How often do you eat out...

[PrincessFiona]

And what is your favorite place to go? What is your favorite meal?

[PrincessFiona]

We tend to go to TGI Fridays or Green Mill....

We go out every Friday right now I'm embarassed to admit it!

If we go to green mill I get a cheeseburger with cheddar cheese and mushrooms on it with waffle fries...and sometimes we order their spinach dip (which is to die for...anyone have a good recipe!)

If we go to TGIF I order the cobb salad and bring half of it home with me for lunch the next day.

kris

[houseelf]

Ouch, you just struck one of our financial achilles' tendons....

We eat out at least two times a week. Mostly it is supercheap like taco bell.

We did go through a stint this fall where we ate at an all you can eat sushi-bar every other week until I got preggers. Now that is a good use of our extra moonlighting income.

I love Chipotle, DH loves takeout buckets of Chinese, and the munchkin is brand loyal to McDonald's.

Kelly

almost never, I try to only go out to eat on vacation, (where I eat out almost everyday, hey its vacation)We do order pizza sometimes, and always eat it at home. I love to cook so I usually just buy expensive quality meats and fish and make them at home.

But if I had to name some of my favorite going out foods...

KFC- crispy chicken-preferably not wings or legs ( with coleslaw, gravy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits) Isn't that ridiculous I always feel gross after eating that but I love it


Anything from Chi-chi's, but after hearing the green onion story (which I just heard bits and pieces of) I'm not so sure anymore...

Hardees, chicken strips or hot ham and cheese...

Mozzarella sticks from anywhere....

Oreo cookie blizzard from Dairy Queen

Pizza Hut- deep dish cheese pizza

ha ha enough already....

[SueC]

We eat out way too much, at least twice a week, though it is usually fast food.
When we want to go a little "fancier" we do TGIFriday's (I know, it's not a fancy restaurant but they have a good kids menu and my husband is addicted to the ir coconut chicken). There I go back and forth between having a salad or getting a burger.
For fast food, it's usually McDonald's or Burger King, though my absolute favorite fast food is Arby's.
Occasionally we splurge and order takeout from Cheesecake Factory--even on a Friday night, you can get a meal to go in 15 minutes, and it isn't all that expensive if you take it home (avoid the tip, appetizers, and drinks).

[Auspicious]

This is our financial achilles heel, as well, (along with seeing movies in the theater) and now with the new more expensive apartment we've agreed we're going to budget a specific amount for eating out and stick to it rather than just going out whenever the fancy strikes us.

I think that eating out is a big part of NYC culture (and probably other urban areas, as well), especially for young people. Apartments tend to be too tiny to gather friends in, kitchens tend to be substandard, and the sheer quantity, quality, and variety of restaurants all create a big push to eat out.

We eat out much more frequently in the warm weather than the cold since you have to walk everywhere, so we haven't been eating out too much lately. I think even in the warm weather, it's rare for us to go to an actual restaurant (meaning one where you have a waiter and you get your bill at the end of the meal) more than once a week. If you want to add in our Subway habit and chinese takeout (we try to stick to healthy options at both those places), then I bet we average eating out/bringing in 2-3 times a week.

I think our favorite chain restaurant is California Pizza Kitchen. We also like Chile's and Red Lobster.

Our favorite places in New York are Vatan (Indian), Yuka (sushi--the site of our first date and many subsequent ones), Cafe con Leche (cuban), Burritoville (burritos, of course), It's a Wrap (wrap sandwiches), EJ's (diner), Artie's (deli), Saigon Grill (vietnamese) . . . there are more, but that's what I can think of right now. We go to the cheap ones way more often than the expensive ones.

[mommax3]

We probably eat out once or twice a week for dinner (once w/everyone and once just the two of us on our "dates") and DH and I have lunch together about once every other week.

The scarcity of restaurants here is a huge complaint of mine. Probably our favorite place to go is Red Lobster. There is ONE very nice independent restaurant here that seats about 25 people.....they used to only be open for lunch, but now they are open on the weekends. The deal we have with our regular sitter is that we generally DON'T ask her to sit for us on the weekends, so we have only been there for dinner one time.

We used to eat out TONS more, (especially when we lived in San Antonio with SO MANY yummy restaurants!) mostly because of lack of planning on my part, but I have really been working on that and it has saved us a lot of $$$$! Something else that helped change this habit was that my oldest started wanting regular meals instead of the kiddie meals and that made the whole thing a lot more expensive!

