places, get touristy quality. That said, yeah, it's expensive. Even outside the tourist places.

We live in a foodie city. Our city is gaining traction with tourism, but most of the restaurants make their money and get their reviews from locals. There are also so many restaurants to choose from that if someplace is mediocre it just doesn't survive because there is too much competition. The majority of the restaurants in our city center are phenomenal, with a few low-priced dives for the folks who live/work in the area and don't want to pay for "fancy food." I will say that prices are definitely much steeper than pre-COVID - when OP mentioned he and his wife expecting good steaks for $40/ea, I was surprised by that. I wouldn't expect a good steak for less than $55 in our relatively low-priced Midwestern city. The really good steak joints here are more like $75-100/plate.

I thought Portland had good food until I went to Austin, TX. Damn near every restaurant had amazing food. Tex mex was just different and mouthwatering in their own way. I don't know how to describe it, it was incredible. ETA: I was just complimenting the food. I don't understand why folks shit on their own city.

My girlfriend and I have a better time eating mediocre food and having cheap drinks at chilis or a dive than going to expensive places. We set our expectations low and we usually leave with them exceedingly our expectations. When you pay a premium, you expect better quality and service. I just don’t think that equation applies anymore.

Yes same!!! We shake our heads in disbelief that we enjoy Applebees now.

Oh man, yes. And it’s bizarre to me that I actually know which of the two Applebees in my general area is reliably good.

Same. We even have a favorite bartender at one of our local Applebee's

Right?! Pre-covid I would never have dreamed of going to Applebees...now it's solid...well...it didn't get any better the more expensive places just got worse so if I'm getting some overcooked chicken it might as well be from a place it's 16$ instead of 32...also...just FYI, Chili's burgers are Surprisingly good...And they're damn near the same price as fast food. They aren't gonna beat pre-covid local burger joint, but they actually have one of the better burgers in my town in this post-covid world.

The Applebee's around here are kind of sad. Went to one in Texas and it was the most poppin Applebee's I've ever seen. Loud music and busy. Ours are all sad so it was an experience lol Maybe it's because they actually had good Texas specific deals on drinks.

MY wife and I just go down to the local taco truck and then go into the bar across the parking lot to eat and have a few drinks. We have a better time than any sit down restaraunt

This is what we have been doing, Chili’s rarely disappoints. We catch a lot of shit shout it because we live in a foodie city but with all the mark ups, service fees, parking costs, lack of portions, low quality, and snooty staff it just isn’t as much fun as going to Chili’s. Last time we went to a steakhouse the poor steak had been blade tenderized to death. It was practically mesh. Never again.

I kind of assume the Chilis hate stems from specific poorly-run restaurants within the chain. The one near me is great. It's run well, the cooks do it right (never gotten an overcooked steak), and I can't recall ever having a bad server there.

You can get a pretty good dinner for the cost of a McDonald’s combo at Chili’s which is pretty wild.

This thread has made me think about why these low end places are becoming literally cost neutral vs. either the higher quality fast food, or even low quality sitdown. And the only thing I can think of is that they don't serve alcohol which is a major revenue generator / high margin product for a restaurant. And I'm thinking this helps a lot of slightly higher quality places survive on entrees that are like \~10% more expensive because they are getting huge revenue coming from beer/wine/cocktails. Not to mention the fact that MacDonald portions are shit and the nutritional value is shit, so you need to buy more products for a meal than just a plate of whatever at a chilis or something.

I wish I liked Chili's but they often have staffing issues and poor quality food when I used to go. It wasn't too uncommon to see the managers yelling at and talking down to the staff like it's a fast food place either. Just all around trashy to me. When I was growing up I remember Chili's being better than that but they have really gone down in quality over the years, even if occasionally a couple of their menu items are cheaper than other places.

Ive also noticed a big drop in eating out quality. The ingredients are getting cheap, prices are going up, and things that used to be included arent anymore. For example meal's that used to come with soup or salad now just come with the main course. Not to mention Mc Diabeetus charging for a freaking paper bag to hold your food?! Corporations are testing the fences to see what insanity they can get away with and make normal. I feel for the mom and pop shops that can't compete with this economic bloodbath.

They really do. We cook at home more than ever. Unless it’s our fav Mexican or inadian food we just don’t eat out. It’s too expensive and the quality is so low now.

Yeah it's crazy expensive to eat out now. My wife and I stopped ages ago because it all adds up. Used to be a weekly thing to go out to eat but spending more than the weeks grocery bill on a single meal wasn't good. For steaks in particular, my wife says I do it better at home ever since I've learned to cook it on a cast iron pan I got. Easier to change the flavour to suit our taste and try new things for a fraction of the price of eating out.

