Going Out To Dinner? Order Lunch

I've got some relatives visiting from out of town, and we went to Red Lobster last night.

When they ordered, they ordered the fried flounder...from the lunch menu. And the waitress thought nothing of it.

If you've never been to a sit down restaurant (as opposed to a fast food restaurant) they typically have a lunch menu, which is the same as their dinner menu except the portions are smaller and the price is smaller also.

It never occurred to me that once 1 pm or whatever time rolled around that I consider the end of lunch time, you could continue to order from the lunch menu at a restaurant.

For example, at Red Lobster, if you order the Maple Chicken (which is all I ever get because I don't like seafood and their steak is too expensive) for lunch, you get one chicken breast. But you get everything else - the salad, the choice of rice or potato, the unlimited Cheddar Bay Biscuits (mm mm good!)

If you order it for dinner, you get two chicken breasts, and you pay a few dollars more for it.

Now, for me, that isn't a problem. I eat one chicken breast, and I take the other one home and have it for lunch the next day.

But if you're not in to eating left overs (and that's a mistake, believe me. Leftovers can often taste better than they did the night before, as all the juices and flavors have had time to marinate together) then try ordering your dinner off the lunch menu.

As long as you're at a restaurant that actually does have a lunch menu, you should be fine. Just ask.