Millennials Are Wondering Why Eating Out At Restaurants Kind Of Sucks These Days, And The Reasons Actually Make A Lot Of Sense
“The older I get (and the more I cook), the less impressed I am with the restaurant dining experience.”
Whether you love cooking at home or just love to eat, chances are you’ve noticed restaurants don’t always live up to the hype (or price tag) these days. Recently, u/TurboSpaceGoose shared a relatable confession: “The older I get (and the more I cook), the less impressed I am with the restaurant dining experience.” It turns out, a lot of people feel the same way. Here’s what cooks, foodies, and former restaurant fans had to say about why eating out just isn’t what it used to be — and when it’s still totally worth it:
1. “I’ve noticed something lately: the older I get and the more life experience I rack up in the kitchen from cooking every night, the less impressed I am when I go out to eat. When I was younger, dining out always felt like an event, like I was getting something I couldn’t make myself. But now, after years of cooking at home, experimenting with flavors, and learning techniques, I find myself thinking, I could have made this at home and probably better for half the price. I still enjoy the convenience of not having to do dishes, and I can definitely appreciate a restaurant that brings something interesting to the table. But the average meal out doesn’t hit the same anymore, especially when I know the ingredients aren’t that expensive and the execution isn’t that complex.”
2. “Same. I hate going to restaurants now. The quality isn’t there even at high-end places.”
—u/Childlesstomcat
3. “The prices don’t help either. Pasta aglio e olio at an Italian place near me is $23 a plate. I can make it with a pound of pasta for under $5.”
4. “That, and tip culture is out of control. The fact that you’re paying extra for something you could’ve done yourself — even if it’s nice — feels overpriced. I have a hard time wanting to support a restaurant that expects its customers to pay servers a livable wage.”
—u/reedthemanuel
5. “Restaurants are great for eating food I really don’t want to go through the effort to make, to be honest. For instance, a really good, proper bowl of ramen takes ages to make because of the broth alone. Hand-pulled noodles are a pain in the ass. Pizza is one thing where I’ve gotten to the point that it can be delicious, but it’s never as good as a proper wood-fired pizza. Burgers? Pasta? Fish? Nah, I’ll just cook.”
—u/Aggravating_Front824
6. “Most of your chain restaurants all get their stuff from the same suppliers anyway. Sysco is the biggest. Go work in a corporate kitchen or two. It’s all the same stuff, chain to chain.”
—u/ArbysLunch
7. “It depends on the restaurant. It seems like the big chains are just microwaving crap. But a Mexican restaurant with a B rating in the window? Best food you’ll ever have.”
8. “My partner and I have been saying this for a while now. It started when she went back to school, and we had to cut back. But I’ve always loved cooking, so it was no issue. Now, when it’s a minimum of $100 for a basic meal and a drink for two, forget it. I’m not going to say my food is amazing, but I like it, she likes it, and it costs a fraction of the price. The only two exceptions are the Greasy Spoon down the road from us and a really great brunch spot — because sometimes (when we’re hungover or lazy), we want a nice breakfast.”
—u/JackLaytonsMoustache
9. “It definitely impacts what kinds of restaurants we go to. I tend to avoid steakhouses or Italian restaurants — those are two categories of food that I can cook at home myself with the same or better quality (including making my own pasta from scratch) for a fraction of the price. A $60 steak? A $25 pasta dish? Give me a break. Some foods are so time-consuming that I appreciate them in restaurants, like ramen, mole, and many Asian cuisines. Then there are dishes I just can’t seem to make as well as most restaurants, like French onion soup. But overall, I enjoy cooking, and I’m pretty good at it, so we don’t eat out very often unless there’s a special occasion. In that case, we’re going for the service or experience rather than just the food.”
—u/Quixlequaxle
10. “I also think the coffee I make at home is 100 times better than coffee shop stuff. You can’t beat a real pour-over or real siphon. I bet some of you have espresso machines. I’d love to hear about that. We should set up a secret cabal of cool cooking millennials that throw dinner parties for other cool cooking millennials in their areas.”