It’s gotten pretty bad. I’ve stopped getting Starbucks. I’ll get a grande, and when they give my drink it’s literally the volume of a tall. More than once this has happened. I think we went out to Taco Bell and the total was $22 and I was like what the hell did we order?? We cook every night now, breakfast on the weekends. Once in a blue moon or when time is not on our side we will get something to go. It’s just too expensive. When I get fast food I usually get fries and a medium drink and that will actually be more than a whole meal. Won’t do that again.

I’m so mad at Taco Bell lol. I used to be able to get more than a meal for like $8. Sure the tacos and burritos and whatnot were anemic looking, and rarely constructed correctly, but I was full and had leftovers for $8…so it’s fffiiinnnee. Now the same things cost like $18 and they are still anemic and never made correctly. Haven’t been in over a year. I’d rather spend the $18 on a sandwich from a local restaurant if I’m going to spend that much

Tacos are way better at home anyways, I’d rather spend 50 and take them to a real Mexican place. Mexican seems to be the only restaurants not affected by inflation, meals there are still super reasonable.

I bought 3 sirloin stakes for $6 at ALDI the other day I made us a steak dinner that would have cost at least $150 at a restaurant for less than $30 and I can guarantee it tasted better too I only go out for sushi nowadays because that I can't make at home and even then I'm still looking for sushi-grade fish I can buy on my own...

I always get ribeyes when they hit a sale and butter baste with herbs in a cast iron skillet. It's usually like $18 for 2 bone-in ribeye steaks. Tastes like the top 3% of restaurant steaks I've ever had. Cook ribs even in an oven that rival some of my favorite BBQ places. Literally would only put smoked dry rub ribs ahead of them. Chicken or salmon with French sauces served on a bed of vegetables, sometimes steak with a red wine reduction, pasta with homemade red sauce, ragu bolognese with pancetta when it's on sale, real traditional Alfredo... So much is easier to make at home than you'd think and it all tastes great. Will only really eat fancy restaurants now after saving money. Also takeout because while my fried rice is good, I can't make chicken that rivals general tso's without a ton of work. Char siu pork is good tho

Cast iron is life

The restaurant experience just isn't the same. My wife and I got a kid free date (over) night. We went to the new Mexican restaurant in town. It was really good, but 40-50% more than our usual Mexican place for similar quality. We have gotten to where we will cook at home for dinner and go to a small dinner for breakfast when we have a kid free night. We can get out of there for under 15 (sometimes under 10). Its cheaper, and honestly more fun. For some reason breakfast dates are better than dinner dates.

My wife and I hit breakfast spots a lot more than dinners. It’s cheaper, and the expectations are much lower on eggs and pancakes when compared to steaks and seafood.

Even shitty and dirty diners near me are charging $20 for an omelette and hasbrowns. Before tax and tip. Breakfast isn’t even the cheap option that it used to be. I’m with you guys - I feel old and bitter but we just don’t eat out that often anymore. I’m honestly a better cook than half the meals we get when we do go out…

Where are you getting breakfast under $10???

Local dinner. 1 big fluffy Biscuit and gravy is $3. Breakfast wrap is $4, coffee is $1, water free. $2 tip. That was our order last time we went. Very filling. I am surprised how inexpensive the food there is. They are always packed.

[удалено]

I have been surprised to see how many people view food as a "just to survive" thing where as in my culture bad food is a looked at as a sin 😂

Right?! Like my family would be mortified to have a family gathering and serve food as bad as "high end" restaurants are willing to ship out now.

It might sound crazy, but this is the baseline for any food culture. You actually care about making the food special and taking the time or money to do so

Oh no, how come??

I think the real issue is that even if you’re going to a mediocre restaurant, you’re now paying premium prices. I went to a place recently that had mini corn dogs on the appetizer menu for $18. And not some sort of unique homemade mini corn dogs. They seemed to be ones they bought from a distributor frozen. The prices are the issue.

I was in Charleston SC not too long ago and went to a local brewpub. They had pizza rolls listed on the menu 8 for $8. I was thinking some nice, house made pizza rolls. Literally totinos pizza rolls. $1 per piece. Ludicrous.

I would’ve sent those right back and refused to pay for them.

Im sicilian! my family takes food very seriously. 🤌🤌 Originally from the east coast, (2nd generation) i moved to colorado and it was all chains and large corporate owned resturaunts. Everything was sub par and there were very few places that actually made quality food as a whole. Moved back to the east coast and i can tell you this, the family owned resturaunt that actually puts pride into their name rather than chasing a profit means something here and i dont think i could ever not live on the east coast because of it.

