[Warning, this post is a little ranty.]
As you know by now, we're hustling to finalize the latest edition of CheapEats Ottawa and get it ready to go to print.
That means that we're phoning each and every restaurant on the short list to confirm their prices so we can calculate both their Budget rating and "What you can expect to pay."
This is always done at the absolute last minute to make sure we've got the most current prices and are giving you an accurate view of what you can expect to have to fork over for a meal.
I ask all the restaurants "what is the cheapest beverage on your menu?"
Today, I had a restaurant answer:
"... coffee or pop, it's only $2.50"
"...only $2.50" I guess in this Starbucks-ified world $2.50 isn't all that much for a coffee, but in the world of CheapEats where lunch has to be under $10 (including a drink and taxes) it's outrageous!
I understand why many restaurants mark up their drink prices to make up for the tiny margins they are getting on their food. But one or two highly recommended restaurants will not be making it into CheapEats because of their drink prices.
We've considered dropping drink prices out of the equation. You can always drink water. But we think a drink is part of a meal.
Leaving the drink off means that we aren't accurately reflecting how much you will pay, or how cheap the restaurant actually is. Besides, we want our "What you can expect to pay" to reflect what will be on the bill. I.e. how much cash you need in your pocket when you walk in the door.
These details are one of the big things people say they like about CheapEats - our accuracy.
It would certainly make my life easier not to include drink prices, but as a CheapEats user myself, it would piss me off every time I used the book. Especially when I went to a restaurant where the cheapest drink was $2.50. Which with tax & tip adds $3 to my bill. At lunch that's a 25% increase and I'd be pissed!
[Rant off]
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