Our Last Meal Out
It has been 13 months since we’ve eaten at a restaurant. I think about it a lot; that last meal. We went to an Irish pub to hear music for Josh’s birthday. The Wolvog ate there because he doesn’t like ramen, which was where we tried to go afterward, but the wait was too long. We ended up down the road at a favourite Vietnamese restaurant. That vegetarian pho was the last meal I ate at a restaurant.
We’ve gotten takeout a few times. So far, we’ve stuck to three places that were all wearing masks and doing curbside pickup long before masks were required in our area. All three restaurants create food that travels well and re-heats easily. There are other restaurants that fit that criteria; we just need to make time for carry out.
Eater recently had a compelling headline: “The Responsibility of Saving Restaurants Should Never Have Been Ours.” So true.
It is the balance between wanting to help restaurants so they can remain afloat, and worrying that by ordering from a restaurant, I’m staying safe at home while someone else is exposed to risk. This paragraph summed it up:
When it comes to restaurants, I’m not sure there have been any good choices at all: dine indoors, try to keep your mask on whenever a server’s nearby. Dine outside, make sure the tables are far enough apart. Dine at home from takeout boxes an underpaid delivery driver brought to you. Do none of these, and your favorite restaurant closes, putting its employees out of work, probably without a sufficient social safety net.
There is no good answer. The food industry is suffering. The events industry is suffering. The travel industry is suffering. The performance industry is suffering. This sentence from the article is haunting: “These failures are rooted in one of America’s most toxic core beliefs: that the economy matters more than the people who create it.”
Food for thought.
I am aware that many people are currently dining at restaurants—some inside and some outside. But what was your last meal out before the pandemic began?
12 comments
Oh, this rings so true. There is no right way forward, and like so many other things (recycling to prevent climate change, donating to people’s healthcare) we do it because it feels awful not to help. But… in a just society, it shouldn’t be an individual responsibility. Justice and fairness shouldn’t depend on the kindness of strangers.
Totally agree!
Last meal out? I have no idea. We’re not restaurant people.
My husband and I may have been out sometime in February although I’m wondering as I look back- the last meal out I remember- and it’s vivid was Jan. 31, 2020. It was the night before the SuperBowl, and it was the night they were doing the tribute at the Laker game for Kobe, who had died the week prior. My bff and I went out and had dinner in the BAR of all places so we could watch the Kobe tribute. So, it was either that, or a week later with my husband at our favorite steakhouse but that’s the meal that is etched in my memory. Since then we’ve done a lot of takeout- my husband’s job relies on the restaurant industry so he feels it’s self preservation.
Admittedly, I used to go out to eat a lot. When I lived in the city it was several times a week. In the past couple of years it was probably at least once a week. But… Now it has been 13 months for me as well. My last meal in a restaurant was French Toast with bacon and eggs at a breakfast place. It was delicious. If I had known it would be my last time, I probably would’ve ordered several meals and had leftovers. Just being honest…
Whoops! A typo. Misspelled my own name. Oh well. I was pretty distracted by thinking about my French Toast…
We used to get carryout once or twice a week. I think the last time I went out was lunch and a pedicure with my friends on a beautiful day in February 2020. We’ve gotten carryout on Veteran’s Day (free meals for my husband), and twice since then. A friend from work and I might try to resurrect our lunch group this week, since I think we’re all vaccinated.
I looked back at pics to try and remember my last meal out because we also don’t eat out a lot. We ate noodles for the celebration of the anniversary of my daughter’s adoption being finalized. At least we had a good last meal and really enjoyed ourselves since we were celebrating.
We get takeout once a week but pick it up ourselves which at least takes the stress of the delivery driver out of the equation. However I do feel the pressure – I don’t want our favorite places to close but some of the food simply does not travel well. It’s too much pressure in an already high pressure situation, which is living in a pandemic.
In normal times, we eat out quite a bit. I actually don’t remember the last meal I ate in a restaurant before the pandemic restrictions started. We continued to order takeout throughout, and as soon as restaurants reopened, we started going back. . . first only on the patio, and then, as case numbers decreased in our area, indoors at establishments that were diligently following the recommendations (distancing, masks, etc.).
We have been eating out since the restaurants reopened, haven’t caught COVID and they even unmasked Texas weeks ago and the numbers have been going down so idk. I hope you receive peace about eating out again soon.
Last meal out: Saturday, March 7th, 2020. Dh & I usually ate out on Saturday nights, alone together or with BIL & SIL. That night, we planned to try a new Italian restaurant with BIL, SIL, Older Nephew, his wife & Little Great-Nephew, and then head across the city to see stepMIL & her family. Of course we didn’t have a reservation, and the restaurant was booked solid. We tried another Italian restaurant which was also packed with at least an hour’s wait for a table. (Observing the mobs of people going in & out and hanging outside on the sidewalk, I remember remarking wryly to dh, “Pandemic? What pandemic? These people don’t seem to be too worried…” Little did we know, right?) We wound up at another restaurant nearby (The Pickle Barrel, sort of a deli/comfort food/family chain restaurant). Little Great-Nephew (then 4 months old and enjoying his first meal out with us) sat on his mom’s lap and observed her meal with great interest, lol. I had fish & chips, which was pretty good.
That’s the last time I was in a restaurant. We’ve been doing takeout on Saturday nights since then. I don’t think I’ll be back at a restaurant until the numbers hereabouts improve dramatically and we have both been fully vaccinated — which won’t be until later this summer, at the earliest. Even then, we will probably stick to open-air patios for a while…!
Spending seven weeks back in March/April/May 2020 not eating out for us was a novelty more than a struggle. But oh, that first meal. It seemed so normal, which seemed a little surreal. I can only imagine what it will feel like for you to go back into a restaurant. Wonderful. But scary. Definitely scary. Maybe the wonderful will take time. Sending hugs.
We have a few restaurants that we get takeout from. Our favorite Mexican restaurant is takeout every Friday. They recently opened for limited in person dining, reservation only, only 3 seatings, only 2 nights, but we haven’t gone. Not comfortable. They’ve done curbside since the beginning, and have opened for limited dine in twice. I bet they close dining in again with our newest surge.
They are also the last time we are inside a restaurant, on Thursday March 12th, Bryce’s birthday. We were a wreck the whole time and people would cough and we’d freak, so it wasn’t so enjoyable. Everything shut down the following Monday.