Restaurants

[nobbie48]

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Doom and gloom Canada newscasts say 4000 will close in 2026 on top of the 7000 that closed in 2025. I don't know how many new starts there were last year or the forecast for 2026. Net gain or loss year to year.

Cold start up restaurants are brutally expensive and many fail. If a second owner can take over the place they might do better if they can take advantage of all the hard renos and services being done.

Food costs are up as are wages and rents.

I went for bacon and eggs at a nearby diner the other day and the usual came to about $17.50 with tax. The tip used up the rest of the $20 I left. Before Covid it was half that.

A recent very good expense account lunch for two was close to $150 with T&T.

Fast food combos are in the $12 to $15 range out the door. Ethnic places seem to have better value.

Quality at some places is going downhill.

The two of us are leaning more towards the extremes, skipping the mid range diners and either go cheap most of the time and high end occasionally. The middle of the road seems boring for the value.

 

[FullMotoJacket]

Quality at some places is going downhill.

I don't mind paying extra. It has grown disproportionately, though. That said, I have stopped eating at restaurants simply because even the basics of food handling/prep and etiquette have been tossed to the curb.

 

[sburns]

Not a good sign, I'm sure our gov is working tirelessly to figure out our economy and how to get things under control.....

My cousin and friends in Europe always mention how food prices are not going through the roof over there, unlike here.
I know we can't grow stuff during the winter and lots gets imported probably from the States, so we get a double wammy of US dollar exchange, and stupid tariffs of some sort.

Stuff like this just makes me think how f-ed up Canada is.

 

[Glenn/RZ500]

Not a good sign, I'm sure our gov is working tirelessly to figure out our economy and how to get things under control.....
Stuff like this just makes me think how f-ed up Canada is.

Thing is.....it`s only juuust beguuun! No worries, comrade Carney will sort it out.

 

[crankcall]

I eat in restaurants 3-4 lunches a week and two dinners min. It has increased at least 50-75% from what i see in three yrs. And mostly in the low/mid level dining, $100 a head places are still that or $125 ish , its a burger in the pub that is $25 bucks from $12.
Lunches still arent awful since my cronies and I have all decided to be lunch time dry, three pints at lunch at $8 per adds up fast.

 

[mimico_polak]

Prices at restaurants have gone bananas and there's no signs of it going down. Fact is that the majority of restaurants I'm seeing are still jammed on the weekends and don't show signs of slowing down.

McDonalds lunch for our family - used to be $50 and now $70
Boston Pizza - same exact order as last year...went from $60 -> $90

Prices went up, quality and size of meals went down...no wonder restaurants are failling.

 

[Shaman]

three pints at lunch at $8 per adds up fast.

At the last gig I did, I had two pints of "guinness" - or whatever that is that they call guinness in Canada - and it was $25 with not quite 20% tip.

Jeebuz wept. The best part is that I absent-mindedly set one of them on my bass cabinet just as we went to play "Radar Love" and of course about halfway through, it vibrated off and soaked my leg, after I got maybe two sips out of it. Didn't break the glass, but did also saturate my fiber-covered guitar cord. I know better, but the singer cued the band just as I thought I had a moment to check tuning and have a quick libation.

Untrustworthy, those singer types.

 

[robertv19]

At the last gig I did, I had two pints of "guinness" - or whatever that is that they call guinness in Canada - and it was $25 with not quite 20% tip.

Jeebuz wept. The best part is that I absent-mindedly set one of them on my bass cabinet just as we went to play "Radar Love" and of course about halfway through, it vibrated off and soaked my leg, after I got maybe two sips out of it. Didn't break the glass, but did also saturate my fiber-covered guitar cord. I know better, but the singer cued the band just as I thought I had a moment to check tuning and have a quick libation.

Untrustworthy, those singer types.

Great tune!
At least you didn’t soak your cabinet.
That small never comes out. Ask me how I know

 

[crankcall]

met a buddy after work for near beer as we are doing dryout January . Heineken 0.0 is $6.55 a bottle , pints of Canadian real beer $4.00 .
something is seriously wrong .

 

[JC99]

If I can cook it I don’t want to pay a fortune for it. If I can’t then I'm ok forking out a bit but it’s silly prices now. Burgers for $20? Not a chance. I don’t care if they come with grated unicorn horn on it. We hardly ever go out for a meal now. Instead we spend the cash on ingredients for good home cooked food. Truffle oil on a home made pizza is next level. Wild dried mushrooms in a soup is delicious.

