What you discuss here goes so far beyond just restaurants in our society today - Many think things that are a privilege are a right. Of course, all the credit card companies and banks play right into it with slogans like, "Discover Card..... Because Life Won't Wait". Eating out is just terrible from an economic standpoint, largely due to all the items talked about here (high labor cost, etc.). Like so many other things, the ones abusing the privilege of eating out are the ones that can least afford it.

I'm one of those who missed restaurant dining. Not sure how long it was, but indoor dining was shut down for a very long time here in San Francisco, and I just don't like dining outdoors; the moment an insect flies around me, my appetite is out the window. And, food delivery doesn't do it for me either--a delivered steak isn't the same as one freshly served.

So, the moment Vegas opened up at or around Jan, I flew there weekly just to have my steaks. To my surprise, some whom I had thought I knew very well and have known for 20 years felt I was "insane." While not saying so directly, they intimated that my actions were reckless, selfish and putting "everyone" at risk, just because of my necessity to indulge in great steaks. Not that any of this deterred or mattered to me, but I was surprised by some of their views because I've known some of these people almost 20 years.

By the way, how are the Chicago steakhouses faring? I was very disappointed when David Burke's steakhouse officially closed for good.

I am in complete agreement with you about dining outdoors. It's fine for a summer potluck by the pool, or a quick burger at the drive-in burger joint, but if given a choice, I'll always take indoors. Insects suck too, but the minute the breeze carries my napkin off the table, I'm pissed. As far as carry out goes, fast food or pizza is OK, but we never once had regular restaurant food to go during any part of the lockdown. We never do at any time. **We did eat out many times under tents which were kind of like dining indoors- no wind, and that was tolerable, barely.

I know SF was especially strict. Good for you for going to Vegas instead of just hibernating.

I had a similar experience with a few people that surprised me. Although I'd say most of my friends were pretty rational. It was sometimes scary to see people rely on what I call "personal facts" to make decisions and then expect others to make decisions based on those same "personal facts" rather than true facts and data. I could tell lots of stories about the inconsistencies I observed.

As far as I'm aware, the steak houses have survived pretty well. I just read an article about Gene & Georgetti's and Gibson's last weekend. And I read another (forget the name) is opening soon. I think most of your favorites will still be here when you come!

Maybe it's just living in the cold midwest, but I love dining outdoors when it's nice enough. I'll choose that every time on a nice summer day. But like you, I wouldn't order regular food for takeout, most just doesn't travel well. Fast food, pizza, Chinese, there are a few more - they work because time and money has been invested in making them being "to-go" foods. We did try regular food a couple times when even outdoor dining was closed a year ago. Once was a failure. The other was tolerable but just not as good.

I’m now of the opinion that casual / fast food places are using the pandemic to end/cease indoor dining in order to save money on staffing and cleaning. It’s like how airlines reduced F food service during the pandemic - I believe in this analogy and think that most of us here can empathize. We are lucky that our DQ in Capitola still has counter to-go service to offset the long drive-through queues! We love our blizzards :-)

I used to dine out often pre-pandemic and switched to cooking primarily for the money saving. Even now I still prefer to cook my own meals as much as possible, strictly as a lifestyle change for both money and health. I’ll still enjoy restaurant meals with my family and I’ll only order food that I cannot cook, such as fried chicken and French fries and eggplant dishes (I lack patience for that time needed to dry the eggplant). I believe that most restaurants are serving Sysco level foods that I can just replicate at home because I have the time to learn what I’ve read on Ft for cooking lessons :-)

I think you're probably right. Not all, but certainly some are. Partly they found out they could make better margins during the pandemic, and possibly the fact that people are unwilling to come back to work ("server shortage") has been a catalyst to get the restaurants to either end dine-in services or to invest in automation. Automation at fast food and fast casual places, once in place, is likely to stay. I'm not so sure about dine-in though. I think it's temporary and soon the pandemic won't be a convenient excuse. When the place across the street is offering dining service and you aren't that eventually becomes a differentiator, in a bad way. Honestly, around here I haven't noticed many, if any, places that have kept dining rooms closed because of the pandemic. But I only eat inside a fast food restaurant maybe once a year...usually drive through if I do it.

We’re back at the beach this week, Panama City Beach. We haven’t lived here for the last 18 months, so it’s hard to determine the reasons behind any changes. I haven’t seen any of the better restaurants closed since last summer. There’s always turnover here, marginal venues don’t last long but space refills quickly. When summer is over, any place without a local following probably fails. I have noticed later crowds waiting outside for tables at a nearby restaurant. We were at an old favorite last night. It wasn’t crowded but business was steady. It has expanded since we last visited 12 months ago. It is a bar, restaurant, gift shop and music venue. There is no table service. It gets by with 4 or 5 employees: 2 cooks, food runner, beertender and shop cashier. That’s no different than when we first walked in 8 years ago. It can handle more than a hundred customers comfortably at any time, maybe 150. The model has always been successful and I suppose even more so under past year restrictions. Of the 5 working, 3 were new. 1 was an owner. There are tip jars at the bar and food counter. I wonder if this is increasingly the future of dining out here. We saw similar operations at Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach and St Augustine earlier this year. Presumably other restaurant owners are paying attention.

