Kate Hawkesby: The dining experience has changed - not always for the better

So our post-pandemic dining behaviours, according to this Herald article I read, talked about how much more expensive dining out is these days - $50 mains it quoted. The upshot is we appear to be getting less food for more money, restaurants are getting tougher on turning tables, and people are dining earlier. The reporter asked, ‘what’s happened to hospitality?’ and I take her point. It can feel like it’s not all that hospitable anymore. The last time we dined in Auckland’s CBD at a well-known well-regarded restaurant we felt something was amiss - a new kind of disinterest in diners, a slackening of service, an unapologetic approach to it all, and just not that much of a pleasant experience, for quite a lot of money. Like many diners, I don’t mind parting with hard-earned cash for an experience when it’s good, not so much when it’s below par.   We thought maybe we’d just struck this particular restaurant on a bad night, but have since been told by others their experience replicated ours. So how do they get away with it and how do they continue to profit from an increasingly poor experience? Many restaurateurs would argue it’s not that profitable for them anymore, and that may be part of the problem. I’d also hazard a guess our lengthy closed border and a lack of access to staff has had a huge impact. The other Covid – induced side effect is we got used to eating at home, we got good at sourcing our own food, making it ourselves, we also got enthused about ‘supporting local’ and dining in our local hood more. On top of that, I’d also argue that especially in main centres like Auckland and Wellington, there are more people who can’t be bothered with the drama of the CBD. Too hard to get into, no access, no parking, too many homeless, too much violence, not worth the hassle. A nice night out at a restaurant kind of loses its gloss if you have run for your life at the end of it. Increasing costs for the hospo industry in terms of labour and food I don’t doubt is horrendous for them – and they’ll of course be passing it on. But another thing we’re doing apparently now is dining earlier. Now I know this to be the case, because we are early diners ourselves due to our crazy early work hours, and increasingly we’re finding restaurants are fuller earlier. People tell me they sometimes can’t even get a 5.30pm booking anymore, because there’s an increase in ‘demand for 5pm tables.’ I actually think that’s good and could mean a lot of things. One, we’re maybe dining with our young kids more, like Europeans do, therefore we're after earlier tables, two, we're perhaps more educated on health and wellness these days and know the importance of digesting food early and not eating late into the night before bed. Three, we want to get ahead of any 7.30pm potential rush when service can slow down to a snail’s pace, and four, maybe it’s older people are the only ones left with any disposable income these days to spend on eating out, and they’re habitually earlier eaters. I don’t know, but I’d say there’s a lot at play in terms of how the dining experience has changed - not always for the better. I don’t envy hard working restaurateurs trying to keep up with it all, but I’d like to think the good ones know that to keep people returning, you have to keep offering up a good experience. Especially given the cost of it these days.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.