Restaurant Portion Sizes

Is is just me, or is anyone else put off by large portions in restaurants?

What triggered this for me most recently was Robin's "Mangia Italiano" review, in which one sentence read, "Main courses are huge. A portion of lasagne...the size of a brick." I love lasagna, but that much of it just sounds gross. I don't want two days' worth of microwaveable leftovers. And, having grown up with parents who literally starved during WWII (my mother's family ate a dog to survive; my dad's family boiled rotton tulip bulbs), I can't bear to see food wasted.

When I eat out, I would far rather enjoy a range of courses that a restaurant has to offer. When I hear "huge portions", my inclination is to avoid that place.

I understand that restaurants must be responsive to customers who perceive large portions as a measure of value, but there are customers who would like the option of half portions - not half-price, just shave a few bucks off. And how about an Italian restaurant that serves traditional courses: antipasto, pasta and main dish - where eating one doesn't ruin your appetite for the rest?

(Sonja now calmly steps off her soapbox.)

I like leftovers (for the most part).

The problem is(as far as most people in this town) there is a percived value issue when most folks go out to eat. They have to feel that they are getting their money's worth. Why do you think that there are so many Asian Buffets and Golden Corral's out there? Look at the Cheesecake Factory. For example, Huge menu, huge portions and people seem to flock there. I would guess that 85% of the dining puplic in this fair city think this way when they choose an option for eating out. Most people that post on this board don't fall in the remaining 15% because it seems most of us have more refined tases and look at dining out as an experience to be savored, not to bring home big sacks of leftovers(Although there is something to be said for that sometimes as well)

I agree with Sonja. I just can't eat that much in a sitting. Nor do I want to. As a result, I usually have a bunch of food left on my plate at the end of many restaurant meals.

The annoying part is that I feel like I have to come up with a response for the well-meaning waitstaff who often ask if there was anything wrong with my meal. My husband who is used to the drill has a standard response for the server -- "she eats like a little bird" Then everyone laughs....but it does get a little old, especially since I eat what should be considered a normal amount of food.

In principle, the concept is to achieve the maximum product value for the most feesible minimum cost to the consumer that still allows the highest possible quality of product, ambience, and staff while still earning a profit.

After that, there's a lot to be said for not ordering a brick of lasagna if it's just too much food for you. That same plate might be perfect for the next person, and who would they be to say that they found it offensive that someone else could NOT finish their plate? If I don't want to order something on the menu for whatever reason, I just won't order it.
Also, if you're at pretty much any decent restaurant and ask for a half portion or to split an entree' with someone else, they will almost always accomodate you.

There are several other tangents that come to mind.....
-Lasagna is generally a reasonably low cost item that is made in bulk, so small portions make less sense than they do cents.
-If you don't want a large portion, don't order it. I mean, I'm not going to complain about someone using 30 gallon trash bags in their home
just because I only use the 10 gallon ones in mine.
-Almost ALL of us had relatives who went hungry at one time or another. Bringing up cooked dog is a pretty weak pariah move...I mean really, if it bugs you that much, get a smaller menu item. It's not that difficult. You may or may not know that a LOT of restaurants donate excess food to homeless shelters, KY Harvest, etc. Good food too. No pets or tulip bulbs.
-I know firsthand that lots and lots and lots of people enjoy feeling that they have received good value for their money and having food to take home with them. Some of them even share it with their loved ones, children, pets, etc.

It seems to me that anyone should be able to eat as much or as little as they choose to on their plate that they payed for. If someone wants to order a brick of lasagna, their dollar is just as hard-earned and valuable as yours or mine.

my $.02

I'm with MarieP. I enjoy the leftovers. When I'm brewing (all the time) I can't leave the brewery to get lunch.

