I only dined inside a restaurant twice in 2024.
One meal was at an upscale restaurant before the opera. One scallop was $24, and my fairly small pasta with duck cost $44 or $46. A cocktail was around $22. Same with a glass of wine. LOL.
The going rate for most midrange pasta in Toronto is $18 to $28 for a primi or main at most places.
My other restaurant meal indoors last year was at a small town diner. Around $20 for a cheeseburger, fries and a coffee, which is reasonable up here.
I still meet up with friends on patios in better weather.
I havenāt been doing as many high end restaurant meals the past 4 years. Partly because most of the highest end restaurants in Toronto donāt offer take-out. I do still get upper mid range meals occasionally. 2 courses and a cocktail seems to run $100 per person in Toronto at many midrange and upper midrange/ upscale casual restaurants lately.
Similar here. I eat out to socialize with friends. Iām out on average 2-4 times a week, between lunch & dinner.
I only occasionally get takeout (used as a common term for whether itās being delivered or Iām picking it up), but it is always cheaper than eating at a restaurant, factoring in drinks and tips. Usually also more tendency to over-order at a restaurant.
Since I donāt dine in outside patio season, I tip restaurants the same as if I did dine in, when I order take-out. I also want them to keep offering take-out, so I figure a nice tip on a take-out meal helps them decide to continue to accomodate me.
In terms of drinks, even when Iām dining on patios every weekend during the summer, most of my drinks even at restaurants are espresso- based lately.
I ordered around 4 cocktails and maybe 2 glasses of wine in 2024. Not to save money, my patterns have changed and the people Iām dining with have changed.
Thereās tipping on delivery, too, plus a service charge and often a ādriverā charge as well. Once I saw that the cost of my bowl of noodles had effectively doubled, I stopped ordering in. And I take your point on drinks, but the food I tended to get delivered (Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern) comes from places I would maybe have a single beer at.
Agree for things like postmates, the hidden and not-so-hidden fees add up. I usually order directly from the restaurant.
But also, given how much I eat out anyway, and the fact that I enjoy cooking the rest of the time, my takeout orders are usually some specific craving from a local place, not a replacement for a restaurant meal.
It was a turn off for me last time I ordered a breakfast sandwich at a cute little coffee shop online through the Ritual app, which gouges restaurants less than some other apps. Ritual has the buyer pay a service fee based on the cost of the order. There also would be an additional fee for delivery.
I paid the service fee, and added my usual tip through the Ritual app, and when I walked inside the coffee shop to pick it up, I still had to wait in line.
While Iām line, I realize the price on the in-person menu was $2 bucks cheaper in person on a $9 or $10 sandwich.
Itās small potatoes. I can afford it. The app allowed me to search my last orders search which places are open or offer specific foods. Of course I could also find this info though Google.
Out of principle it irked me that I paid the service fee and a nice tip, and the restaurant was still adding a cushion.
I know Ritual and restaurants need to make money. Iāll cut out the middle man when I can. LOL.
Usually $0.99 on orders under $15, $1.99 on orders in the $15-$75ish zone. Adds up for Ritual.
I think the idea is supposed to be that the buyer pays for the online service. I donāt know how much Ritual charges restaurants compared to UberEats, DoorDash, or SkipTheDishes.
Is skipping the app an option for you? Our default is phoning the restaurant directly.
One upside of calling is the front of house folks at our regular places recognize us. Admittedly itās a light social connection. Pleasant, though. It also comes in handy, such as when you forget your wallet and they tell you to come back to pay the next day. Or when the restaurant calls you after pick up because they think they might have forgotten part of your order. Yup, both things have happened.
Whatās interesting in Toronto is that many of the newer restaurants no longer have phones. No phone number. Or if they have a phone, they donāt answer it while the restaurant is open.
On my 50th, I tried to order Hungarian food from a local restaurant where Iād been a customer for 25 years, to have a waiter, whose voice I recognized, get frustrated when I asked which desserts were available, after I had already told him which mains I wanted, and hang up on me. LOL. I had tipped him really well during the lockdowns when I got takeout, when the restaurant was not busy. I guess when it was busy, I was a pain in the neck. I ended up getting really delicious takeout sandwiches elsewhere. Interestingly, both the Hungarian resto and the sandwich shop closed within 3 months of that phone call and order.
I can also order through Google for some restaurants and skip any fees. Some Ritual app restaurants charged a service fee if I use the app, no service fee if I ordered through Google and not the app, but if the app was on my phone, it would automatically open when I clicked on the restaurant. Iāve since taken the Ritual app off my phone. There are loyalty points through Ritual, so thatās one incentive for paying their small service fees. Also, itās easy to reorder the same meal again with one click.
I prefer to order from places that use Ambassador, Square or another POS (I think thatās what itās called), where there is no fee to a third party app.
I do have a ton of take-out options, so Iāll still eat well even if Iām avoiding service fees at some places.
I do call my local indie spots for take-out, too., if they have a phone they they answer.
I donāt want to derail the food budget / do you eat out thread to a tipping thread, of which there are already plenty, but I donāt think tipping affects the overall budget question of whether people can / do eat out or not.
Those of us discussing tipping and app fees do so from the privileged perspective of already being able to eat out in some format without budget question that is the whole point of the OP.
I think the extra āserviceā fee issue of apps has also been beaten to death elsewhere, lol.
For my favorite neighborhood sushi place for ordering in, I would sometimes use Seamless/GrubHub just because I could duplicate my old order in 2 seconds. Then they took some of the roll choices / adjustments away from the online menu ā so I called them to find out why. Turns out they still offer them, it was a software issue. And they have my number on file and they can look up and duplicate my last order anyway.
Lol, I was also talking about it on Reddit today, when some fella was asking for good independent pizza delivered for free in Toronto, and delivered hotter, and more quickly, than however long it takes UberEats or DoorDash.
Iām like, āIn this economy???ā
āYou want the rest of us customers to absorb the cost of your free pizza delivery when gas costs $1.54/litre and thereās insane traffic and unplowed streets?ā
I have reached the shouting at the clouds phase of life.
Iām afraid to open up Reddit to see all the replies.
I like to get a gluttonous amount of Chinese or Indian take-out and have food for a few days. Will occasionally get delivery if Iām sick or super tired but usually donāt want to pay the fees. I hardly ever dine out anymore.
From 2021-2024, when I was ordering take-out for myself and my 2 dining companions, I was usually ordering $100 -$125 worth, when I ordered Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, or Greek. which is usually enough for dinner for 3, and leftovers for lunch.
The past while, Iāve been ordering fried chicken or fried fish without the chips/fries. Thatās more about limiting salt and calories. Itās also saving a little money.
Iām always trying to avoid that stuff.
