Italian Restaurant

[clarkfan1979]

A co-worker hosted me for a week, while I looked for a place to rent in a new town. I offered to pay for a dinner and he chose an Italian Restaurant. I will eat anything, but I rarely eat out. Maybe the occasional happy hour with my wife.

I ordered something in Italian that sounded cool. When it came, it was a very small bowl of angel hair pasta, butter, oil, parmesan cheese and some diced tomatoes. I came to the quick conclusion that it would have cost me about 50 cents to make this at home and it cost $17 on the menu. I can't believe the discrepancy. I don't mind paying $20 for a steak because it probably cost the restaurant at least $7-$10 for the steak.

My friend's pile of pasta looked close to double what I got. He took half of his meal home in a doggy bag. He also got some sort of greek thing that had feta cheese and olives. I could estimate his food cost to at least 2 or 3 dollars.

I can't believe I paid $17 for a dish that cost 50 cents.

[gooki]

Live and learn.

[MustachianAccountant]

Live and learn.

True enough.

Also, you are paying for more than the food when you go to a restaurant. You're paying for the food, the building (ambiance), and an army of personal servants to wait on you.

Not saying you weren't overcharged, but you're not exactly comparing apples to apples.

[meg_shannon]

Having worked in restaurants for 10 years in the past...A menu can only have a certain price spread, with a markup that averages out to about 3X the cost of the food (beverages and alcohol have a higher markup). This means that cheap to make dishes, like vegetarian pasta, have a much higher markup as you observed. It doesn't work to charge 60$ for the steak and 3$ for pasta at the same restaurant, so instead the prices are more like 45-50$ and 15-20$ respectively. This same pricing structure also applies to alcohol, the markup on well liquor and house beer/wine is more than the mid and top shelf options. Of course, you'll stay pay more for the more expensive options, just not quite so much is profit for the establishment.

[justajane]

This is largely why we never eat pasta out. I make damned good pasta dishes at home, and the mark-up is too high.

The only exception I make to this is a pasta piccata with grilled shrimp and capers at a local restaurant. So delicious! And somehow I haven't replicated it at home. But red sauce or pesto pasta out? Very rarely.

I actually really like the food at the Noodle Company, but the price to value ratio is to low to me. If they offered BOGOs I'd do it.

[slackmax]

What gets me are the places that charge $5 for a pint of draft macro beer, like Bud Lite. And they even advertise it in the window like it's some great bargain!  The sad thing is they get plenty of folks willing to shell out 5 clams for 25 cents worth of cheap beer. Oh well, it's their money..............   

[forummm]

These are all reasons why I don't go to restaurants. I would generally only want to go if it's something I couldn't make myself.

[Workingmomsaves]

I agree completely with you!  I prefer not to eat italian food out.  What I make at home is just as good and only costs a few cents per serving. 

[skunkfunk]

Of course, you'll stay pay more for the more expensive options, just not quite so much is profit for the establishment.

I thought they actually made more $ on the expensive stuff, just less of a percentage markup?

[Seppia]

A restaurant has to think both percentage margin and absolute value.
You need to have a minimum amount of total dollars made per table to pay for all the fix costs, that's why a restaurant in NYC would be more or less obliged to charge you $15-20 for an entree even with a food cost of zero.

[Noodle]

I admit, I do order pasta when out...the dr told me to cut carbs some years back which meant that pasta became a special-occasion food and I try not to have it at home. But yes, I do like to go places like Indian or Thai for less expensive meals because that's food I don't want to try cooking for myself. When it's high-end...well you're paying for the service and ambience as much as the food.

I do think Italian tends to be a go-to with groups of mixed tastes or people we don't know well. It's pretty innocuous and doesn't have the issue with spiciness or strong flavors that can bother people in other cuisines.

[AZDude]

The only thing I ever order when out that is pasta is alfredo. Seriously tried like 10+ times to make good alfredo at home. Just not a skill I possess, I suppose. Jar alfredo sauce is not good, either. But pasta at home is super cheap and easy to make, so it normally does not make a whole lot of sense to order out. If I order out, its probably seafood, since that is going to be expensive whether I'm at home or not.

[2ndTimer]

Sounds like powerful motivation to learn to cook good pasta at home.

[calimom]

Good points, and yes of course it is cheaper to make food at home.  But in this case you were treating someone who had done you a very nice favor - chopping a tomato into a some cooked Ronzoni and sprinkling Parmesan cheese at home wouldn't have really cut it.  The co-worker housed you for a week.  Given that the bare minimum (and this really depends heavily on the location) would have been $50 per night, and more than likely $100 or so, you came out ahead if you look at the big picture.

[meg_shannon]

Of course, you'll stay pay more for the more expensive options, just not quite so much is profit for the establishment.

I thought they actually made more $ on the expensive stuff, just less of a percentage markup?

I was referring to the percentage (the markup). A bottle of wine that cost 20$ wholesale and sells for 100$ will make the restaurant more money in absolute terms than a 3$ bottle marked up to 20$. I think mostly this system was devised to get people to buy the mid to top shelf options as they get a "better deal." I almost never go out to eat. Maybe 3 times per year. We usually host dinner, everyone brings a bottle of wine and we all eat great (I'm an awesome cook) for a fraction of the cost.

[shelivesthedream]

When I go out to an Italian restaurant, I usually order either pizza or something with a meaty sauce. I like very thin-crust, crisp pizza - we can't make that at home. And we don't eat a lot of meat at home, so it's nice to have someone cook it out. (I especially go for bolognese because my husband doesn't like it much, so we never have it at home, even though it's totally doable.)