While I haven't returned to my pre-pandemic restaurant dining frequency, I have noticed that some establishments seem to have closed off sections and greatly reduced the number of servers. Of course, this could have been due to our State's covid restrictions, but let's see if they'll return to, assuming the demand calls for it, full capacity. At this point, I'm unsure if restaurant demand will ever return fully to their pre-lockdown levels. Love DQ too, but none that I know of around me; so, I just always drop by the one in the Excalibur's basement when I'm in Vegas.

Vegas appears to be at full staffing and having very little issues attracting talent/help, at least on the strip hotel/casino/restaurants. Of course, it could be because of this town's deeply ingrained tipping culture where they'll likely earn considerably more than unemployment even the heightened benefits. Because of the pandemic, I suspect everyone has been tipping a little extra to help during these challenging times, and likely even more so in Vegas. Even in CA when the extra unemployment benefits end in Sept (?), I expect we'll see a return to normal service staffing levels, assuming demand hasn't been permanently reduced.

For us, pre-covid we did eat out a lot. Mostly because of the convenience factor. Both of us work, neither of us particularly like to cook, and coming home after working all day and cooking wasn't really something that was really high on our list of things we wanted to do. Kinda like I pay someone to mow my lawn - I could do it myself, but I really don't want to. Being at home, obviously it became a lot more convenient to cook, which in turn helped us with getting some of our expenses under control. I'll be the first to admit that we fell in the category of people that spend more than they really should. Getting a chance to reset that helped, and as I've said, is about the only good thing I feel about this whole situation.

But I'll be honest, I'm getting real sick of eating my own cooking, so once the debt elimination part is done, I'm definitely going back to eating out more. I do wonder how well the restaurants will recover though, I suspect we're still going to lose a lot that have made it so far. Friday night we were at a bar/food type of establishment to eat before going to the minor league baseball game, which is what we'd normally do on a night where we go to those games. Staffing there seemed about what I'd say was normal, but the restaurant never really hit 50% capacity at any point we were in there. Now, on that particular day, capacity was still limited to 50% in our state, but this wasn't an issue where they'd hit that and were turning people away, it was that they weren't getting enough people to even hit that mark in the first place.

Yeah, obviously the pandemic is/was a terrible thing but it has been interesting "reset" for a lot of people. I had fallen into a routine of stopping by a pub on my way home the majority of work days to finish up work. I work at people's houses everyday but need to finish up some computer work before day's end. I fell into the routine of stopping at the pub when my kids were little since I couldn't get any work done once in the door at home. Well, the pandemic put an end to that and I've lost 20# in the past year due to less beer and unhealthy restaurant food.

It's been a bit of the opposite for me, mainly because of the drastic reduction of business travel. I haven't been on a plane for work since Q1 of 2020. I learned that, when traveling, I tend to eat healthier -- less snacking, salad for lunch, etc. -- and drink less than when I'm at home. And while I exercise at home, not walking several miles a week through airports, and around cities where I'm staying has probably resulted in less calorie burn. Surprisingly, I'm not itching to get back to my old UA 1K days, but I really want to get back to maybe once a month travel for my sanity (since apparently people who go to restaurants are insane :)) and a generally healthier lifestyle. My "reset" will hopefully be when my work travel gets back to normal.

I have to correct my post. Meant to say dining out in the decades ('50s, '60s, maybe even earlier) prior to the GR was the generally preserve of the wealthier. Dining out crept down to reach the lower end of the economic strata (stratum) with the advent of the franchised restaurants (many of which closed during/immediately after the GR) which catered to those in the lowest income brackets who could least afford it. One wonders if the elimination of home economics in school curriculums contributed. I bought a huge wool rug at an estate auction and looked up the obituary of the deceased. She actually had a degree in home economics and taught it in military schools.

I've long held this observation that i can get 70-80% of the quality for 20-30% of the price for most restaurants and dine out/eat out/take out foods.. May take more time but it's more enjoyable and satisfying. I'll splurge on an exquisite meal but the availability where I am is lacking (mostly good or very good, not even superb) and superb to exquisite prices.

I guess there are those who don't enjoy cooking or have the skills who may hold a different viewpoint.

And this is really the crux of the discussion on whether restaurant demand will go back to normal. There's certainly a large group that fits your final sentence. Then there are those, like our friend in this thread gaobest, who claims to be enjoying the new-found cost savings and the pleasure of cooking good food at home.

I love good food. Doesn't matter if I make it at home, eat in a Michelin-starred restaurant or a roadside shack. I happened to move from Chicago to the suburbs just about the time the lockdown started last year. Both those events changed my dining habits drastically. I'm going to restaurants less now, but that's a result of supply rather than demand. If I had the choices that were available to me in the city, I'd go out more. As choice/supply returns for others who didn't move, what will the demand be? In terms of whether this server shortage persists, the answer to that question may matter quite a bit.

We tried to take the grandkids to Red Robin for late lunch. No go. 45 minute wait with many open tables. I’d say the inability to earn top dollar tips has put them low in the server totem pole. They will have to raise wages to compete as the lower prices mean lower tips.