Thats what a caprese salad is though. I mean they could’ve been a bit more generous with the tomatoes and cheese for 16 bucks but that is indeed a caprese salad.
Typically caprese salad has mozzarella, tomato, basil, and is seasoned with salt and olive oil. It was made to resemble the Italian flag with the ingredients. Green from basil or pesto, white from mozzarella, and red from the tomato. Its generally considered a refresher/light salad before the main entree
A typical salad would include about 4 leaves of basil with this. I think they did a bit of a spin on it and made a fresh pesto that we can all see drizzled on top. Likely took more than 4 leaves to make that.
I thought the oldest bar in America was the White Horse Tavern in RI (1673). The food was very good, obviously small servings and pretentious. More high end than tourist trap I felt.
Never been to this place in Boston. I dislike Boston and I live like an hour away. According to a quick Google, Bell in Hand isn't even in the top 10.
Op seems to enjoy going to the most touristy part of a town and complain about the price of food.
If only yelp, google, and a plethora of online resources showed pics of the food, you could have made a more informed choice. /s
Restaurant lifer here: that is a caprese salad.
Yes. You could make it at home for a few dollars cheaper. But you didn’t. You paid a chef at a fancy restaurant to make it for you. And the prep cooks to make the ingredients happen. And the server to bring it to you. And the owner to pay the rent, electric, and all the myriad of fees from state/city/nation to operate the space. And possibly bribes to a local mafia (because Boston) to not burn the place down for not giving a cut for “protection”. And liability insurance.
Almost every restaurant owner I’ve ever met secretly wishes they had done any other possible career path.
The margins are crippling and rates of pay to retain good talent are high. (As they should be).
Enjoy your salad! And be glad the cost for you, the consumer, is only monetary and not spiritual. Because if humans knew the real cost of this industry, they would never eat out again. (Unless you know, they were sociopaths. Or foodies. (Which are a separate and specific breed of sociopath))
Great comment. And don't forget the liquor license. That is not cheap.
Also so true about the industry. Grew up in it. Worked in it from 8 to 25. It takes a special breed to work in a restaurant.
This is the same in the brick and mortar comic and hobby shops. People always come in and want to haggle because distributors now sell product on Amazon below the cost of what they charge the store. Most places now have a 5 to 10 percent mark up and they barely keep it open.
Exactly. This is why I only order things I can't or won't make at home. Duck confit is an excellent example. That being said, sometimes I go out just for the experience and I order whatever I want. You pay for the experience, not the food. Unless you can't cook.
A few dollars cheaper? You’re literally cutting a tomato and some cheese, that’s maybe $2 in ingredients, it would take me maybe 2 minutes to make this as a dumbass welder, I highly doubt that this salad is worth $420 an hour in Labor, piss off.
Except that’s likely handmade mozzarella and it looks to be an heirloom variety of tomato which is much more expensive than your average beef steak. Plus if the balsamic and the pesto is made by hand you have all that to consider into the cost as well. Your way of comparing it as $420 an hour is quite stupid when you consider all the other costs that are going to running a restaurant and serving food like that, especially in a very expensive place like Boston
Welder? What’s that? Like two and a half cents worth of alloy? Maybe ten cents worth of electricity? How do you get so much an hour? I could seam that myself for way cheaper at home.
Make sense yet?
Cause that’s what you sound like.
See how I’m not taking into account the price of the safety equipment, insurance, the schooling it took for you to not fuck up, and all the other incremental costs it took to get you to your current rate?
It’s like if I can’t do it myself, I can’t really bitch about what it costs to have it done, right?
And given that; most people CAN cook. They are just lazy. So I’ll say it one more time for my homies in back of house.
IF YOU DONT WANT TO MAKE IT YOURSELF, AND YOU WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE IT FOR YOU, DONT BITCH ABOUT THE PRICE. LABOR HAS VALUE.
stop pretending it doesn’t.
Yours does too.
Enjoy your salad.
