A RESTAURANT and hotel group, which owns The Tree Hotel in Cadmore End, has carried out a survey looking into dining habits.

The Tree Hotel Group discovered people are going out to eat about the same amount as they did two years ago.

It showed 35% of respondents said they go out for a meal once a month, a fifth said once a fortnight and a further fifth said they go out once a week on average.

Kavita Pal, managing director of the Tree Hotels says: “The survey also showed that the majority of people usually go to a restaurant with their partner, friends or family.

“Five percent said they usually go out to dine alone and only a fifth of respondents usually go to a restaurant with colleagues which reflects the lower number of business lunches we think is being seen in the industry as a whole, outside of London.”

And a huge 85% said they look for promotions online before booking a table, whether it be a restaurant’s own internal promotions or deals with Groupon or Tastecard.

But at the same time although diners are looking for a good deal- they are not likely to put up with bad service. Over half of respondents said they would let the restaurant know if they were not happy with the food or service, while 64% of respondents said they would not leave even a small tip if they had experienced bad service.

The survey showed that the biggest attraction to a restaurant would be meals that are cheaper on a certain day of the week.

When asked to rate what was important to respondents when going out for a meal, the quality of the food came out as the most important thing.

Closely followed were the price, atmosphere and type of food, with the service and location being slightly less important.

The survey showed that people enjoy eating a wide variety of cuisines. Italian food came out on top, being the favourite of over a fifth of all respondents. Closely followed were Indian, Thai and traditional English food, while Middle Eastern was the least popular, with less than one percent of respondents choosing it as their favourite.

Daily specials also proved to be popular with the survey respondents, with 63% of people interested in specials as they like to think they are particularly fresh, or because it is likely to be a better deal.

Interestingly, sharing dishes was a popular way of eating when out at a restaurant with 65% saying they liked sharing dishes so that they could try more than one thing on the menu.

Kavita said: “Based on the survey we are considering putting more specials and sharing dishes on the menu. If I have learnt anything over the years it is that it is vital to listen to the customer, and that their opinions or what is important to them may change over time.”

For more details of The Tree go to http://www.treehotel.co.uk/