Well, turns out it’s raining, and since I had just washed my car, I decided for the first time to try the their delivery option, which is Door Dash. I mean, I’ve had pizzas delivered many times of course, but have never tried one of these newfangled restaurant delivery services.
Thing is, this place requires you use a credit card, and I prefer to pay by cash because I hate entering in my credit card online with too many places, but I gotta get with the times I guess.
Bonus: Because it’s my first order, the delivery fee was waived, and I got to choose my tip amount at least, and I put in the instructions to knock and leave it in the entryway. The whole process was stupidly easy and painless. If it works well, I’ll probably do this again, as it does save me the trip, and there’s no waiting in line.
edit: Cool. They even have a google map showing the location of the driver, and he’s en route!
edit: 23 minutes from order time to arrival. Not bad.
You definitely pay for the convenience but it ain’t cheap. The restaurant marks the prices up so they can make money. Then the service and delivery fees are crazy. Then throw a $5 - $10 tip on top of that…
Doordash is prohibitively expensive, yeah. Same with Caviar and UberEats. I wouldn’t use them at all but my creditcard gives me an included “Dashpass” membership, which reduces delivery fees to 0 and their “service fee” to 5%.
Here in NYC Seamless/Grubhub are the way to go because many restaurants maintain their own delivery guys. Those spots charge zero delivery fees, so you just have to tip. Typically I used to tip 10%, but these days 20% or more.
And if you pay in the app, you can use Apple Pay or PayPal so they never get your credit card.
Oh, GrubHub is a less disgusting business than DoorDash and UberEats? I’ll have to look into that. I’ve been thus far avoiding any delivery services because the whole model is so gross. And hey, it’s nice to leave the house even if it’s just driving a mile or two to pick up food.
I just do my own pickup. I like getting out of the house to drive anyway, and with the windows up there is zero change of exposure while driving, I would assume.
I have read that Grubhub is terrible for restaurants in terms of fees.
Also, anecdotally restaurants will have higher menu item prices to cover grubhub’s cut.
This is not good at all.
Doordash is definitely more expensive, but I feel like they are a better deal for the restaurant, as those extra delivery costs mostly go to you.
I almost always look up the restaurant first, and see what delivery method they advertise on their website and use that.
Also, definitely tipping more now, we can afford it, and they deserve it
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I had lots of problems with Grubhub here in San Jose last year. Consistently really late delivery times and often the drivers would just give up and cancel.
So I signed up for Dashpass, which makes DoorDash a not-terrible option. I haven’t had many issues with them, though it does sometimes take an inordinate amount of time to get food, like an hour for a Wendy’s order.
I guess it probably depends on your local area and pool of drivers.
Good breakdown of the different services.
Guy Fieri has a persona that many people love to hate, but the reality is quite different. He has raised a tremendous amount of money for restaurant workers (see article below) and from everything I read people think he is actually a good person.
Can we dislike his sense of style and showmanship, but like what he actually does?
Absolutely. I understand he’s kind of a hotdog and I have always thought he’s sort of goofy. But I definitely support his actions.
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Yeah, I always thought he was a total douche because of his on-screen persona, but have seen him interact with people normally a lot during the lockdown and he seems like a very nice guy who cares greatly about these restaurants and their employees.
I’ve seen him in candid interviews talking about his persona and how he kinds of hates it but he’s “stuck” as it’s become a branding issue. Bob Ross used to complain about his iconic hairdo in a similar fashion.
Grubhub is just as evil if not more so, but they are cheaper.
Around here, at least, they’re also much worse from a service perspective. The order is frequently wrong, frequently takes an hour to arrive etc. Based on some of the discussion here, though, I think it’s just a function of where you are. Door Dash, for us, has vastly more restaurants, vastly more drivers, and (apparently) better quality assurance, so after leaving GrubHub in frustration Door Dash has been our go to - we even sprang for the stupid Dash Pass because it really does meaningfully save us money.
But, again, I think it depends a lot on where you are. Grubhub does have better deals, clearly. I miss the whole “buy $50 in gift carts get $10 free” thing for example. I don’t think Door Dash even has gift cards.
I’ve soured a bit on carryout. We still get it, but I’m paying restaurant prices but I don’t get the restaurant experience. Some kinds of food don’t travel well, either. Mexican is good fresh out of the kitchen but after it’s beens sitting in styrofoam for 20+ minutes it’s lost something.
I feel for the restaurant industry because this really, really sucks for them. Even after things open up I won’t be dining in a restaurant for months – they are too likely to be covid hotspots.
We got takeout and delivery a great deal pre-lockdown, because we don’t actually like the restaurant experience and avoid it when that’s an option, but it’s absolutely true that some things just don’t travel. If it’s supposed to be crisp, or supposed to be a combination of hot/cold, it’s generally not going to do well. There are things you can reheat and things you can’t etc. The only reason we ever set foot in a restaurant (before all this) was to get something that didn’t travel, or was too far away to viably carry out.
As in so many things, being the introverts we are, I feel like my wife and I have been preparing for this lockdown our whole lives. :)
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My personal attitude is that anything fancy-ish, like a plate you’d pay $30-40+ for at a restaurant is not something that’s going to work being delivered. The 20-30 minutes minimum from it being cooked to being at your door just isn’t kind to that sort of food.
But for chicken wings, pizza, gyros, fast food, most pasta dishes, a Chipotle burrito, etc. it’s totally fine.