The things I can cook has increased the more practice I get. Just need to work on breads and pastries.

Make 3x the amount, freeze the rest and you have home cooked meals, better than restaurant quality whenever you want.

 

[GreyGhost]

Great tune!
At least you didn’t soak your cabinet.
That small never comes out. Ask me how I know

I have some carpeted speakers that were once in a bar. The smell does come out after decades.

 

[GreyGhost]

met a buddy after work for near beer as we are doing dryout January . Heineken 0.0 is $6.55 a bottle , pints of Canadian real beer $4.00 .
something is seriously wrong .

The 0.0 marketing is interesting but weird. The argument is if you price it low, people will think it's inferior. They start the pricing at booze pricing and sometimes go up to get to "premium". Since a huge percentage of booze pricing is tax, the profit margin on 0.0 must be ridiculous.

 

[crankcall]

0.0 at retail is $2.50 bottle , $6.55 in a bar. The bar would be sourcing a bit less than retail grocery prices. Its a money maker.
I did buy some Guiness 0 and if I have to drive , its a winner.

@JC99 , I've been a pretend chef for years and my larger circle of friends are getting onboard, I can buy some pretty top shelf ingredients for about a third of the cost of going out to a nice place and lets face it , a $20 bottle of wine is $65 in the restaurant . You dont feel bad about killing bottle three or four when your under a hundred for booze.

 

[GreyGhost]

I like to support local establishments. The bill has noticeably grown recently. Other than gtam dinner, I have mostly moved on from places like the keg. Middling food at premium prices.

Kids like fast food. Blah. I try to discourage it as much as possible. Expensive and marginal at best.

 

[JC99]

0.0 at retail is $2.50 bottle , $6.55 in a bar. The bar would be sourcing a bit less than retail grocery prices. Its a money maker.
I did buy some Guiness 0 and if I have to drive , its a winner.

@JC99 , I've been a pretend chef for years and my larger circle of friends are getting onboard, I can buy some pretty top shelf ingredients for about a third of the cost of going out to a nice place and lets face it , a $20 bottle of wine is $65 in the restaurant . You dont feel bad about killing bottle three or four when your under a hundred for booze.

Plus if you buy the top shelf ingredients they are most likely there for 10s or maybe hundreds more dishes (unless they are fresh).

One of our favourite restaurants was a German schnitzel place. It did reasonably basic tasty food very very well and consistently (important) at fair prices. It was always packed. The other was a Thai restaurant that I couldn’t replicate the dishes of. They were incredibly tasty, fresh and huge dishes. Amazing value too. Other places keep increasing their prices as less people turn up and buy less when they do. It’s a catch 22 for them.

I used to think I wanted to maybe run a restaurant but that idea has quickly gone away now.

 

[Gaoler]

More often than not, going out to eat registers as disapoint.
'All but given up.
I have but two places I will go for dinner...
One plaza family Phó joint and one kinda upscale Lebanese establishment.

 

[Evoex]

Lordy, I know most of you guys don't live in the city but 'more often then not?' yikes.

Just let me know if you need an in town recommendation sheesh!

 

[nakkers]

The days of taking the family to Montana’s or The Keg have been in the rear view since Covid. Hit up Swiss Chalet recently.


Been very selective and purposefully choose small and local establishments. Here in Crystal Beach is South Coast. Friendly, good food and reasonable.


For sure we have adjusted how casually we take casual dining. It’s spendy!

 

[JC99]

Lordy, I know most of you guys don't live in the city but 'more often then not?' yikes.

Just let me know if you need an in town recommendation sheesh!

I'm lucky that quite often I get taken out to top restaurants for free. I've been to two of TO's “top” rated restaurants, one Asian and one Italian. The Asian one was raved over but was incredibly pretentious and underwhelming, the Italian one managed to serve me a full caterpillar in a salad. Something that hasn’t happened in even the shittiest restaurants I've been in.

I’ve had way better luck in Montreal. Some awesome sushi places there.

 

[Evoex]

I'm lucky that quite often I get taken out to top restaurants for free. I've been to two of TO's “top” rated restaurants, one Asian and one Italian. The Asian one was raved over but was incredibly pretentious and underwhelming, the Italian one managed to serve me a full caterpillar in a salad. Something that hasn’t happened in even the shittiest restaurants I've been in.

I’ve had way better luck in Montreal. Some awesome sushi places there.

The Michelin Star one's are good for the experience but I find the better food is found further down the scale.

Can't remember the last time I spent $100+/person and was disappointed.

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