Very easily
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I have changed my pattern over the past 4 years.
For a regular dinner for myself, I generally don’t spend more than $70 including tax and tip.
Most friends have been tightening their belts, so I haven’t been choosing places where dinner will cost more than $100 per person.
Pastas in Toronto are around $20-$35 now, and up to $46 at some restaurants.
Most steak frites are in the $40-$60 range, so I’m rarely (haha) ordering them.
I order special occasion dinners, where mains are in the $50-$60 range maybe 5 times a year. Those meals, in the $200-$250 range, are for myself and 2 dining companions.
I have only had a couple meals that cost around or over $100 per person since 2020.
I would spend more on dinner , at more expensive restaurants, if I was to visit Montreal or NYC.
We have a couple price threads running on the Toronto board.
Toronto Burger and Fries Price Metric Thread, June 2023 and onwards
Greater Toronto Area, Bang for the Buck restaurants, 2024 edition
I tend to eat dinner out once or twice a week.
These were my restaurant dinners over this past week.
Saturday, a pizza ($18) with a friend. He had a beer, I had a cocktail ($17) . Around $54 before tip.
Sunday, Persian take-out. Chicken Fesenjoon ($21), eggplant ($12), rice and bread was included. $37 plus $7 tip.
Monday take-out. $24 Cobb Salad (before tax and tip) and a $6 slice of pizza (before tax and tip).
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Over the year that I spent in NYC, 27 years ago, I ate lunch out daily, and I had dinner out around 5 times a week. I was new to cooking and it seemed cheaper to get cheap take-out than cook in Manhattan. Plus, every midrange neighbourhood restaurant seemed to offer take-out.
I came home to Canada with hundreds of take-out menus that I had collected. I carried my Flashmaps around and checked off restaurants I had tried. I also had a copy of Eric Asimov’s $25 and Under. I’m guessing I tried 3 dozen of the restaurant listed in there.
That’s the year that probably turned me into a foodie. I was eating a lot of $10 $15 take-out dinners back then. Cheap take-out Chinese food (Mee Noodle comes to mind) and Mexican. Weeknight Dinners out at places like Republic, Veselka, or Comfort Diner. A lot of penne à la Vodka and pad Thai.
I remember the prices for whatever reason.
I remember spending around $100 for 2 back then, in 1997-1998, when friends would come to town, when we would splurge at a place like Balthazar, Domingo, or Vong.
I most have already been tightening my belt on subsequent visits to NYC, because I rarely was spending more than $80 before tip on myself on visits in 2018 and 2019. Of course, prices have gone up a lot everywhere since 2020, so I would be spending closer to $100 on myself in NYC now, or sticking to Chinatown and Veselka.
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I tend to save my splurge and fancier meals for when I’m travelling. I cook at home most days, try to get take away 1-2 times a week just so I don’t have to cook/cleanup. When I do go out for a sit down meal here, it usually for something I can’t or won’t make at home. Sometimes I’ll head over to the burbs to meet up with my sisters to have lunch at one of the many delicious international restaurants, which are mostly well priced because of cheaper rents and usually family run.
I’ve been to a few Michelin * restaurants on my travels(Spain/Portugal), but I don’t seek them out anymore.
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Yeah, I’ve tired of the fancy-shmancy parade of endless small bites for $$$$. And while that may sound like sour grapes, I doubt I’d want to go if we could afford those places.
Give me well-executed, no-frills food I can’t or won’t make at home & I’m happy 
Still eternally grateful for your Prado rec, tho. Affordable & delish — that whipped lardo will forever be lodged in my brainz. 
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Most welcome 
If I make it to Spain on Monday(looming Air Canada pilots strike 
), I think there might be 1, 1 starred restaurant that I’ve booked in Malaga, La Cosmo, but the rest are not. I had a couple in mind, but spending $400 for lunch/dinner didn’t sit right with me.
La Cosmo | Málaga
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Looks great, and the prices aren’t insane!
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Looks like a fun spot!
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I really hope your trip happens, bruv! All appendages crossed.
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I pay more attention to “did I love it” than “what did it cost”.
Would we return in a week? If so, the cost is likely okay with us.
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Thanks broheim 
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There are a few Boston restaurants with the same price range as you presented, but in the near suburbs, it’s about a third less, and there are decent meals to be had for half your prices, especially in ethnic cuisines.
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Every time I go to a local restaurant I am shocked by the prices. It isn’t because I am living in the past. In large pat it is because the United States does not have socialized medicine. I spend half my time in a town of 30,000 in Italy and while prices have gone up they have not gone up by anywhere near as much as in the U.S. From $15 to $30 I can get a good meal, and there is no tax, and little if any tip. There is a place we go to in our Italian town where for 15 Euros ($16.50) we get bread, wine and bottled water, a pasta course, a meat course, vegetable, and coffee. Last time we were there I had lasagna, followed by osso buco with mashed potatoes, and cooked fennel. Other than avarice on the part of suppliers, landlords, insurance companies how do we explain the dramatic price increases in the U.S.
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You might find this discussion interesting. Dining out is far cheaper in most of Europe compared to the US.
Even a mediocre cheeseburger in pub like place in Boston is at least $15. A really good cheeseburger with high quality ingredients is more.
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That fits with my recent experience. Last spring, we had two nights in Miami Beach, before a cruise. I was surprised at how expensive menu prices were - then add tax and tip and it becomes two dinners that were very expensive for what they were.
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The compulsion/expectation to add 20% to the total is nothing to sneeze at.
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Well I am not going to get into a macroeconomic lesson here but I will make a simple statement. The US is substantially wealthier than Italy. Median income and per capita GDP in the US is much higher than Italy. Generally speaking everything costs more in a wealthier country. Go to Norway or Switzerland and check prices. I think you may be in for a surprise. Switzerland has been doing all it can for years to keep the Swiss franc down. If it weren’t the currency intervention prices would make it difficult for anyone to visit. It’s not avarice. Very basic economics at work.
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I can confirm that dining out in Norway appeared overall more expensive than the US (we just visited in August). Same with dining out in Iceland. Sweden was not far behind Norway, probably more equivalent to Denmark. These countries all have high taxes, but that’s put towards social programs, education, and health care (and in Denmark there’s emphasis on sustainability). There’s generally a high quality of life for much of the population from this outsider’s perspective.
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