Are Classy Restaurants Lowering Dress Code Standards in Your Area?

[Gregg Axley]

Agree. Great observation. Codes establish mood.
Well put.

I have to agree here as well.
High prices don't make a nice restaurant.
You also need great service, quality food, and established codes that maintain the ambience.
Going to a Perkins restaurant dressed up doesn't make it a nice place.
Neither does going to a trendy restaurant with inflated prices, flip flops or not.
Ruth's Chris, Flemings Steak House, Houston's, and one near me Folk's Folly, are nice places.
You don't go into Houston's wearing a ball cap, or they will ask you to remove it.
If you don't, they will ask you to leave.
McDonalds, Hardees, IHOP, and even Outback will allow you to come in as you got out of bed.
I've noticed J. Alexander's allows some sort of casual, since it's near a mall.
My point being, many restaurants allow casual because they feel "if you want to spend $50-75 dollars for a meal in your shorts and flip flops, who are they to turn you down?"
Try that at Texas De Brazil, they'd love to have you spend $125 for 2, no matter what you're wearing.
But nice restaurants are still out there, for a date night, celebration of wedding anniversary, birthday party, etc, where ambience makes it special because of the dress code, or certain standards they require.

 

[scottyrocks]

Restaurants, and most similar establishments, will adopt whatever dress codes that will result in a workable clientele. Places that have true dress codes that they are able to enforce, have the clientele to keep them in business, otherwise there would not be either a dress code, or the restaurant.

Re Gregg's post above, fast-food places are the most likely to cater to the lowest common denominator. From there it's all uphill, from diners to chain 'family' restaurants such as TGIFridays, etc, to private restaurants, to 'exclusive' restaurants. As you move up this list, the clientele generally dresses a little bit better.

If most people that go out to eat want to wear some variation of tanktops/tee-shirts/jeans/shorts/sandals/ballcaps, then the majority of restaurants will be accepting of those items.

If a restaurant chooses to enforce a jacket and tie dress code, it needs to have enough people who dine there regularly to be profitable and stay in business. That way, they can turn under-dressed people away without fear of losing, at the very least, minimum operating capital.

 

[gear-guy]

This has been an interesting thread to read. It's funny to think that if you choose to dress up now days you are considered strange in some ways because no one else is dressing up. Case in point, I attend a large church and always wear a sport coat, dress slacks ect. No tie but I am always being asked why am I dressed up, " am I going somewhere later!" Another example, my wife and I went to an upscale restaurant last month and we were dressed to the nines. Our waiter complimented us and then asked why we were dressed this.

I choose to dress nice just because I feel that it is appropriate, but if another doesn't I try not to judge. OK that's a lie I hate it. When dressing like a slob, you feel like a slob, dress for success!!!!!!!!!!! and you will feel better about yourself.

 

[Edward]

Restaurants, and most similar establishments, will adopt whatever dress codes that will result in a workable clientele. Places that have true dress codes that they are able to enforce, have the clientele to keep them in business, otherwise there would not be either a dress code, or the restaurant.

Re Gregg's post above, fast-food places are the most likely to cater to the lowest common denominator. From there it's all uphill, from diners to chain 'family' restaurants such as TGIFridays, etc, to private restaurants, to 'exclusive' restaurants. As you move up this list, the clientele generally dresses a little bit better.

If most people that go out to eat want to wear some variation of tanktops/tee-shirts/jeans/shorts/sandals/ballcaps, then the majority of restaurants will be accepting of those items.

If a restaurant chooses to enforce a jacket and tie dress code, it needs to have enough people who dine there regularly to be profitable and stay in business. That way, they can turn under-dressed people away without fear of losing, at the very least, minimum operating capital.

That's the size of it: market dictates. Yay capitalism! The places that one tends to see nowadays which maintain the sort of dresscode that most of us would prefer tend to do so in order to maintain a notion of exclusivity, to keep out 'certain types', et cetera. Basic marketing, and again we're back to the money...

 

[Gregg Axley]

Great post Gear-Guy.
In my city, there are enough people to keep a high standard restaurant in business.
Doctors, Lawyers, Drug Reps, CEO's, etc.
I've seen a Doctor (that I know) go into Flemings Steak House dressed in jeans and a sweater, but his wife and kids are dressed up.
Plus he's slapping down $250+ for a meal, they'll let him come in for that.
While the steak was good, I do better with prime steak from Costco, cooked over half wood/half charcoal.
I guess I could require my wife to dress up, I mean I do have a nice den with wood on the walls, a fireplace, and nice furniture.
Then again, it's wood paneling, and orange carpet from the 80's. Maybe we'll just stay casual.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the size of it: market dictates. Yay capitalism! The places that one tends to see nowadays which maintain the sort of dresscode that most of us would prefer tend to do so in order to maintain a notion of exclusivity, to keep out 'certain types', et cetera. Basic marketing, and again we're back to the money...

I've got no interest in ever eating in the kind of restaurant frequented by the kind of people who'd want to keep people like me out. If I want that kind of atmosphere, I can go down to the shore at low tide and take a deep breath.

 

[Edward]

I've got no interest in ever eating in the kind of restaurant frequented by the kind of people who'd want to keep people like me out. If I want that kind of atmosphere, I can go down to the shore at low tide and take a deep breath.

The late Michael Winner was once banned from a restaurant to which he had given a poor review. His response was simply:

"It's like being banned from the ladies' toilets in Manchester railway station. I had no intention of gonig there either."

lol

 

[HudsonHawk]

Great post Gear-Guy.
In my city, there are enough people to keep a high standard restaurant in business.
Doctors, Lawyers, Drug Reps, CEO's, etc.
I've seen a Doctor (that I know) go into Flemings Steak House dressed in jeans and a sweater, but his wife and kids are dressed up.
Plus he's slapping down $250+ for a meal, they'll let him come in for that.
While the steak was good, I do better with prime steak from Costco, cooked over half wood/half charcoal.
I guess I could require my wife to dress up, I mean I do have a nice den with wood on the walls, a fireplace, and nice furniture.
Then again, it's wood paneling, and orange carpet from the 80's. Maybe we'll just stay casual.

You could have your wife dress up, you dress like your friend and play "doctor"...

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've got no interest in ever eating in the kind of restaurant frequented by the kind of people who'd want to keep people like me out. If I want that kind of atmosphere, I can go down to the shore at low tide and take a deep breath.

I could not imagine anyone who would want to keep you out of their restaurant. Unless you were wearing flip flops.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I could not imagine anyone who would want to keep you out of their restaurant. Unless you were wearing flip flops.

Once they got wise I was there to unionize the kitchen staff, they'd give me the bum's rush pretty quick.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

This whole thread reminds me of seeing a bunch of kids in Tuxes and dresses for Prom eating beside a bunch of us low lifes who were just going out for Dinner on Saturday night after shopping all day. Not a great restaurant, but not a great comparison either. I sort of felt bad for the kids, at least SOMEONE was dressed up. It wasn't a place I felt that I was under dressed for either.

Later