The Overpriced Menu Item You Should Avoid Ordering From Restaurants

Eating out isn't cheap — especially these days. The cost of food is constantly on the rise, and restaurants have raised their prices in turn. You can't blame them — restaurant margins are notoriously thin — but it does make eating out on the regular a bit harder to justify. So, when it is time for you to enjoy a meal at a restaurant, you'd better be sure you don't waste the opportunity by ordering something overpriced and dull like a simple sandwich.

I honestly just don't get it. Who goes out to eat and orders something like a basic sandwich? Sure, it might be delicious, but it's wild to pay $12 for a roast beef sandwich that you could make at home in under 10 minutes — even including the horseradish "aioli" that's actually just mayonnaise. (Not to mention that with the rising cost of sandwiches, $12 is cheap for a lot of places.)

Now, I'm one of those "chronically online" types, so I know the first argument that'll be thrown back at me is that buying all of the ingredients to make yourself a sandwich at home costs more than just buying one out. Sure, but you already know that's a weak argument. The ingredients might cost more, but you'll get half a dozen sandwiches out of it instead of just one. And if you really can't stand eating the same meal six times, a few extra ingredients can really upgrade a sandwich. There are, however, a few instances when I might order a sandwich out.

For me, the value of food at a restaurant comes down to two things: effort and skill. If I know how to make a dish and it's not all that much work, I'll never order it at a restaurant. It will undoubtedly taste better made in my own kitchen to my own preferences. On the other hand, anything on the menu that I don't know how to make, or that I know would take all day, well, that's a value for me. 

For example, deep frying is kind of a pain, so I have no qualms about ordering myself a bocadillo de calamares (a Spanish fried squid sandwich). Who wants to clean and fry squid at home? Better to have that with a draft beer anyway. Or take something like an Italian beef sandwich, which is both labor-intensive and requires a bit of craft and experience to get right. That's another one that is definitely safe to order out, though we do have a cheater's Italian beef recipe for home cooks.

But when we're talking about something like a grilled cheese or tuna salad sandwich, I'll never order that out. Sure, lots of folks say that restaurant tuna salad is better than homemade, but I'd argue that they just need to spend a little more time in the kitchen.

All of that said, you do you, dear reader. It's your money. But personally, I'd rather spend a couple of minutes in the kitchen than shell out for a plain sandwich.