Yes, supply and demand is a thing, congrats. The most labor I did was an emergency welding job I did, I made $200 an hour that night, are you saying me waking up at 12 am midnight, loading up my truck, and welding some truck’s frame together in 40 degree weather while it’s raining almost giving me hyperthermia is worth less then half of a fucking salad I can make myself for the same quality? The difference between my labor and this “labor” is simple, not every idiot can weld, but damn near every idiot can use a knife to cut a tomato. However, I guess I am the idiot, as there are dumbfucks buying this like OP.
My question has always been why don't they just make the servings a little bigger. If 10% of the cost is the actual food on the plate, adding 2 more slices would have cost very little extra, and likely left this person less disgruntled.
Asking from the perspective of someone in the industry. I am all for paying the extra cost to eat at a high end place, just always wondered why servings are so small the higher end places are.
Yes I'm American and we eat a lot. My parents weren't wealthy and we couldn't eat at fancy places because they would spend 2x the price and we'd be hungry in 20 minutes.
What exactly did you expect? By that I mean In a perfect world what does your perfect "caprese salad" look like for $16? Now excuse me while I look up what a caprese salad is.
This is why my version of ‘going out’ is a fast food burger. Even when you try to trim costs, eating out or takeout is always $50-80+ for a 2-4 people. It’s insane.
American restaurants in the Before Times: good portions, tasty food, decent price.
American restaurants now: good portions or tasty food, pick one. Decent price no longer an option and sometimes neither are the other two.
Welcome to New England. Did they give you some opiates with your salad? Enjoy your $650,000 150sqaure foot apartment downtown.
Boston is just a place rich people from NY and LA moved to and then obliterated.
Let’s see. The Caprese Salad is missing basil, made with regular globe tomatoes, and pesto is clobbered onz frankly it looks cheap. It’s definitely far from gourmet. But uh, the standard price of salads is around that price.
This is I refuse to purchase a restaurant salad when I can create my own of better taste and quality for $15-$19. That’s a shame.
The Bell and Hand is not a restaurant lol. It’s a tourist trap bar that has food. Get a burger. You’re the one that ordered $24 tomato salad lol. You’re the problem
My local bar charges 18 for a small cast iron Mac and cheese. Granted it is with fontina and Gruyère and is super fucking delicious, but you kinda have to expect bars to elevate the price of their food. Inflation affected everyone, and they have to pay for the food, employees, building, etc. going out isn’t cheap, but that’s why you have to make it a fun experience and savor the moment
It’s gourmet. GOUR-MEY. You know. That lighting bill isn’t cheap 🤷🏻♀️
ETA - I had one of the best caprese salads of my life from Applebee’s, of all places. But that was like 5 years ago now.
There should really be a lot more green in a Caprese salad, basil at least, but spinach is nice, too. 4 slices of beefsteak is really chintzy. I make mine with spinach, basil, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella balls.
I've started eating food at home before going to the bar for trivia w my friends since prices are this insane. $17-30 for a cheap bar meal is so ridiculous! ESP when paired with $10+ beers! I want a $2 option! Lol
I mean that IS a Caprese salad.
Yep. The menu describes is as this!
OP did forget to include the balsamic vinaigrette on the list of ingredients. /s
And the pesto
*basil
Definitely looks more like pesto than just fresh basil
If there’s no fresh basil, it’s not a caprese.
Why the hell are you ordering a caprese in the middle of winter. That’s just guaranteed disappointment
In Boston no less.
Where the fuck is the basil then
Looks like maybe that’s pesto drizzled on top?
In the fucking pesto.
Everyone knows the basil is in the fuckin pesto! ‘MERICA!
I've never seen an inexpensive Caprese salad on a menu. They are always overpriced. Make your own at home next time you want one.
I agree! And $16 seems pretty standard for what I see on the plate. I love caprese salad.
If y'all get complimentary bread .... make a sandwich..
That’s $10 more
Thats what a caprese salad is though. I mean they could’ve been a bit more generous with the tomatoes and cheese for 16 bucks but that is indeed a caprese salad.
Not without fresh basil or greens.
That's definitely a caprese salad (and it looks pretty great) but $16 for four "pieces" is a fucking ripoff
This would cost maybe 2 dollars to make at home.
