General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: There's A Masive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About To Burst [View all]Retrograde
(10,133 posts)I have the time, inclination, and ability to cook for myself and Mr. Retrograde, so I do that most days. I do like to go out for a nice sit-down dinner occasionally, but it's becoming less and less frequent (and Bay Area traffic isn't helping any). We do go out for lunch a couple of times a week, which is smaller and less formal.
Another factor: as people age and start having families and other commitments on their time, fine dining becomes more of a time sink. I think the restaurants that will have a better chance of surviving are the mid-range "family style" places (too many of them chains - in my area there are a lot of Mexican/assorted Asian places that fill a similar niche) where the food and service may not be as high-level but children are tolerated and the price/portion ration is good.