My favorite mom & pop Mexican joints jacked up their prices. One place used to have street tacos for something like $1.50 each... now they're something like $2.50 each (only come in a 3-taco deal where you used to buy them individually). It's still pretty cheap by today's standards, but still. The other place, I used to buy stuff for around $11-$12 now costs $20+. Wth. I don't eat out as much anymore and am just going to make a lot of stuff at home anyway, so no big deal. The only time I ever ate in a restaurant was if I went to one with friends or if I went on a road trip, and the only places I liked to eat inside a restaurant was at mom & pop places, anyway.
mine died in 2004. as for the thread, i have noticed this as well. obviously a big chunk of it is covid, restaurants being understaffed and dealing with f***ed up supply chains. but it might be bigger than covid. the population is so dumbed down now that many adults cant handle the kind of jobs that teenagers were doing 20 years ago. i went to jimmy johns the other day and they were training a new guy on the register. he looked mid 20's and his trainer had to tell him every single button to push when taking my order and he was struggling. i felt bad for this guy b/c he was having problems handling a simple cash register job. how far can someone like that go in life? there are lots of people like that working in restaurants...its all they can do and they arent even that good at it. so food is made badly and served badly. on the other hand, there is a great family-run thai place by my house that switched to take-out only when covid hit and have been killing it. ive seen other restaurants that kept afloat by going full-on take out...i imagine it cuts down on alot of expenses. and since this is a food thread i feel compelled to say that i had the best burger ive had in a long, long time last night at the texas chili parlor in austin. as long as its been open ive never had a burger there, but it was damn good. just putting it out there for the seekers of good burgers.
There's a skilled worker shortage, so what you get at restaurants, even with an increase in their pay, is the dregs. Or higher prices. It will all equalize but it may be a while. It's all about supply/demand.
Evangeline's on Brodie in SW Austin. A great Cajun restaurant that serves an outstanding lunch from 11-3 weekdays and Saturday. Closed on Sundays. Delicious shrimp or catfish (fried or grilled) po-boys w/fries or a salad for $7.99. Bowl of Chicken and Sausage Gumbo or Red beans and Rice or Jambalaya w/salad or potato salad, and bread, same price. Seafood basket - shrimp or fried oysters or catfish or fried crawfish w/salad and fries or dirty rice for $8.99. Po-boy with a cup of gumbo or red beans and rice, same price. Chicken fried steak w/Cajun cream gravy, it's hand breaded Angus beef from a ranch outside of town (says the owner and I believe him - it's killer!) with rice or fries and a salad for $8.99. Yes, it's in Austin. I have lunch there all the time. They serve a much more extensive menu at night. An FYI - they have great cocktail sauce, so hot that I break out in a sweat every time I have something with it. Love the stuff! Genuine Cajun here, folks. Some nights they have live music. http://evangelinecafe.com/
I'm sorry that you have these constant experiences at restaurants. Maybe go to different restaurants? Maybe you are the problem?
The one by my house on Louetta closed a few months ago but I did hit the one by Willowbrook a few months back and it sucked and they keep jacking the prices up. Covid messed them up when they could not put the veggies and stuff out, they had to resort to packets of mustard and Ketchup yet were not smart enough to lower the prices.......I wont go back but they did have a hell of a chocolate shake. I`m not cheap but almost 20 bucks for a burger, fries and shake is a deal breaker
Yea, that sucks about Fuddruckers closing. I loved building my own burger and squirting jalapeño cheese in a tiny cup for fry dipping. Albeit, they rarely could nail medium in the cook and tended to go more toward well done. I have a lot of family memories from eating there. I can’t go back and reminisce as it closed.
I had a Mexican Pizza on Saturday from Taco Bell. Was like $5. And was as craptastically delicious as I remembered.
bruh! i love that place. its old south austin. have you been to cypress grill (william cannon/mopac)? thats my favorite cajun place in austin. soooo good! atchafalaya catfish (fried) is my go-to. they got some tasty house cocktails too. shoal creek saloon is still going as well.
