In the previous article, I suggested readers cook meals instead of eating out. In reality, there are chances that you have to eat out. Having rehearsals outside the living place recently, I ate out with my girlfriend frequently. Often times the restaurants upset us.

It’s almost a trend for restaurants to increase their meal price after the Chinese New Year – usually a couple of dollars per dish. One day, we went to a cafe. We could still recall the menu from last year. Half of the dishes were HKD 90 or less. Today, these dishes are gone – most cost over HKD 150. “This might be the last time we eat here,” I told my girlfriend. We didn’t want to spend too much as we thought it was a bit overpriced, so we ordered the cheapest dish, a dessert and an espresso. Luckily, the waiter still served us well – at least they weren’t rude.

Nice dish but a bit pricey

Of course, we didn’t feel full, so we went for a walk and visited another ramen shop we often visited. We couldn’t find a menu at the podium, so we entered the restaurant and asked for a menu.

“How many people are there?” the waitress asked.

“Two,” my girlfriend replied. “But can we have the menu first?”

“There is a menu over the podium,” said the waitress, and she walked away. Her hidden message was probably: Stay out and don’t enter the restaurant. The price of the ramen stayed unchanged, so we decided to have lunch there.

“How many people are there?” the waitress asked again.

“Two,” I replied.

“There is no seat available,” she said. “You have to sit at the ramen bar table.” There were, however, lots of empty tables inside the restaurant. We had bulky belongings and felt inconvenient sitting at the ramen bar table.

A few minutes later, 2 customers paid the bill, leaving a large table empty. We asked the waitress if we could move to that table. She replied the table was waiting for cleaning. Then she walked away and never responded to us. After that table was cleaned, no one directed us to move. We moved with our belongings to that table without being acknowledged by the waitress.

“This would be the last time we eat here,” I told my girlfriend. The ramen price remained unchanged, but the quality dropped – it was much oily than the one a half year ago.

In the afternoon, we passed by another restaurant we often ate. We looked for the dish we ordered every time. It cost HKD 55. Last year it cost HKD45. It cost HKD 40 in 2021 and HKD 30 in 2019. The price is almost doubled in 4 years.

“No. Never. Goodbye.” we are fed up with all these situations. No wonder people limit their expenditure in Hong Kong and save all for travelling. Indeed, there are good restaurants with polite and helpful waiters/waitresses offering delicious food. There is a waiter who works in a restaurant near my living place. He often talks to me while I’m waiting for the takeaway. A few weeks later, he memorised the usual choice. Recently, the restaurant increased the price of the meal by 10%. It’s a bit pricey, but I’m still willing to order takeaways from them.

As a customer, we pay for delicious food and beverage and cosy service at a restaurant, so we can enjoy the meal and revisit it next time. Under the economic downturn and inflation, many restaurant owners suffer from the cost increase of ingredients. A slight price increase is acceptable, provided that the quality of the food and service can still be retained. If it is so drastic, it will upset customers. Poor service and ignorant waiters/waitresses kick customers away from the restaurant.

Restaurant owners should plan how to keep the quality of the service but limit the cost rather than shifting the responsibility for the economic downturn onto the customers. This isn’t easy to achieve, but almost every restaurant is replaceable. If customers feel bad at a restaurant, they will find another restaurant and never return.