Do you have a favorite restaurant?

I have three favorites but always bring enough food home for one to two days later. Usually, 25 to 30 dollars without the tip.

We live about 5 miles from Exton and that area is full of great restaurants. Pennsylvania as well has a proliferation of BYOB type restaurants, especially ethnic type restaurants. Even if a place as a “full” licence, they may offer BYOB on certain days for a minimal corkage. Limoncello in Exton is one such restaurant, great Italian food and on Sunday a $10 corkage.

McDonald's is my favorite in our area. The two of us can eat on less than $10.
I have other places I love like Tommy's Burger in Fort Worth near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, but we never get that far anymore. I can call Tommy's Burger from the parking lot and they will bring our cheeseburgers and drinks to the car. We then drive over to Walmart and park on the West side and watch the F-35s take off and land from Lockheed Martin. That is a great day for us. Hopefully we will get to do that one more time. If I remember correctly it is under $30 including the tip for the two of us. Not bad for the best cheeseburger and hand cut fries in the area!
As you can tell from my post I never did enjoy eating out and paying a lot of money for something when I could get something else that would fill me up for a lot less.
Enjoy you meal!
Mary

I have a number of favorites where I sometimes stop when out on my motorcycle. Small family places where you can get an ala
carte breakfast. Enough to fill up with no take out.

Most of the time eating out for me is about getting the most for my money, which normally means fills me up the best. Every now and then though, it's more about the experience than getting full, simply a good outing. I don't get out much anymore and a nice time out for me is rare.

One of my favorites is El Siboney in Key West, abut 2,200 road miles from home. Since none of my babies lives in FL anymore I am unlikely to go there again.

If the prices stop going up and or the quality of food doesn't change.

It’s a Cincinnati thing.

Red Curry is a restaurant that I buy a to-go dinner about once a week. It is a small family owned Thai restaurant. The restaurant is two miles from my house and as a single man, I enjoy the occasional respite from having to prepare every meal. I always buy the Green Curry dinner, except once when I mistakenly ordered Red Curry which, coincidentally is also the name of the restaurant. I much prefer the taste of green curry as red curry tastes like Indian food (East Asian Indians, not Native American Indians). On occasion the restaurant will add two free fresh spring rolls with sesame dipping sauce in my food bag. Great food, great owners, great service that is hard to beat.

Hard to believe that there is a great seafood restaurant in the middle of a desert but High Tide is one. Fresh seafood, fabulous steamers and Oysters which often come from our summer home on Vancouver Island BC Canada. Oh, I almost forgot, the fried chicken is to die for as well.

Home!

is anywhere there's a Mom and Pop sign out front, or where the sign says Grandma's Home cookin'

I no longer eat out..

With the minimum hourly wage between $20 - $25 / hr, the prices for food at an eatery for a cheeseburger going for $11+ its no longer attractive to eat out

A drink at $4 - $5 is unreasonable.

If I'm forced to eat out, there's no tip anymore.

Then there's these places that are adding "service fees" to "offset" the labor cost.

Yeah; right.

These places are going to drive customers away and go out of business.

Don't even get me started on the illegal aliens working under yhe table.. I'm just bent outa shape st all this nonsense.

At another place in cyberspace there was a thread about tipping in general and this service fee nonsense came up. It's nothing more than a clever way of raising prices without it being seen on the menu, and people aren't told about the service up front at some places either.

When questioned a lot will say they still trying to make up for COVID shutdowns and supply chain issues. I get it, food service was among the hardest hit during that mess, but trying gouge the customer is a good way to keep people home.

I am with you on the service fees. We could have a whole thread on that issue.

We only go through the drive through so I have not looked to see if there was a fee.
I got my last drive through receipts to see if they charge a fee.
No one did. BUT the last two McDonald's were 15 days apart and just last weeks the #7 (2 cheeseburger meal) went up $.90. I guess they just upped the meal instead of putting a fee on the ticket.
Mary

Which is upfront and acceptable, gives you a chance to say no and move on. I realize you're talking about Mickey D's but in general that's how it should be handled, not a fee after you've already enjoyed your meal at a price you were shown on the menu.

Many point of sale (POS) machines have a screen that allows the selection of the tip and very often the 20% selection is at the far left which psychologists say people will most often pick.

A calculation lurking in the background is whether that tip you chose to leave is pre-tax or post-tax. Although I don't know if the tax applies to prepared food in restaurants, but some of the highest tax rates in the country are Tennessee (9.548 percent), Louisiana (9.547 percent), Arkansas (9.44 percent), Washington (9.40 percent), and Alabama (9.24 percent).

The tip on post-tax won't make a big difference on small checks, but with a group of (4) people dropping $200 it might.

$200 tax in a state like PA where the sales tax is 6%

pre-tax: 20% of $200 = $40 tip

post-tax: 20% of $200 + $12 sales tax = $42.40 tip

When I catch the post-tax option being applied I always like to say "the governor didn't help you serve this table." Then generally, if I have the cash and I usually do, I select 0% tip and give the wait staff the pre-tax tip in case. They actually tell me it is better for them!

I have started selecting No Tip in places where you pick up your own food, buss your own table and pick up a drink cup you fill yourself. Wages were raised which increased prices so why should I leave them extra for doing my own work?

I didn't mean to hijack this thread

I have a handful of places I stop at, all but one are locally owned, with just one location each. The sole exception is a family-owned chain that has four locations in the metro area.