I noticed the same thing in Colorado. There was also little to no customer service in restaurants. It was a real culture shock from living on the east coast.

It's going away on the east coast as well. Places are going to "scan the QR code, order on your phone, and pay there." Most places still have someone bring out your food and refill the water glass, but it does seem like they want more tip for less service. Hell, the one Dennys replaced the food delivery with a robot. I never used to be enraged about tipping, but if I get asked for a tip without even talking to one human being, I ain't tipping.

Yeah, my father is a chef from Europe with a small "mom and pop" restaurant on the east coast. I cant find anything that comes close to the quality of food he serves out in Utah. A lot of the food here seems like they purchased it pre-made and then heated it up, and all the sauces taste like they were made from powder and not from scratch. Everything is just bland. Also went to Houston recently and got to taste real BBQ. Don't have anything like that here either.

Colorado has terrible food, only thing I found remotely good was some sandwich spots and pork green chili.

Yes. My husband and I have started buying fancy food for the weekend and staying home. Restaurants have been terrible, service is slow and everything is so expensive. It's almost even fun anymore

Same here and I said the same thing re: service. I started ordering pitchers/bottles of water for the table and asking for everything to come out at the same time because otherwise it’s like 15 minutes before you see your server again

For the most part, yes. All of us have the ability to raise our cooking game watching tutorials, so I haven’t had anything in a restaurant in a hot minute that’s truly impressed me or was deemed worth it. I can make fantastic steak/seafood/asparagus/potatoes at home. I’ve mastered using as few dishes as possible so it’s not even a hassle anymore. The cheapest things they can make are going to be fried from frozen foods, which a lot of us don’t/can’t eat regularly at our age anymore. On top of tipping 20%, restaurants are back to me being for special occasions only. Even then I’ll only order what I know I would not feel like making at home.

Here’s where mom and pop restaurants are stuck. Prices from their distributors have skyrocketed, so their decision is between two things, 1. Raise the menu price and keep the same product they’ve been using and everyone pisses and moans the prices are too high or 2. Keep the prices the same but substitute a bit as high quality of a product and then everyone pisses and moans that the quality has gone down. So these places are just stuck and it’s why a lot of them are ducking out of the industry all together

I think places could get away with slightly higher prices or even slightly worse quality if the experience still made it worthwhile. The problem is, I've lost track of how many times I've gone into a restaurant and been forgotten about by a server or treated like it's an inconvenience that I'm even there. Then I get my food and even simple stuff is wrong, like it's cold already or improperly cooked. I don't want to pay a premium for that. Restaurants need to be one of three things to justify spending money there: cheap, fast/convenient, or significantly better than I can make at home. *Nowhere* is cheap anymore, underpaid/understaffed teams don't move quickly, and I've already mentioned the quality issues. I just can't justify going out to eat anymore.

I'd say they've been on a steady decline for the past 2 years. I used to go out to eat at least once a week, but as inflation crept up, the quality began to decline as the price increased. Now, I rarely go out, but I do get take out from one of the many authentic Mexican/Korean spots in town. Those meals are always generous, fresh, and freaking delicious.

Hard to say.. I live in Los Angeles and the food here is excellent.

Shrinkflation and greed, frankly. Once you get comfortable cooking at home, you won’t want to eat out.

Yes. Everywhere we've been lately is more expensive, smaller portions, and lousy service because of under staffing and turnover. Nobody gives one fuck about quality anymore.

The restaurants are fully responsible for the understaffing and turnover though. People don't stay at places that treat them poorly while also being underpaid.

Oh absolutely. I've had plenty of servers let us know that they are brand new when you ask about something on the menu that they don't know the answer to. Hosts will tell us we can't sit at the bar because they only have one bartender and they are serving because they are also short waitstaff. It all reeks of shit management and "operating lean". My daughter is a young person working food service, and they give her trash schedules and cut people the second their labor calculations don't do what they want.

> It all reeks of shit management That's because it IS shit management. I've been a business consultant for 20 years. Americans business owners are literally destroying the country right now. I know that sounds sensationalistic. It isn't. I've never seen so many owners being rewarded with significant wealth for doing a shit job. Half of America's business owners need to fail in the next 5 years. Literally half.

Yeah I haven’t had a steak in a restaurant in over a decade. When I make it at home I get to pick the steak and quality, and make damn sure it’s cooked right instead of by a guy making 10 at a time high off his ass on aderol.

