Do you still eat at restaurants?

The cost of everything went up. My wages did not.

Unpopular opinion: I really appreciate the new prices at fast-food restaurants. Thanks to these prices, I started learning how to cook. Now I save money and eat healthier, as I always bring homemade food to work. I've lost some weight and reduced my intake of sugar and salt.

Tipping was designed for acknowledging exceptional service.  I went to a Starbuck's drive-thru and asked for a receipt, which I never do.  I looked at the receipt before I left the drive-thru and she had helped herself to a $5.00 tip on a $6.00 purchase.  I parked my car, went inside and asked them to reverse the tip.  That is not only illegal, but people will stop going to that location if they can't trust the employees.

I've never been to USA, but here in rural southern europe, traditional restaurants are an economic equivalent to cooking yourself. Tourist restaurants might push extras you didn't ask for, but all managements pay their staff wages without expecting customers to pay them directly.
"If you can't afford to pay your staff, don't open a restaurant"

It's not just the quality of the food, the quality of THE SERVICE is deplorable these days.

I work as a valet on the weekends in Newport Beach, CA. I'm fully aware that not everyone that comes to our business lives in Newport Beach. Guests apologize when they only have $1 or $2 to tip me/us. We pool our tips, but I've trained the guys who work with me to say this to everyone, "We are GRATEFUL for WHATEVER our guests give us.  THANK YOU for visiting our establishment."  

Over time, our tips have only gone up.

9:15 most people are "old enough" to remember the $5 foot long because it wasn't that long ago. That's the thing about these crazy inflated prices. It happened so fast.

The real insanity is that this country was founded bases on a 2% tax on tea.  Just 2%.

Shrinkflation, scimpflation, inflation...

The food tastes worse, the portions become smaller, the bill gets bigger...
Yeah, nah, I'm good.

When I want to spoil myself I buy  high quality ingredients

When waiters and waitresses starting saying if you cannot afford to give overly generous tips then do not go out to eat. I did exactly that and stayed home to eat.

Besides being poor, I think everyone is mad because they’re also being lied to. You can’t surprise charge a poor person without some sort of negative reaction. Why can’t anyone stop lying to us?

I’m a chef… and most kitchens are downgrading the quality of food and increasing prices. Also reducing the weight. I do not recommend eating out

In the early 80's I worked at a Hardee's while in high school.  I would not put out any food that I would not eat.  I remember sweat dripping from my forehead on to the grill and instantly vaporizing....I still had to get a rag with cleaner and rinse water to clean it.  I had pride as people were trusting me with their meal and I wasn't going to void that trust.

Anyone here remember the "5 for $5" at Arby's back in the day?

No one chips in to my health insurance! lol.

I love going out to eat, but the reason I rarely go out anymore is because I can heat up Sysco food myself. I was a waitress. I know what Sysco food tastes like. Used to be only low-end restaurants were serving that. Now it's most restaurants. That's why the food all tastes the same.

I went to Red lobster recently for the first time eating out in a long time, I was craving a variety of sea food and we wanted to treat ourselves, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much they bent over backwards to make us happy, and didn't even give the slightest hint that they were being sarcastic. Like it's terrible when you feel surprised you actually had great customer service.

An “employee wellness” charge is hilarious. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for over 15 years and health insurance just isn’t a thing unless you’re full time at a large, successful chain. I was on government insurance until I started my current job in a healthcare facility kitchen.