I've just been expressing my beefs about Chinese restaurants in another discussion, for totally other reasons, which reminded me of my beef about the extortionate prices of Italian restaurants compared to almost any other here in the UK. For instance, £6.50 for a bottle of beer?!?! That's just taking the piss.

Okay, that's just the beer, but as a family man I've been looking for value whenever we've eaten out over the last couple of decades and I'm positively certain in my own mind that Italian restaurants are definitely [on average] the most expensive.

So, why are the Italians taking the piss? Any ideas? Is it a mafia thingy?

Over here we've got expensive ones and inexpensive ones. What I've never seen is a cheap French restaurant.

Yep. Paper napkins cheap, cloth napkins and table cloths expensive.

SafeAsMilk wrote:What I've never seen is a cheap French restaurant.

There’s an excellent middling French resto near my office. Only expensive if you sit for the evening and let Eric keep your wine glass full.

Why are Italian restaurants so expensive?

The question assumes that Italian restaurants are expensive, but doesn't establish that it's empirically true. I don't believe it to be the case. In none of the countries I've lived in, including the UK, would I consider an average Italian restaurant to be 'so expensive'.

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Spearthrower wrote:

Why are Italian restaurants so expensive?

The question assumes that Italian restaurants are expensive, but doesn't establish that it's empirically true. I don't believe it to be the case. In none of the countries I've lived in, including the UK, would I consider an average Italian restaurant to be 'so expensive'.

We eat out fairly regularly, and my missus and kids prefer Italian, so just please put me out of my misery and direct me to a few cheap Italian restaurants.

Oh, I forgot, you've been living in south-east Asia for eons. Never mind.

P1 The Italian restaurants I’ve gone to are expensive
Conclusion All Italian restaurants are expensive.

Fuck you’re really knocking them out of the park today jamest.

SafeAsMilk wrote:Over here we've got expensive ones and inexpensive ones. What I've never seen is a cheap French restaurant.

This might seem strange to someone living in Canada, but 'French' is not a word associated with most (I can remember only one) of the UK restaurants I've ever encountered.

For a moment, I thought: "What? SafeAsMilk lives in Canada?" but then I remembered who'd said that.

felltoearth wrote:P1 The Italian restaurants I’ve gone to are expensive
Conclusion All Italian restaurants are expensive.

Fuck you’re really knocking them out of the park today jamest.

My wife and kids love Italian food, so for their sakes I've tried numerous places.

This isn't racism (towards Italians!), it's just an economic generalism that I've experienced many times here within the UK to the extent that my wife and kids now accept that Italian restaurants are what we do on very special occasions. For instance, we went to one less than two weeks ago for my step-daughter's 18th birthday. I was fleeced!

OlivierK wrote:For a moment, I thought: "What? SafeAsMilk lives in Canada?" but then I remembered who'd said that.

You're right, so I'll apologise. I actually confused SAM with FELLTO. Sorry folks.

Regardless, my underlying arguments are not crushed.

jamest wrote:So, why are the Italians taking the piss? Any ideas? Is it a mafia thingy?

One of the two cheapest restaurants I've ever been to was Italian. The bolognese was to die for and the parmesan cheese really did come from Parma. And yes, the owners who started the restaurant in 1959, paid protection money - to the local cops. It saved them from being shaken down by the local crime gangs (Sydney's Kings Cross and surroundings were notorious for their activities) and allowed them to sell wine even though they did not have the requisite license for it.

A meal cost 20 minutes' worth, of a labourer's wage. I remember that because I had a holiday job as a builder's labourer on a site that was about a five minute walk east of it.

The other one was Vietnamese, near Central Railway, but that was more of a self-serve arrangement than a restaurant.

A couple of decades later I moved to Newtown. There I found another two cheap Italian Restaurants; one right on King Street, the other in a side street just 40 metres off it. Their food was good, but not especially so.

And no, I never found a cheap French restaurant either.

Spearthrower wrote:

Why are Italian restaurants so expensive?

The question assumes that Italian restaurants are expensive, but doesn't establish that it's empirically true. I don't believe it to be the case. In none of the countries I've lived in, including the UK, would I consider an average Italian restaurant to be 'so expensive'.

They aren't. Chains like Bella Italia are priced according to their market position and are comparable with their competitors.

Drinks are generally expensive in restaurants (margins, overheads, staffing, taxes etc.), but £6.50 is frankly nothing compared to your average bar in the West End anyway.

I can't say I've ever noticed it. I do remember reading an article a while back about how certain cuisines can use the prestige to charge more whereas. It was about how it's a lot more difficult to open a fine dining restaurant serving Chinese food than it is with Japanese food. But in my experience, Italian restaurants are often at the fancier end of the spectrum, whereas in Italy, you have the trattoria where you can get really good food for cheap.

jamest wrote:

OlivierK wrote:For a moment, I thought: "What? SafeAsMilk lives in Canada?" but then I remembered who'd said that.

You're right, so I'll apologise. I actually confused SAM with FELLTO. Sorry folks.

Regardless, my underlying arguments are not crushed.

You haven't made an argument, you've just asserted.

P1 The Italian restaurants I’ve gone to are expensive
Conclusion All Italian restaurants are expensive.

Fuck you’re really knocking them out of the park today jamest.

You'll never see an Italian restaurant offering significasnt deals/incentives, here in the UK, has been my long-term experience. Except Pizza Hut, which - last time I went, gave you incentives to buy starter-salad and drinks. Not on Italian food itself though.

You'll never see an Italian restaurant offering significasnt deals/incentives, here in the UK, has been my long-term experience. Except Pizza Hut, which - last time I went, gave you incentives to buy starter-salad and drinks. Not on Italian food itself though.

felltoearth wrote:P1 The Italian restaurants I’ve gone to are expensive
Conclusion All Italian restaurants are expensive.

Fuck you’re really knocking them out of the park today jamest.

Obviously, I'm speaking from experience, but that's considerable. In my opinion, at this moment, an Italian restaurant in Britain seems to be the most expensive option of all eating-out options (ON AVERAGE). Hence this thread.

That's my British experience though. However, I'm still curious to hear opinions from across the globe.