—u/1ceHippo
11. “I used to work as a chef. Now, I only like to go to a restaurant to eat something that I either can’t make (mainly sushi), something that takes a long time to cook (smoked, braised dishes generally), or it’s a fine dining experience where I can’t be bothered with that level of detail anymore. Cooking for others is an amazing thing, and cooking is sort of like my playtime at home now, where I just get to enjoy the whole process.”
12. “I think COVID changed this for a lot of people. I’m still not a great cook, but there are certain dishes that I can now do better or just as well as a lot of restaurants — especially things like steak. I can cook a good steak. I’m not great at the seasoning thing, though. I don’t have a refined palate. I need directions, or I’m screwed.”
—u/[deleted]
13. “From the time I was little, through college, and for a few years after, going out to restaurants was my favorite thing in the world. But over time, the experience just got worse, and COVID really killed it. Now, everything costs a fortune, and it just sucks. For a few years, delivery services were a good deal, but now they tack on 30% or more in fees. So, I’m slowly building a culinary repertoire of my own. At first, all I knew was a basic one-pot meal, but I was happy to eat it three times a week. Lately, I’ve been finding dishes that last for a week — meatballs, curry — and just making those. Every once in a while, I surprise myself with how good my food is. I’m saving at least $100 a month (when you count eating out plus the grocery money I’d have spent on prepackaged foods), maybe even $200 some months.”
“I’m down to pizza once a month, and that’s really so I can share it with my housemates. I really love sushi and will still pay for that, but it’s a rare treat.”
—u/FavoredVassal
14. “People who think they can make meals better and for half the price of a restaurant really need to branch out and eat more. Sure, you can probably make Olive Garden, Applebee’s, and Outback dishes just as well at home. But there are so many other cuisines and specialties that you just don’t have the time, batch size, or ingredients to make effectively. Whenever I hear this complaint, I assume they can make a decent burger or pasta, but there’s so much more to the culinary world. Even Gordon Ramsay gets schooled from time to time.”
15. “I don’t know, restaurants are the best time to socialize. Nobody’s holed up in the kitchen, you don’t have to clean the house for guests or worry about cleaning the mess afterward, and there are no screens for everyone to silently watch.”
—u/mizushimo
16. “I feel like the pandemic was a big turning point for a lot of restaurants. Before, there was usually decent service, good food quality, and while prices were not as cheap as cooking at home, they were at least somewhat reasonable. I remember going out pre-pandemic and getting an amazing meal with drinks and dessert for two people for about $100. Today, that same place costs about 50% more but delivers less. Restaurant owners used to have certain assumptions about what kind of pricing and service their patrons expected. The pandemic showed them they could cut service, lower quality, and raise prices without driving people away. So they did — and show no signs of going back.”
—u/Careless-Ad-6328
17. “I used to love going out to eat — I love food. Eventually, I learned to cook just for fun, and now I’d say I’m pretty good at it. But over time, restaurants kept raising prices, cutting my favorite menu items, and service became garbage or, at best, totally inconsistent. It got more and more disappointing to eat out. Spending all that money just to be let down feels terrible. And honestly, getting drinks out is the worst. Most cocktails aren’t even that hard to make, but bartenders rarely get them right, and drinks cost as much as an appetizer or meal — so I’d rather just buy a bottle at the store.”
18. “The flip side is, when I do have a restaurant experience that hits the mark, it’s more impressive. I’m also biased since I worked in kitchens when I was younger, but going to a good restaurant — whether it’s a $10-a-plate hole in the wall or a Michelin-starred place for $350 a head — is always a win in my book. There are just some things or ingredients that are a pain or totally impractical for a home chef. I don’t have a dry-ager or a deep fryer, and my range isn’t a jet engine, so I can’t get that wok hei on a stir-fry. I also don’t have the time to let a broth simmer for 10+ hours like a ramen or pho shop, or the space to break down a large fish or a whole side of beef. The places that still look like they actually care about the dining experience are the ones I go to and will keep going back to. It’s not the big, flashy, over-the-top stuff that matters, but the little things, like attention to detail, that show a restaurant cares.”
—u/TrixoftheTrade
So, do you agree, or do you still love the restaurant experience? Have you learned to cook something at home that totally ruined eating out for you? Share your thoughts, favorite recipes, or restaurant experiences in the comments below!
Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.