1 in 5 eat out weekly

Leading online restaurant booking platform OpenTable has found that one in five Irish diners enjoy eating out at least once a week.

OpenTable’s online poll of 354 Irish adults aged over 18 (82% female 18% male) found that Italian is Ireland’s favourite food with almost a third (31%) saying it’s their cuisine of choice when dining out. This was followed by traditional Irish fare (16%) and Thai food (15%). Chinese food scored 13% and Indian 8%.

Unsurprisingly the weekend witnesses the majority (40%) of Irish diners choosing to go out to eat although 15% say they prefer to dine out during the week.

One in five stating that going out for dinner is their preferred type of date night with their partner.

 

Spending habits and tipping culture

When it comes to spending on dining out, the average amount reported by those surveyed is between €50-€100 per restaurant meal (47%) while 43% say they try to keep their spending under the €50-mark. However over half admit they’d be more likely to spend more if they were dining out on the company tab!

The company’s dining research reveals that 40% of people usually tip 10% at the end of a meal and only a third said their tip was determined by the level of service in the restaurant. While tipping 20% may be more common in countries such as the US, only 5% of people polled say they’d leave that level of gratuity on their bill.

 

 

The talk of the table

Family life is the hot topic around the dining table on a night out according to 45% of respondents, while 13% admitted to discussing work when dining out. They say you should never talk about money and it seems that Irish people agree, with none of those questioned saying they’d talk money over a meal.

 

 

Restaurant reviews and recommendations

Selecting the perfect restaurant can be a tricky task. 41% of people surveyed said they usually turn to a friend or a colleague for a recommendation while 16% say they base their choices on restaurant reviews.

The location of a restaurant May be an important factor to diners (20%), but it seems that the quality of the food trumps this with 71% of respondents admitting they’d be happy to travel to go to a good restaurant.