Food is good, service is good, price is reasonable, and they even treat me as though I were some kind of VIP (which I'm not but appreciated). I do try to tip very well, and I budget for it when I go. They all have earned big tips, and I wouldn't go back to a place that doesn't deserve one.

I try to avoid nationwide franchises and corporate chains.

Sometimes hijacking a threat is a lot of additional fun!
Thanks,
Mary

I don't think you did. It's a discussion. You expressed your take on restaurants today.

My cousin and I don't agree with a cash discount, that is created by charging credit card use more.

And this is my fault, but it did test something last spring.

We were at another "favorite" restaurant that's been such for 20+ years.

They instituted a 4% charge for CC, so I said I'll use cash.

My 9 y.o. had to go to the bathroom in the middle of me taking the cash out. Lo and behold, I can't find it by the time I get back to the table.

I tell the woman who is cashier maitre D and likely owner, and she could care less. I was just saying it's really tight here and if you could ask your staff if they picked up $100.

I was so angry thinking it's been at least 30 years since I've lost $20+.

When I got home, yes, it had fallen into my jacket, so totally my fault. Which is why I hate handling cash. BUT, the could care less attitude of the woman? Never going back.

Contrast it to what I first mentioned--a similar restaurant in the suburbs which is gonna cost us $100 before tax and tip, too much for even 1/mo. They have impeccable service, I'd rather do that once in a while, than to be treated badly for 20 years. My cousin's take on that was, "I'm here for the food, not the ambiance."

I can remember what cash was. Is??

It's Johnny's last name

"Is" for me, I still prefer using cash, and if I did have to use a card at a restaurant I'd still give a tip in cash directly to my server.

I loved your answer. It made me laugh.
Mary

Mary, glad my reply made you laugh... here's another one...

I've a couple of young cousins....

One's named Cash and the other they named Cary!

I've some really ill relatives...

Naming a couple of boys Cash & Cary is almost as bad as naming a boy Sue!

Yes.

In New England, it's 99 Restaurants.

In the rest of the US, it's Longhorn Steakhouse.

In 1882, Texas Governor James Hogg named his daughter Ima. There were rumors he named a second daughter Ura but this wasn't true.

https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/ima-hogg#:~:text=Ima%20Hogg...!

You can't make this stuff up!

Despite her unfortunate name, Ima Hogg turned out to be quite a lady!

Anyone want to Chew sh_t.

See https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/cris/rp/rp01365

We have a former state senator named Rob Hogg, and he pronounced his surname with a long O ... as "Hoag" (rhymes with rogue). Don't know if that pronunciation is common or just regional.

I am enjoying all the off names. I remember the Ima Hogg. Everyone I ever heard say it it was pronounced just as it looks!

When a company has enough employees and is spread out across the country like my employer is, we have so many celebrity names. It's always funny to get an email from one of them.

I don't think there's any harm in naming them....

Steve Martin
Dave Chappelle
Kim Bassinger
Spanky McFarland

The one that recently cracked me up, got an email from Neil Diamond.

Pretty sure these folks' parents named them like that on purpose. I could go on there have to be about 15 more....

This is the pot calling the kettle black. My name too is a celebrity name. Hasn't happened in a long time, but about 20 years ago everywhere I went in PA people asked me if I'm that famous person...

I've a physician with this on their door..

F. Yoo

Now can you imagine being asked your name and replying: F. Yoo

These are getting really funny. The emails would be good to show friends that you (know) famous people.!

My cataract surgeon's name was Dr. Hu. Of course I had to ask him if office was in the Tardis. He just smiled and kind of groaned. Guess he had been asked that one too meny times.

https://www.doctorwho.tv/characters/the-tardis (for anyone that might not get it.)

I suppose if we're going to highjack a thread, we might as well do it right.

My lawyers name is Albert Qwack. He wanted to be a doctor but decided against it.

Then there are the famous law firms of Dewey, Chetham & Howe or the divorce lawyers Ditcher, Quick & Hyde.

My mom used to go to a urologist named Dr Broth.

I believe that you should give credit to Klick & Klack for Dewey, Chetham & Howe.

Yeah, I really miss their "Car Talk" radio show since it went off the air in 2012.

I remember the 3 Stooges did a lawyer skit and their firm was Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.

I went to a dentist whose specialty was pulling teeth. His name was Harvey Wank. His slogan (and he sold tshirts with it) was "I was yanked by Wank".

The law firm I
Of,

Dewy, Screwem & Howe

Police officer to the witness of the crime; "Can you describe the perpetrator?"

Yes, they were a short, hairy, skinny, bald, fat and tall!

( notice how I avoided turning this into a joke about those with any specific hue of hair! I'll let ewe do that )

The law firm I
Of,

Dewy, Screwem & Howe

I'm sure I've seen those.. I just don't remember

Thanks

buffet that we've been going to for at least 6 years. Suddenly, my 9 y.o. son is full price. Didn't argue, never going back. My guess is new owner trying to increase profits.

My wife said it's based on height (we were in the restroom apparently when the waitress explained). That's funny, and a way to recoup costs. Imagine a family of 5 where 3 kids eat nothing and are charged as adults.

Food for thought--my son's cousin is 9, and he's probably 5'5". Guess what? He eats NOTHING!! But when he turns 13 or so, he'll probably wreck a buffet.