Six Restaurant Ordering Tips That Can Save Money

A restaurant's daily special is often whatever needs to be used up before it spoils, so it pays to be a little cautious, especially with a soup of the day that contains fish or anything described as a 'gumbo.'

A lemon wedge dropped into a drink gets handled by a lot of hands and almost never gets washed before it's cut and served.

Dishes like lobster mac-and-cheese or lobster-stuffed mushrooms often use the cheapest claw meat or an imitation blend rather than the premium meat the price implies.

Chicken costs a restaurant only a few dollars per pound, so a chicken entree priced above $25 is worth a second look, and chefs sometimes overcook chicken to stay on the safe side of food safety.

Restaurants tend to keep main-course prices competitive and make up the difference by marking up appetizers, which have risen in price faster than food costs generally in recent years.

A plate of pasta like fettuccine alfredo often earns a restaurant more profit than a pricier entree like ribeye, since dried pasta is cheap and easy to prepare, an exception being pasta made fresh from scratch on-site.