Restaurant in Saudi charges extra for unfinished meals

[allezfred]

(I still say he's scamming)

Seems kind of stupid to go on TV and talk about it if he is.

[Jenya]

Are doggie bags common in countries other than the US?

When I lived in Albania, I took food home from restaurants all the time. I'm not sure it's a common practice there, but maybe they're used to such requests from Americans.

[PrincessLeppard]

About where I live, how about Buca di Beppo and Maggiano's?

The scary thing is that Buca di Beppo's portion sizes are meant to be shared. And yet people still eat one serving alone.

[Lanie]

The scary thing is that Buca di Beppo's portion sizes are meant to be shared. And yet people still eat one serving alone.

... People eat one serving by themselves there? But... but... how?! I can't stand that place, but, jeez...

[FigureSpins]

About where I live, how about Buca di Beppo and Maggiano's?

The scary thing is that Buca di Beppo's portion sizes are meant to be shared. And yet people still eat one serving alone.

Maggiano's near us advertises that the eat-in dinner includes a second take-home MEAL!

Yet, some restaurants won't allow 2 people to share a meal at the table without paying a "extra plate" charge.

We always joke that my BIL loves to try everything at a restaurant, especially if he's never had a certain dish. We've all been trained to get an extra plate from the server and then we pass it, adding an offering from our meal to "The Fork of Mooch Plate." Can you tell that we love him?

[nubka]

I could never eat all the food on my plate. It's why my husband and I share a lot when we go out, it's just too much food!

I think it's rather ridiculous.

We do that, too. It saves money, and we never end up over-eating!

[Prancer]

That's not going to go far with the widespread obesity and the current efforts to fight it.

The first thing I thought of when I read that this was a Saudi restaurant was this article: The Richest, Fattest Nation on Earth (It's Not the United States)

The article is specifically about Qatar, but it also talks about obesity in the Middle East and the genetic predisposition to diabetes that many in Middle Eastern countries suffer.

Encouraging people to save themselves a fee by cleaning their plates seems pretty counterproductive to me. Even if the man does donate the money to help starving people in Africa, the people who eat in his restaurant are at high risk for diabetes and obesity. I don't see how this can be seen as a good thing for his own people.

[maatTheViking]

Doggie bags are not common in Denmark; however the portions are not that big.

I am wondering if the restaurant is a style where you serve lots of plates, sides etc, so they just don't want people to over order? But strange, yeah.

[Japanfan]

I agree that it's quite a ridiculous idea. I almost always take half my meal home if I order a regular large portion. And, restaurants can offer smaller portions if they don't want to throw food out or have to give take-away boxes. Though, tapas restaurants have made a fortune on that concept and are hugely overpriced in my estimation.

Or, you could pay less for less food, and give a donation to the restaurants' charity of choice.

However, food cultures are different. It may be the case in Saudi Arabia that wealthy people buy a lot of food they don't intend to eat just as a show of status. Giving to charity could be see as a way to balance that - though if it just makes people overeat, nothing will have been gained.