Eating Out and Saving Money

As many of you know, Bo's work situation (and all the employees of Jefferson County for that matter) is very precarious at this time. We've been trying to eat out less frequently and when we do eat out we try to do it less expensively.

There are good 'buy one get one free' coupons in the paper/mail every so often for Ruby Tuesdays. And, we've noticed places like Logan's and Applebees have started doing 2 meals for a certain price (usually smaller portions but still plenty for dinner).

Last night we went to Johnny Carino's. They have these family dinners that you can get where they bring out a big bowl of a selected item. This will easily feed 3-4 people. You also get salads with it. We noticed last night that on Monday nights, these family dinners are HALF PRICE! This is a great deal. A family of 3-4 could eat for under $20 (unless you buy expensive beverages, appetizers, etc.).

Just wanted to pass along this info!

Stricter Standards or Laxer Procedures?

I've been amazed the last few months over the ratings I've seen posted for various restaurants. One that we used to like to go to has had an 82 for several months! We first saw it listed in our local paper that publishes restaurant ratings once a week.

A few weeks later I was looking for something online and I came across the Jefferson County restaurant inspection site (http://www.jcdh.org/EH/FnL/FnL03.aspx). I noticed tonite that it only lists the most recent ones that have been inspected. Take a look and see if any of your favorites are on this list. fyi -- for anyone who like's Mc Donalds (which we don't really care for), one not far from us has a score in the 80s I saw tonite!

I stopped by Subway on my way home to pick up sandwiches and noticed that they had a rating of 87. Is it my imagination or does it seem like scores are lower than they used to be?

My question is: are the standards becoming stricter or are the restaurant owners, managers, and workers becoming more lax in their following of proper procedures? What do you think?