Sally

[migirl]

We have a rule of only eating out once per week. It has really helped us with our budgeting, planning, etc. We tend to avoid chain restaurants, just because we have a thing about supporting local businesses so our favorite places are restaurants that people have probably never heard of! My favorite local places are the Grizzly Peak (blackened salmon caesar salad is to die for!), Shalimar (Indian food), Yotsuba (yummy sushi), Pizza House (used to be our college hangout, best pizza ever), Seva (vegetarian)... When we do occasionally go to chain restaurants, we like California Pizza Kitchen and Panera.

(BTW, Sue, my absolute favorite fast food is Arby's too! Just thinking about their curly fries makes me salivate... Mmm...)

Occasionally, if DH has a weekend off we'll go out for breakfast too but then I mandate that our dinner out has to be someplace cheap so it will all even out and be the same as if we'd gone out for one regular dinner.

[peggyfromwastate]

we eat out/take in too much-- especially since i'm not cooking now. we eat out much less now than before med school though, so the trend is good... i'd say we probably eat out 2x per month, and bring in 1x a week, and do mcdonalds (on base so mac can study longer and the kids can play) about 2x per month!

favorite restaurants: red lobster, and a delicious thai restaurant from my hometown... here, i've found a great greek restaurant right down the road from us, and we have found a tex-mex that is really good after some awful experiences!

[Rapunzel]

We generally eat out once every two months or so. Jon and I went out to eat on our anniversary in August and then we went out to eat last Friday at a really great Indian restaraunt. In between my family has been to Burger King once (in the last seven months) and KFC once (ditto).

We just can't afford the prices of many places although we really do enjoy eating out. I think the single most important reason I have not gained much weight during this winter of no working out or expending much energy is that I have not eaten the high-calorie, high-fat, "super-sized" portions served at both restaraunts and fast food places.

When we do eat out I generally steer towards KFC because I love, love, love greasy fried chicken with biscuits! I also usually buy cheeseburgers or fajitas at other restaurants.

Jennifer

[Auspicious]

Wow, everyone eats out much more than I would have guessed! I feel much less frivolous and lazy now!

We usually go out once a week. More recently with the baby (well, take out). Noodles is Bryn's *favorite* place. A close second is the pizza place that her preschool buddy's dad owns (good, but pricey, pizza).

[BonBon]

Before Gavin arrived, we used to eat out 2-3 times a week. And the nights we didn't eat out, we were busy eating our leftovers from dining out.

Now we go out once a week, which seems to take a lot of prep time and planning.

My favorite place to go is a locally owned Mexican restaurant - we always get the nachos with beef and beans. It's $4.50 and is gigantic so it fills both of us up. That's a cheap date! I also have quite a few other local favorites.

My favorite chain is probably Friendly's - I just ate this last night. The Ultimate Collosal(sp) Bacon Cheeseburger with a chocolate Fribble. Mmmm. I also love TGI Fridays sizzling chicken plate and the oreo cookie dessert.

I miss going out all the time...now I have to cook. Tonight is mac and cheese night.

We do a lot, but mostly for lunch and then eat a light dinner. I too try to keep local places in business rather than the chains. One fave is Country Joe's Barbeque--a little hole in the wall place where I chat with the owner and always get a baked potato topped with barbecued beef or chicken and sauce and sweet tea--it's to die for. We also try to keep Madame Wu's in business (surprisingly good Chinese in the middle of Arkansas) because the horrible New China Buffet is so popular. (I think some people were born without tastebuds.) But we never eat fast food; about the closest is Whatta-Burger, which is a local institution and really, really good. Probably tastes close to what McDonald's did when it started out. My poor kids--they might never see the inside of a McDonald's (and will spend years in therapy as adults because of it.) :P

[Phoebe]

We've been eating out a lot more since baby #2 arrived. We don't hit restaurants that often unless DH is post-call for lunch. Lately that has been Max and Erma's. They are pretty kid friendly and we can usually get a booth to confine our toddler! I love their soft pretzal stick appetizer. We haven't found the local dive since moving to Indiana, but those are my favorite type of restaurants to eat in.

Most often DH picks up dinner on his way home from work when I haven't gotten a dinner plan together or if he finds the menu bland. He recently lost 30 lbs on Atkins and got sick of eating the same thing every week. Our mainstays are usually Pizza Hut, Quiznos or Subway. I could live on pizza!

Eating out occurs about 2 to 3 times a week in our house.

Jennifer