When dining in restaurants, particularly when it is our first time there, we never forget to ask about the size of the serving. But it's not foolproof because the waiter can give you a wrong answer. In our trip to the province earlier this month, we arrived by lunch time so we dropped by the mall from the airport to have lunch before proceeding to the condo unit of my nephew. The restaurant is quite new to us so we inquired on the size of serving. We ordered soup, fried rice, spring roll and pork spare ribs, all for the small serving that is good for 2 (my husband and I). But when the soup arrived, it was good for 4 although the waiter insisted that we can finish it. With the fried rice, it's the same. To make the story short, we had leftover of fried rice and soup that we cannot bring home because we are not at home. We just left the leftover food in the restaurant.
While grocery stores are reducing the amount of actual product that comes in their packages, I've noticed that many restaurants are doing the opposite. I ordered a burrito in a Mexican restaurant that I hadn't been in before, and found that I couldn't eat more than a third of it. I don't do leftovers so when I told the waiter that I didn't want a take-home box, they thought I didn't like it and told me I didn't have to pay for it. I had to explain that it was a very good burrito, it was reasonably priced, and I liked it very much, but I couldn't eat that much, and since I was staying in a hotel, I didn't want to take anything with me. In recent years, I have been trying to reduce the quantity of food that I eat but even before that was a problem, I wouldn't have been able to eat that thing. It was huge. I have seen that in other restaurants as well. Five Guys, for example. I love their burgers and fries, but their small burger is plenty enough for me, and my wife and I split a small order of fries, and still generally have some left over.
Jeez, I never have problems finishing my meals. I wish I did. When John (falcon) visited me in Fresno after my husband died...he took me out to eat a few times. Some nice places and also In-N-Out burger, I ate my fries and and half of his. He loves telling that story.
There are times when we will buy one meal and share it. No leftovers from that. When we go to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, my wife will either get the pork dinner (a mountain size portion of pork pieces) or the shrimp fajitas dinner (lots of shrimp/vegs and I'll get the two taco w/rice and beans dinner. She will have pork or shrimp left over and I sometimes I will have a taco left over. The next night we will have the leftovers made into either burritos or tacos. When we go to our local Steakhouse, I will have some rib eye or prime rib left over and she might, depending on how hungry she was, have some lobster left over. Leftovers are next day lunch or dinner. We've been to restaurants where you definitely "get what you pay for" type meal, meaning..........a BIG meal. For us, we never, ever leave any food behind.
Of course I never eat bread before a meal and never drink anything but water. I also never order Mexican food that includes beans or rice because I won't touch those. Also when I order tacos with them bringing the flour tacos separately....I don't use them. When eating a hamburger in a restaurant I take the top bun off. I always finish fries though. Also will start picking leftover fries from grandsons plates.
Must admit, you eat better than we do! But, then again, we love what we eat, it's just that our bodies (weight) don't. Wish we had the discipline about eating like you do.
I ate in a restaurant this past weekend. I would say the serving size was not really enormous, but it was filling. Since I was on a trip with no way to refigerate, I ate it all, which I probably shouldn't have. I did look over at other people.s tables though, and someone had ordered some sort of fried fish dish they were enormous pieces! The portions of my families food seemed to be not really over sized...but certainly enough to be filling.
When we go on a overnight trip, we take our big cooler stocked w/Bud Light and snacks. We generally get a room with a small frig and microwave. Any leftovers from a restaurant will go with us and kept in the small frig to eat later.
While driving out to California to visit my parents, we stopped at a Denny's for breakfast. I had just turned 55 and now could order off the Seniors menu. Looked at the picture of the Omelette and ordered that with a side of pancakes. Got a strange look from the waitress and my wife. I knew that the senior plate wouldn't be enough, so added the pancakes. I just wanted to say I ordered from the 'old person' menu.
I don't look old do I? A few years ago we went to Golden Corral and when I got to the cashier I told her I wanted the senior discount and was getting ready to get out my I D to prove my age when she said " I already gave you the discount"
We get Denny's Senior Menu, as well as Senior Discount at Golden Corral Buffet, Mc Donald's and a free small sofa w/our order at Taco Bell. We are both Senior's, but "younger" Seniors (we like to think).
When we decide to dine out it is either Chinese or Mexican mainly because of their hefty servings. Johnny loves his plate full to falling off the plate. Me on the other hand usually take my leftovers home.