Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with eatingout

Looking for a place to sit and eat lunch... for free.

Vorteks — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:28:52 -0800

Where can I eat my brown-bagged lunch in Ann Arbor, MI? I currently work in Ann Arbor, MI, near the corner of Washtenaw Ave and South Huron Pkwy. There are LOTS of good places to eat nearby, and I frequent them... too much. I need to save money and pack my lunch! The thing is, I don't want to sit in the office all day without taking a break. Where nearby can I take a brown-bagged lunch and eat it? Ideally, I'm hoping for an indoor location that I can use year-round. Huge bonus points if there's wi-fi access! A public library that allows you to eat inside would be ideal... but I doubt there is such a thing. Does what I'm looking for exist? What do you suggest? Thanks!

P.S. Any other suggestions related to what to pack, how to shop for cheap but healthy food, etc, are welcome.

What places in the Bay Area have buy-one-get-one-free meal deals?

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:42:35 -0800

BOGOFilter: What restaurants in the Bay Area offer buy-one, get-one-free coupons? We're in a recession, but I still like to eat out. One of my favorite places is Sweet Tomatoes, because they have an online club you can join where they email you buy-one-get-one-free offers (BOGO).

Usually I receive an email from them about twice a month, and I really like the convenience of the print-coupon-at-home dealio.

Are there any other restaurants that have this type of offer in the San Francisco Bay Area?

The rattling of change in my brain.

ayerarcturus — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:18:45 -0800

EatingOutFilter: With the denominations that we have in the US, is it rude to leave coinage in addition to dollar bills when you're leaving tip? A couple of years ago, I asked one of my friends who was a waitress at several points in her life if she minded receiving loose coins or credit card tips. She gave me a strange look and basically said that whatever form the customer left was fine. All was good, until a month ago one of my friends (a grad student who had never waitressed) told me that leaving coins was a way of indicating that you didn't like the service without going to the extreme measure of not leaving a tip. I didn't think much of it until I was out again tonight, and the same thing happened with a different person. He was never a waiter either, if that's any indication. I have never heard of this custom before this, am I alone? What do the members of the hive mind who have been in the restaurant business think of the generosity/rudeness of leaving coins? I STFW but can't find anything close. (I'm not talking about leaving tens of pennies, just what you'd have in your pocket)

Where can I eat some good North African food in Paris?

oxala — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:48:26 -0800

Where can I eat some good North African food in Paris? Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian etc. As with all tourists, I'm looking for authentic little cafes and diners rather than fancy restaurants, any "fusion" driven establishments, or places where tourists go. I have found a few suggestions using Google but I thought I'd see if anyone has any personal faves...

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and... me

backseatpilot — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:58:39 -0800

How do I eat out alone? I like to dine out. However, I don't really have anyone to go to restaurants with. My girlfriend lives three hours away and I haven't met many people since I moved to Boston a few months ago. So the question is: how do I go to restaurants by myself without (for lack of a better term) looking like a loser? What can I do at the restaurant in place of the socializing that normally occurs when groups go out to eat? Should I sit at the bar, or can I get a table by myself?

Bonus question: what restaurants are there in the Boston area that seem to attract lone diners?

Is eating at home cheaper?

ivarley — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:31:39 -0800

Is it really cheaper to cook at home than it is to eat out? My wife and I have an ongoing debate about whether, ultimately, you actually save money by eating at home instead of eating out. She says that you obviously save money because eating out costs more for the same things - buying and cooking some ground beef being generally cheaper than buying a hamburger in a restaurant. I, on the other hand, say that the economies of scale make it cheaper to eat fresh, well prepared food in restaurants than at home, because they can buy and prepare in larger quantities (e.g. they're not buying a whole head of lettuce to just put one leaf on a burger). Plus, if you want take the "time is money" approach, the time spent shopping, cooking and cleaning is not insignificant (an hour a day?). So it's my contention that we ultimately don't save money by eating most meals at home, especially when we dine out for reasonable prices ($5-10 for lunch, $10-15 for dinner).

Now, I know that there are a zillion factors that can influence this in either direction: what kinds of food you eat, where you shop, your tolerance for leftovers, the area you live in, your cooking skill, etc. But what I'm looking for is some hard data (studies, for example). I want to know if there's any objective evidence, at a macro level, for one or the other approach being superior from an economic point of view. Surely someone must have studied this, no?

Food budgeting

wtfwjd? — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 10:12:12 -0800

How much do you spend on food a week? What is the ratio of eating out and eating at home you do to arrive at that number? What is the least a couple can spend per week and still eat well? How does one transition from eating out every meal and being pretty clueless in the kitchen to eating in (saving lots of money) but without spending hours and hours making food and cleaning up? How do we do this without TV Dinners, microwavable foods etc?