When I went to Cheesecake Factory my pasta dish was easily enough to feed my family of four. It was ludicrous. When I was in Paris recently I noticed how everyone seemed to be eating good food but not getting fat. It didn't take long to see that the reason is that they don't eat huge amounts at one sitting. Even in fancy restauranmts with multi-course menus, each dish is just a bite or two. The emphasis is on eating good, flavorful food, just not a lot of it. They don't deny themselves, fries, red meat, or chocolate, they just don't eat obscene amounts of it. Oh yeah, and there isn't much fast food either . . .

[Robin Garr]

Is is just me, or is anyone else put off by large portions in restaurants?

Very interesting topic! I don't really mind taking portions home, and because of the nature of reviewing, it's hard for me <i>not</i> to ... certainly at any upscale establishment, we'll over-order - apps, salads, main dish, sides, dessert - in order to check out as many dishes as possible. It would be crazy to eat it all, even at places that don't overdo portion size. So we'll take bags and boxes home, put them in the refrigerator, and either eat them eventually or throw them out when they turn black.

I don't see any particular problem with this ... nobody's going to make me eat it all, unless it's an angry proprietor named Mom who stands there, arms folded, and tells me there'll be no dessert unless I clean my plate.

I think huge portions are pretty much traditional at places like the recently reviewed Gallo Rosso and Melillo's, though, just as they were at New Jersey Italian spots and in the Italian-American home cooking that they're based on. Remember, Melillo's claims with pride on its menu cover, "The only problem with eating here is that 3 days later you'll be hungry again."

I do pretty much agree with Ron's observation about dining out in France (and Italy), but would add that people there typically walk a lot more than most Americans do. I'd also note with sadness that fast-food brands are becoming <i>much</i> more commonplace in European cities - maybe not at the same level as in the US, but disturbingly so - and it's not just American tourists who fill them up.

It was funny that I noticed more fastfood restaurants in Paris on this trip. Their version of McDonald's is called Quick Burger. We went in and ordered a burger just to see the difference. They had a Spiderman Burger which was tied in with the release of the movie there. The gimmick was that the cheese was real so it stretched when you took a bite like a spider web. It was your average burger, just with the addition of real, quality cheese. Even when it comes to fastfood, the French can't give up their good cheese! Still, we had one bite and pitched the burger. Too much good food in Paris to waste a meal on a quick burger.

This topic came up at home last evening. I had lunch at Limestone yesterday, and was thinking afterward how *small* the portions were. While the quality is certainly very good, it was funny to get three green beans and three small carrot slivers on a plate with about four ounces of mahi mahi. I was starving by mid-afternoon.

I'm probably preaching to the choir when I bring up that TGIF has started reducing their portions and price. Here's an interesting observation from one of the blogs:

"TGIF’s decision to offer reduced portions for lower prices earlier this year is an interesting move. These “right portion right price” meals which cost less than a third of the regular sized orders. The company is marketing these meals as offering its customers choice, customization and convenience rather than a ‘reduced menu option’, which did not go down well with customers when it was done by Ruby Tuesday’s about three years back."

There are a number of discussion sites at Google: "reduced portion TGIF"

As for me, I sort of like the smaller portions except when I go to a place like Mellilo's where I expect and look forward to lotsa pasta like back home in Jersey. The biggest problem with to-go boxes is when you are staying at a motel and don't have refrigeration.

I can go either way on this. I can't afford to go out to lunch every single day and I get tired of homemade sandwiches pretty quickly, so I love bringing leftovers for lunch, be they from a restaurant or my own cooking. That said, my best dining experiences have definitely been comprised of multiple small courses rather than one gigantic one. I love small plates and tasting menus. I'd rather have a few bites of several really good things than a huge serving of one thing (even if that one thing is really good too).

Leftovers are fine with me.

And really it would be hard to come up with an appropriate size when the diner might be either a 100 pound woman or a 250 pound 6 foot tall man.

Unless restaurants offer size options there's no way to please everyone.

And really it would be hard to come up with an appropriate size when the diner might be either a 100 pound woman or a 250 pound 6 foot tall man.

true, but the problem is that most the portions served are enough to serve a couple 250 pound men and the 100 pound woman together.