The value proposition for restaurants is almost completely gone for me, by now. Why would I travel out of my house, sit down some place full of people, pay 3X-5X what I would for an equivalent meal from the grocery store, for commoditized Sysco Slop that every other restaurant serves, and then pay an additional 20% because the restaurant won't pay its workers properly? And getting it delivered with DoorDash? Even more of a waste of money, even more extortionate tipping, and on top of it you have to worry about it arriving cold or the driver eating it. There's almost no upside to eating in a sit-down restaurant anymore.
Depending on where you are, there are still lots of restaurants that actually cook food, not just thaw and heat.
I've road tripped across the north east, South East, Midwest, PNW. I don't even think it depends. Not finding a place that actually cooks food is the exception, not the rule.
> I've road tripped across the north east, South East, Midwest, PNW
There is a class element to the problem. Restaurants tailored to folks on the road tend to focus on their costs. Restaurants offering fine dining obsessively make everything in house. In between, you need local knowledge to navigate the landscape—you’ll struggle to get that on a road trip (versus staying in one town for a few weeks).
In the large-ish East Coast city I live in, there are so many restaurants making food that a) isn't defrosted Sysco meals and b) is something that would take either a large amount of labor or specialized ingredients to make at home. My home oven is insufficient to make something like Peking duck. Even if I could source the quality of fish the fancy local sushi spot does, would my amateur preparation come close to what they're offering?
Which is all to say that this comment seems limited to people that live in places where the only choices are fast food or fast casual and excludes most everything else. I'm not arguing that restaurant food is affordable, just that there is plenty of non-Sysco food out there.
> in places where the only choices are fast food or fast casual and excludes most everything else.
Which, at least in the US, is pretty much every place that isn't a large-ish city. Lots of people live in such places.
Similarly, the parent comment claims
> There's almost no upside to eating in a sit-down restaurant anymore.
But _lots_ of people live in places where there are multiple choices of restaurants whose menus aren't filled with Sysco food
> _lots_ of people live in places where there are multiple choices of restaurants whose menus aren't filled with Sysco food
Yes, lots of people live in large-ish cities. But also lots of people don't.
Amazing take! Would you say that you could comfortably afford it but are opposed to the costs on principle? What does your average home cooked meal look like? In my experience most people with the means rather enjoy eating out, but you sound a bit like my father.
[Forgot how much HN loves restaurants -- that would explain the karma hit!]
I just don't like paying someone else multiples of what it would cost for me (or my spouse) to do ourselves. We eat pretty simply and inexpensively at home. Lots of rice, potatoes, pasta. I don't pay someone else to fix my car or appliances, either, out of the same principle.
But even if the cost was comparable I still wouldn't be a super-fan of restaurant eating at most restaurants you'd find around where I live (not in a city). They're inconvenient to get to, understaffed, often slow (up to 2 hours due to all the back and forth with servers).
It doesn’t seem like you are making lamb josh or Peking duck at home, though. Can you do those yourselves cheaper than the restaurant?
You can buy Peking duck and make the rest of the dish yourself at home though. The restaurants mostly don't make it themselves either, but that's normal.
> just don't like paying someone else multiples of what it would cost for me (or my spouse) to do ourselves
I live in west Wyoming and stopped eating steaks out for this reason.
That said, I am an adventurous eater. I am curious about food, and for that restaurants are a raison d’être. If you aren’t curious about food, it obviously isn’t worth the price. (The Sysco spots pretty on tourists or those seeking to eat out for convenience. They serve glorified fast food.)
> Forgot how much HN loves restaurants
For what it’s worth, your original comment dismisses restaurants generally. If you point out you prefer to eat simply, predictably and on a tight budget, the conclusion that restaurants don’t work for you follows.