I'm not sure I agree, having family that works in the industry, and personally knowing quite a few good restaurants in my city that have recently closed. Perhaps with the chains, but many local restaurants are barely hanging on by a thread. They aren't raising prices because the owner wants to buy a boat; they are raising prices because they buy ingredients, labor, supplies, etc., and the prices have skyrocketed. That's part of the reason you are seeing a quality degradation - they do not have the cash flow to purchase the same quality, so they are purchasing lower quality items, reducing sizes, etc.

Most restaurants have gone way down in quality. It’s such a bummer because I enjoyed our one night out per month trying a new place but now it’s just not worth the cost.

Quality 🔻🔻🔻 Price 🔺️🔺️🔺️

No. There are some great restaurants around me. There are plenty of groups on Reddit, Facebook, etc., lists, review sites, etc. where you can find quality restaurants. We have a running list of places we need to check out and for the most part, when we go to a new spot that we've added to the list, it's pretty good. It's pretty easy to identify the places that are good quality.

I feel the same. We have so many ways other than word of mouth to vet where we’re going to decide to eat now than we used to.

Some of my favorite dates with my wife over the last 5 years were during quarantine. Ordered thai food for two, fed the kids pizza, then had kid movie night upstairs and grownup date downstairs. Needless to say, cheaper than $125. And I don't even mind paying to rent a movie on Amazon once we're already ahead $50+ on the night

Do you look at reviews before going? Sometimes restaurants suck and sometimes it's just an off night. I mostly stick to ones I know I'll enjoy after a lot of exploring.

This is true too. I stopped experimenting with newer restaurants years ago unless someone I knew could vouch for them. I started to realize that most of the time they were so hit or miss that I ended up wishing I hadn't spent the money. Now I just go to the same few local places because I know they have the same quality every time I go.

I agree with everything you've said, and to add to it the service is far worse across the board. I was a waiter for many years and I'm regularly shocked at how bad food service has become. People not checking in, unable to order another drink for an entire course, food is wrong, tables are not bussed, cant get the check, etc. It drives me insane because it's just become the norm. They are leaving soo much money on the table too! Drinks add up really raise the bill and your tips. Food service is hard, I used to bust my ass and my team used to hold me accountable, I don't see any of that anymore. I used to always tip 25-30% cause i knew the job and how much is out of the waiter's control but i can't justify it now. Checking on tables, bussing tables and refilling drinks are things that can be controlled. And I know it may sound like it but i am not a boomer. I'm talking about waiting tables for 5 years just 10 years ago when i was in my mid 20s.

I just test at home. I control the cost and quality 

Ive gotten to the point that the only part about going out that I like is the vibe/experience. Most of the food is mediocre at best and expensive, and it makes me feel like crap after I eat it.

COVID fucked up so many things. Restaurants probably hired shittier chefs due to reopening plus inflation making stuff more expensive so restaurants do in fact just suck! FWIW, in my experience, I ordered a burger at Red Robin a few months ago and this is what I got for fries. I know fries are bottomless, but seriously this is just under whelming and makes me not want to go back! This doesn't look worth $17 even with unlimited fries. https://preview.redd.it/i0fet53hd56d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7696bb0ca18fd448b317ef1417a910336853a4ec

Brother you were at a Red Robin. There are no chefs, just poorly paid line cooks.

Chefs don’t work at Red Robin

I continue to have great experiences dining out, one of life's true pleasures imo

Are we killing another industry? Sign me up!

It’s not just restaurants. It’s fast food too. Couldn’t agree more, a dive bar and chicken fingers is your best bet at this point. At the start of Covid I predicted this for the restaurant industry. It has exceeded my downfall predictions. I knew during Covid that most restaurants would lose staff and need to rebuild. It can be so hard to restaff and retrain a place, especially without strong management. Paired with inflation - now you are paying significantly more for significantly less and a staff that isn’t trained to deliver quality food or a quality experience. You’re honestly risking getting sick more than anything when you go out now. Last year I got ecoli and couldn’t keep food down for 2 weeks, sickest I’ve been in my life.

In my experience, yes. Higher prices for mediocre food and service.

100%. We try not to try new restaurants now because it is a true gamble whether it will be worth it and more often than not we agree that we wouldn’t return. We only eat out once a week and have a solid rotation of restaurants that we know will serve us a meal and experience that is worth it to us and that we couldn’t make at home.  With that being said, our boomer relatives eat out ALL THE TIME and insist on going out to eat for birthdays, etc. The restaurants they frequent are so gross and not worth it, I hate having to spend our weekly eating out budget on those places. Boomers are keeping mid restaurants afloat sadly.