Have thus far made use of the offer every day it has applied, and am aiming to try and “Eat Out To Help Out” every day it applies.
Week 1
Monday lunch - Costa’s in the Trafford Centre (Greater Manchester)
Don’t normally stop off at Costa’s because I don’t drink coffee and it’s quite expensive. The first thing I noticed was the prices of the sandwiches were a lot cheap than I remembered, but they were also really weird prices. I think my Toastie was £2.38. It was only as I was at the checkout, I saw a sign stating that they have reduced all their prices because of the Vat cuts; this is the only place I’ve visited that I’ve actually noticed them doing that, or at least advertising it. Unfortunately our toasties spent a little longer in the oven than they should have done as the operative was trying to explain to someone about the half price scheme which they had never heard of. I was tempted to avoid asking them what rock they’ve been living under.
Tea, Coffee and two toasties was £5.18.
Tuesday lunch - tea room attached to hotel in the Lake District
This place was really run by Covid extremists. Signs up everywhere; do this, don’t do that, wear a muzzle. There was no sticker up about Eat Out To Help Out but it was listed on the government website. When we went in I asked the maitre D and she said, yes. Instructions were given to order on “an App” (this was actually a website). There was no discount applied so I approached a waitress who took a manual order (and asked for my phone number which she wrote on her notepad). When we went to pay - they tried to tell us that you only get a discount if you buy on their “App” - which was patently untrue - I took a screenshot of this!
Tuesday - local pub in the Lake District
I really struggled to find anywhere to eat this night so was lucky to have found anything! Everywhere was saying they are full, or will not entertain someone turning up without booking. Not sure if this is because it’s the peak season, or if it was just busy. I did notice that pubs here shut very early (many I called said they don’t take any food orders after 7.45/8pm which is very early and I would say limits the number of customers they can serve). Three courses for two was £29.50 ish.
Wednesday breakfast - Farm shop in Lake District
Nothing really to report. No signage about any discount but it is listed online and I asked the waitress before ordering. Annoyingly this place participates in “shop small” from Amex - however with two breakfasts at £9.95 each (we only ended up paying £9.95 rather than each person’s breakfast being reduced by 50%) I was 5p below the limit - maybe I should have ordered an orange juice too!
Wednesday dinner - Wetherspoon in Kendal (forum meal)
I spent most of the day calling around places and asking if they would take a booking. All were fully booked, so we ended up here. Ordered on the app. All desserts were out of stock except apple crumble. There was a maitre D on the door allocating tables to people and turning those away who could not be accommodated. Lots of people in the pub just having drinks or meeting up with friends. I think every table was full. Most of the chain restaurants were still closed in the town which can’t have helped crowding at the places that are still open.
Food for me (luxury burger, drink and dessert) was around £6.
Week 2
Monday - Pizza Express suburban London
My favourite restaurant so was great to be back! Had a family member staying with us this week so tonight’s meal was for 3. As someone who only drinks soft drinks they have streamlined their drinks menu and all I could drink was a still lemonade - apple juice (my normal favourite) and orange juice are both off the temporary menu. They wanted us to scan a QR code to view the menu but this was too much hassle so I was given a paper menu. Food delicious as always! Had a voucher for £15 off when you spend £45. This voucher was applied before the discount was taken, so the government discount was able to be used to its full extent.
Three courses for three people for just under £23!
Tuesday - Harvester suburban London
Another three course meal for three tonight. I also had a “birthday” voucher which had a long expiry date as it was sent to me when the restaurant was closed, for £10 off a £30 order. Unlike the night before this voucher wasn’t applied until after the government discount.
Three courses for three were just over £25.
Wednesday - Beefeater at a town in the North
We only really went here because it was the only place that had any space for an online booking. It’s a mid sized town with only four chain restaraunts but plenty of pubs, I didn’t fancy calling them all up so restricted the search to places with online bookings. After booking I had an email titled “don’t forget to use your code” with a voucher for £15 off a £30 booking. The email was also emblazoned with stickers for Eat Out To Help Out, but mentioned the code wasn’t valid with any other offer, so was worthless for this meal which I thought was misleading and I hope nobody was caught out by this given most places actively state that their own offers can be combined with the government discount. Beefeater however have extended the government discount and removed the £10 cap - which was just as well as they are so blinking expensive two of the three of us ended up with bigger than £10 discounts.
Meal for three, two courses came to just over £38 (who says things are cheaper up North?!)