Fine Dining On A Budget

[TX MC1]

Restaurant.com is my favorite way to save eating out. And if you sign up for the specials at the end of each month you can purchase 25.00 gift certificates for 4.00. Great Savings

[cjscully]

I think I'll chime in on the tip thing from a different angle - never leave a normal tip for bad service. You're throwing money away by rewarding someone for doing a bad job.

My grandmother was a server for nearly 50 years in New York. On one of our visits there (we live in the LA area) we went out to dinner. The service that night was terrible and really upset her. At the end of the meal my dad or my grandfather (don't remember which - I was young at the time) started to put a tip out on the table and she said, "No leave only a penny." I asked her why. I'll never forget her answer. She explained that if you get bad service and leave no tip the server will just figure you're really rude or forgot but won't necessarily think it has anything to do with their service. If you leave a normal tip when you get bad service you're rewarding them for doing a lousy job. A penny tip screams to them that they did a bad job.

[briandownie]

Eating is one of my favorite things for sure. I love a nice restaurant with good food. I also like to cook and can put on a pretty elegant delicious meal at home. Often we get together with friends and we all contribute something to the meal. It makes for a really enjoyable and affordable evening.

As far as tips go, yes I leave a good tip if the service is good and I leave a not so good tip it the service isn't but believe it or not I also take into consideration how many trips the server had to make to my table. In other words if I know what I want when I go in, order my meal and the server brings me my meal and I don't see them again until check time my tip may not be that big. Not because the service wasn't good just that there wasn't a lot of effort put into it.

I heard something really interesting on the news today. Lots of restaurant owners take as much as 1/2 of the servers' tips! I never knew that. There is a councilor in Toronto that is trying to get a by-law passed to stop the practice. His feeling is people think they're leaving the tip for the server based on their performance and that they already paid the restaurant owner enough for the meal.

Brian

[Tobby782]

These are some really good ideas on fine dining. Thanks for bringing them up for discussion!

[MrPolarZero]

I am definitely a lucky guy because there are many fine dining restaurants near my place that are very affordable. And of course, there is home cooking.

[mike95910]

great ideas on the fine dinning alternatives. I hope my wife will enjoy them as much as i think i would

[Nick211]

Families with Kids need to look out for "Kids eat free" days in some restaurants. Mostly these are weekdays but still worth a look.

[Pansori]

My SO likes a local restaurant which isn't so much fine dining as casual. They serve these monstrous chicken strip portions. Whenever we go to there we order one plate and a house salad (which I eat) and share the plate. It helps our budget and isn't as hard on our waistline if we were to each order our own plates.

[daynarankin]

Thanks for sharing these tips! We like to save but we also like to go out and eat every now and then, so these really help. I’ve found that going to places like Little Mexico or Little China in LA is a good way to find cheap, healthy, delicious meals that aren’t run of the mill.

[Marto]

I usually leave more than 15% if the service is mediocre. If it's good I always leave 20% or more.

[gloriachargersxoxo85]

Good tips thank you