Completely concur here, Greg… to me, it’s about everything being boxed/canned/frozen to infinity. I do know there are higher-end items available through Sysco, and fully understand why so many restaurants have to go this route – but I’d far prefer to spend $$$ with a place that has Harvest Drop and Local 130 Seafood dropping off their products! I also think that the ‘Sysco-based’ places aren’t getting creative. Just one example - dumping balsamic glaze all over vegetables doesn’t make them gourmet in my book!
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@seal I know we have a thread or discussion regarding Doner House somewhere on the NJ board, but I’ll drop here that I finally made it there this week and very much enjoyed the food.
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Gyro/Doner is an interesting topic.
I abhor the switch from Gyros on Vertical Broilers, no matter what meat concoction adorned the spit, to the frozen strips without flavor. Makes me think of the demise of real Corned Beef Hash. Hard to find the real thing. And worse, because people accept it, more places adopt the canned impostor.
The Gyro reason can possibly be linked to the differing rules in local Health Departments. Many towns do not allow the vertical broilers as it is believed that the meat does not cook to safe serving temperature.
Cannot remember the last time they said yes when I asked if the gyros were from an Auto Doner.
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FWIW, Evan’s in Matawan has a vertical broiler/cone/whatever. I too think throwing a coup!e of freezer strips of “gyros” on the griddle doesn’t count as gyros.
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My wife & i stopped at 5Guys for lunch the other day. 2 burgers a shake a soda & an order of fries was $35. I thought that was pricey.
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The regulations that the State of NJ has put on gyros make it almost impossible to use a vertical broiler.
AGREED! Yeesh.
Yet little hole in the wall places have them.
That is pricey! We “discovered” 5 Guys 10 years ago or so and a little or junior burger was $2.79, then (a year later or so) $3.79, then $4.79. I forget how much their “normal” burger was-- maybe $2 more. That location (Old Port, Portland, ME) was driven out of business by COVID but I bet also by less expensive options. For me & my wife it went from being a weekly quick bite out to a monthly and finally to none.
Same thing almost but not as often for me & my buddy. We’d go see whatever the latest action flick was & then to the pub (Rosie’s) for a burger & beer. Rosie’s began raising their prices and since we had to walk right by 5 Guys we’d eat there instead. 5 Guys prices eventually reached par with Rosie’s-- within a buck or 2. So they lost us there too.
I’ll say. We haven’t been to the local Five Guys in probably 10 years or more, so my first impression was “Wow, John must live in a super expensive city”.
But then I looked up my local - here’s just the burgers, but with sales tax here your order would have been $37. Yowza.
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You all want to talk about expensive sandwiches? Try to top this:
Until very recently, I worked at a Jersey Mike’s for about a year. Prices went up twice in that span. Whole (or “Giant”, as they call them) Italian subs were nearly $18 with tax. Sorely not worth the price when you consider Taliercio’s down the highway gave double or triple the meat at a better quality for almost half the price. The large bags of chips were nearly $6. I remember distinctly this one time a man in his late 70’s ordered four whole Italians and I think grabbed two large bags of chips. I was ringing him up, among doing a million other things at the same time, and was like, “Yeah that will be $95.78” (or whatever the price was). There was silence. I looked up at him. He made this short groaning noise that I cannot quite describe and am unable to mimic, actually grabbed at his upper chest area, and gulped, before getting his wallet and inserting his card. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance for him.
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Since you asked
According to Barclay Prime website, it is now $140
I know, I know, this is a NJ thread but I saw this and thought this was the perfect place to put it:
Personally, I think the three-course dinner at the prefixed price of $89.95 for a scallop appetizer, Beef Wellington, and the sticky toffee pudding is almost reasonable for Vegas.
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(post deleted by author)
hah, Greg, I’m willing but I don’t have anything LESS depressing than last year… so…
What YOU got, man?
Do you have some recent wins or is it all still worse for you, too?
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I’m going to try to get some information from you guys
What are reasonable prices for Burger Fries and a beer
What is considered normal for a decent deli or hero sandwich
Is $18 a ridiculous price for cocktails
It seems to me that since my cooking skills are not good I have been eating out or getting ready to eat meals and the average entrees for me have ranged from $18 dollars for supermarket market prepped meals to $40 for a decent dinner meal
Have seen & purchased from Livotti’s & Wegmans’s some meals as high as $30 for seafood but they don’t seem like the normal price range
What is considered normal price for a meal not home cooked?
Only interested in my area
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Relative to your Little Italy post
On a recent visit to Rome I found that prices are for the most part much lower throughout there than in my area of Monmouth County
The cost of living has gone up worldwide but it’s seems out of control locally
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For starters, places like Talula’s (only using them as an example) are using truly high quality ingredients. Those ingredients are expensive compared to a place getting tubs of things from Restaurant Depot or Sysco. Personally, I’m willing to pay more for the good stuff.
And then I honestly think that local places have an attitude of “let’s get what we can while we can…” I live in AP, one of the few shore towns with a year-round population + multiple spots that are worth the price imo (e.g., Cardinal Provisions, Reyla, RBar, and Laylow because of their combos of atmosphere, service, and food and drink quality. But so many other towns and bars/restaurants have to make the majority of their income in/around the summer season, and when the lines are out the door and tourists are willing to pay, they are gouged–but isn’t that what you do on vacation?
When I moved down here from NNJ in 2015, there were tons of great happy hours (food AND drink) everywhere, but not nearly as many since the pandemic.
My two cents.
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I remember when Porta opened and not only were the ingredients imported so were ovens
For the first few years I was there almost every week, my memories of a $30 pizza are not clear
I believe Talulah’s prices were higher than Porta from the get go Not disparaging her product and the quality however she definitely has reached a new level of pricing at the time
As I learned a long time ago in a small desert town every room has a price ,different rooms in my opinion are worth the prices Her’s is not to me.
Of course every room is different and there are many in AP that are worth more than others
In my opinion Wonder Bar could charge me $20 for their burger the room is worth it
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