High Restaurant Prices Kill the Joy of Trying New Places

The chain restaurant experience has declined too, says Lex Washington, a professor and mom of three living in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She and her daughter always celebrate their birthdays at Texas Roadhouse for the fun of mechanical bull riding and free treats like ice cream and cake. “Now, there’s no bull, no cake, and a big old thing of ice cream is now a baby scoop and a bunch of whipped cream,” she says. “I don’t really want to go if you’re raising prices and I know you’ve got 100 locations across the US.”

There’s a myriad of reasons for the increasing prices. Ingredient costs have gone up, as have salaries, which many restaurants increased to compete for staff after pandemic shutdowns. Regulations squeeze from all sides, and commercial rents are market-defyingly high. Folks understand why they need to pay more to support the business model—so many restaurant lovers are spending their money at restaurants they believe in.

Washington says she prefers to eat at places in her small town, rather than travel to Dallas or Tulsa for a meal. “You know [the owner’s] name, and our kids go to school together,” she says. “I’m extra willing to go and spend my money there and really want them to survive.” Others have shifted their habits toward restaurants that advertise deals. Jen Zhang, who runs a food recommendations TikTok, says her videos about all-you-can-eat restaurants receive the most traction. “Some of the best-performing videos on my page are about buffets and all-you-can-eat because you can see value in it,” she says.

Multiple people also said they’re still willing to splurge, at least on one kind of night out: omakase. “Regular day-to-day dining has gotten so expensive for something sub par,” says Justin Kim, a Seattle resident who used to cook in restaurant kitchens and now works as a data analyst. But spending $150 to $200 on omakase? No problem. High-end sushi is defined by both simplicity and perfectionism, which means diners trust its quality and are unlikely to compare it to a meal they could have at home. Chanda Mau, who recently left the corporate world to focus on her pop-ups in Austin, TX, says she used to go to her favorite sushi restaurant, Tsuke Edomae, once a month, and has now cut back to once or twice a year. But she would rather spend all her money there than on many less expensive meals. “I’m very aware of my money and where I’m going with it.”

In fact, price increases might hurt higher-end restaurants less than everyday ones. Customers expect to empty their wallets there, and experience less sticker shock. Sam Weidert, who spent the past couple years as a server in a high-end steakhouse in Minneapolis, says that as prices rose, his customers rarely complained about the bill. “It’s either very wealthy people going there or it’s people going out for special events,” he says. “Both of those groups are expecting to spend money, or spending money almost feels good, in that scenario.”

As people cope with restaurant inflation by chasing only perfect meals, avoiding smaller disappointments adds up to a bigger malaise. The culture of dining out is imperiled, and those who care about food feel it keenly. “It feels really depressing to see article after article about every cool place in LA right now,” says Laura Dux, a student and a part-time server in Los Angeles. “I want to know what everyone’s doing in the scene.” But she can only afford to eat a nice meal out at her own restaurant, where she gets a 35% discount. “It feels like we’ve gotten to a point where if I don’t work there, I don’t know if I’m ever gonna try it.”

It’s possible that meals won’t get even more expensive. Restaurant prices may have peaked, at least in New York, according to Ryan Sutton, a restaurant critic who writes the newsletter the LO Times. He’s been tracking price increases at restaurants, especially high end restaurants, since 2011, and recently he’s seen a few tasting menus drop their prices for lunch or even dinner. “If you see someone cutting prices, that means they probably overshot and want to get more people in the door,” he says.

Still, things may not get more affordable. He expects that many of the increases are here to stay, and that some restaurants will be permanently out of reach for most people. “No one is gonna lose an apartment because the price of a steak dinner goes up,” Sutton says. “But it means that an everyday gourmand who saves up can’t go to that place any more at all, and that changes the culture of what a dining room could or should look like. It’s a bummer.”

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