$43 For 3 Burritos And Pretty Much Everything About The Experience Stunk

How to pick and choose where you go to eat and drink

The cost of dining and drinking out in Los Angeles has gotten so expensive my girlfriend and I rarely do it anymore.

You might be in the same or a similar boat?

I have had a lot to say about this recently. And, judging by the response I received on Medium, the sentiment — sadly — resonates.

Sadly, because I absolutely love going out to eat and drink. However, after spending an inordinate amount of money ($671) going out in June, I asked myself a question, then answered it:

… what in the hell are we wasting our money on?

Going through the motions of going out to restaurants and bars only to be charged an amount of money that absolutely is commensurate with the costs restaurants and bars incur to do business, but absolutely is not commensurate with the quality, value and overall experience they provide.

I might as well have just burned 70% of that $671 and spent the other $201.30 at food trucks, happy hours and on the occasional splurge at a restaurant where we know what we’re going to get.

While our previous discussions on this going concern revolve around what I usually write about — personal finance — today’s takes a different approach.

Prior to the pandemic, I took a hiatus from full-time writing to work in the hospitality industry. I have always had a thing for receiving and witnessing good, genuine hospitality. As it turns out, I was pretty good at providing it.

So let’s focus on solutions to the problem. Ways to pick and choose where you go to eat and drink, not only to save money, but to feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. This goes beyond food trucks, happy hours and restaurants where you know what you’re going to get.

Find passionate people. For a whole host of reasons, it almost begins and ends with this.

Charlie Brown, who edits this publication — Rooted — partially inspired this one.

In her recent articles about wine, she has talked about buying wine from wine shops and not taking wine too seriously:

“You’re not like a normal Sommelier are you?”

So said one of my customers once as I’d ripped off the foil capsule, quickly pulled out the cork and once I’d tried a splash to assess for faults, splashed out the wine into their glass.

No. I wasn’t because, like many of my trade when they’re not on the clock, I didn’t give a fig about wine etiquette.

The difference was, I didn’t give a fig about it in front of my customers. Some of whom were rather taken aback that I didn’t pour with one hand behind my back or do some sort of fancy bottle opening. That’s what they had come to expect.

If I’m reading her right, we can extrapolate Charlie’s points about wine to the broader hospitality industry.

Find places where the owner is always there. But not just any owner. Not the owner who sits at the end of the bar getting drunk and hitting on guests. Not the owner who spends their time micromanaging and berating employees.

Instead, bar and restaurant owners with visions, who are actively realizing their visions.

The last bar I worked at in Los Angeles has two co-owners who always wanted to open their own bar. But it wasn’t just the stereotypical and directionless I want to open my own bar daydream. They knew exactly what they wanted and they built that vision out flawlessly.

They wanted — in their words — a place where it felt like you were sitting in someone’s living room. And that’s what they created.

No more than a few days would pass without a guest saying to me —

You know what I love about this place. It feels like you’re sitting in someone’s living room.

This always blew my mind.

At the same time as being casual, the place managed to keep something of an upscale feel.

No sports on the television. No televisions at all, in fact. They won’t make Long Island Iced Teas.

I always call it a dive bar meets craft cocktail bar.

These owners who are always there routinely go to tables to talk to guests. It’s common for one of these guys in particular to excitedly walk up to a table and sit down at it, asking how things are and going on about the history of a drink or the bar itself. Telling some or another entertaining story.

And, the thing is, it doesn’t feel creepy, weird, imposing or otherwise out of place. The vibe screams genuine hospitality. It almost makes you expect it. Just as Charlie opening the bottle of wine without somm finesse probably didn’t seem off.

Look for hospitality pros like this.

People who take their jobs, but not themselves too seriously. People who appreciate and know the food and drink they serve, but don’t pretentiously act as if it’s changing the world or elevating culture.

Find places that do what they’re passionate about. We just covered a lot of this, but there’s an important addendum that deserves its own section.

Here in LA, opportunistic business owners likely outnumber passionate ones. The only thing the opportunistic ones are passionate about is making money. Often fast money at the expense of your experience.

They see that craft cocktails go for $14 to $18 or even more. So they put them on their menu or, worse yet, open a “craft cocktail bar.” Except they don’t know how to do craft cocktails — and they don’t hire somebody who does — so the drinks are horrible.

I can’t tell you how many fried and/or hot chicken places have opened here in recent years. Same with coffee shops. And 9-point-9 out of 10 are absolutely terrible. They try to copy what they see working, but they have no idea why it works in the first place.

No vision. No genuine passion. Stay away.

Do your research. Read about who owns a place and why they opened it. Do a quick walk through. Talk to people.

Seems like a lot of work — and it absolutely is — but we research other stuff that costs $25, $50, $100 or more like crazy before we buy it.

Why shouldn’t we do the same with food and drink — with hospitality?

If we don’t do our due diligence, we’ll just continue to waste our money at the same places that continue to under-deliver. Being underwhelming will become the norm — if it hasn’t already.

Find places that hire professional bartenders and servers. The place where we spent $43 on 3 burritos used to be good. But now — and this is increasingly the case — you can just feel it in the air that the people who work there just don’t care.

They’re not welcoming. They get your order wrong (we actually ordered two burritos and one quesadilla). And the food they put out is sloppy. It would not have made it to the table at most places where I have worked.

Now, I can’t say I blame them. Working in restaurants, especially in a big city such as Los Angeles, isn’t easy.

When I managed the aforementioned bar, I discovered quickly just how tough it is to get people to care. Then, I asked, why should they? Even working for two great owners, it was difficult to get people motivated. They had a job at the place. They didn’t view it as anything close to a career.

Luckily, these instances were few and far between at that bar, largely because we hired professionals. Particularly behind the bar. We hired — for the most part — career bartenders. And, to some extent, servers.

Just like the wine shop owner or sommelier knows their stuff, the same can apply to bartenders and servers. They know and respect their crafts. And they know, understand and practice the difference between service and hospitality.

Believe it or not, you can make good money in both professions — if you treat it like a profession.

It’s about finding a place and people who still want to give guests an experience.

There’s a pizza parlor in my neighborhood. The old owner recently sold. This guy was a character. His mere presence screamed good experience. He spent most of his time on the floor interacting with guests. He’s gone and the place just doesn’t feel the same.

The prices were expensive when he was there. But I minded considerably less. Because I know how expensive it is to have a restaurant in Los Angeles. In America for that matter. Overhead is high. Margins are tight.

However, this is no excuse for treating people like cattle.

If you give people an experience they’ll remember — and one you’re genuinely excited to give — you can probably lower your prices and more than make up for lost revenue through volume.

Because word of mouth spreads fast. Especially so in this environment of dwindling worth your time, worth your money, worthwhile options.

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