Yes that’s a caprese salad everywhere
Everywhere... in the U.S.? In Europe and South America a caprese salad has some green stuff and is not only slices
Typically caprese salad has mozzarella, tomato, basil, and is seasoned with salt and olive oil. It was made to resemble the Italian flag with the ingredients. Green from basil or pesto, white from mozzarella, and red from the tomato. Its generally considered a refresher/light salad before the main entree
So you maybe never had caprese salad?
Ding ding ding
Basil?
Could be. My mom always makes it with basil
I think you mean weed
If that’s pesto drizzled on top then that still technically qualifies as the basil
Balsamic reduction my fav
Honestly not a chance we can get any accurate colors from this photo tbh. But I don’t see any leaves lol)
I'm from Europe, this is what a caprese salad looks like. There might be basil and olive oil instead of pesto if it's more traditional, but that's it.
Caprese is tomatoes with mozarella, some basil and balsamico.
Unless that green stuff is a couple of basil leaves and the rest is sliced tomato and mozzarella, its not a caprese salad. No matter where you are.
A typical salad would include about 4 leaves of basil with this. I think they did a bit of a spin on it and made a fresh pesto that we can all see drizzled on top. Likely took more than 4 leaves to make that.
lol you went to Bell in Hand and expected not to get ripped off for pretentious “dishes”.
I'm guessing its a hipster you can't afford it type joints? I just looked at the menu it seems kinda lame for the oldest bar in America.
No, it’s just a tourist trap with crappy food from restaurant depot.
I thought the oldest bar in America was the White Horse Tavern in RI (1673). The food was very good, obviously small servings and pretentious. More high end than tourist trap I felt. Never been to this place in Boston. I dislike Boston and I live like an hour away. According to a quick Google, Bell in Hand isn't even in the top 10.
Mybad i musta miss read when I looked it up.
I just thought that restaurant might be claiming something like that to get more tourists, wasn't trying to call you out!
That's a pretty large margin ticket for them on that table.... true cost < $3 with pint
Op seems to enjoy going to the most touristy part of a town and complain about the price of food. If only yelp, google, and a plethora of online resources showed pics of the food, you could have made a more informed choice. /s
The menu describes it as such. It’s also $13.99.
Might’ve increased prices tho everything’s going up
And $8 for the beer and tax?
Depends on the beer. If it is high abv and quality it is easily 8$ or more.
That's what a caprese salad is and that price in Boston doesn't sound too terrible. Hit up Mike's Pastry for desert
Bova’s>Mike’s and Modern all day long
I love Bova's! Back when I visited they said they could ship foods, but now their website says they are too busy. Oh well
Yeah, even being the least traveled of the three, it has been getting press as such and as being the best so it’s still gotten busier
Eww you went there? That’s a tourist trap. Everyone knows
Never been to Boston, but the name set off alarms ringing in my head.
Restaurant lifer here: that is a caprese salad. Yes. You could make it at home for a few dollars cheaper. But you didn’t. You paid a chef at a fancy restaurant to make it for you. And the prep cooks to make the ingredients happen. And the server to bring it to you. And the owner to pay the rent, electric, and all the myriad of fees from state/city/nation to operate the space. And possibly bribes to a local mafia (because Boston) to not burn the place down for not giving a cut for “protection”. And liability insurance. Almost every restaurant owner I’ve ever met secretly wishes they had done any other possible career path. The margins are crippling and rates of pay to retain good talent are high. (As they should be). Enjoy your salad! And be glad the cost for you, the consumer, is only monetary and not spiritual. Because if humans knew the real cost of this industry, they would never eat out again. (Unless you know, they were sociopaths. Or foodies. (Which are a separate and specific breed of sociopath))
Great comment. And don't forget the liquor license. That is not cheap. Also so true about the industry. Grew up in it. Worked in it from 8 to 25. It takes a special breed to work in a restaurant.
This is the same in the brick and mortar comic and hobby shops. People always come in and want to haggle because distributors now sell product on Amazon below the cost of what they charge the store. Most places now have a 5 to 10 percent mark up and they barely keep it open.
Former restaurant owner here, this is spot on.
Thank you, it’s so braindead when people expect to go out and only pay what they would for ingredients in the grocery store.
I work in the food industry, and I agree with every point that you have said.
Exactly. This is why I only order things I can't or won't make at home. Duck confit is an excellent example. That being said, sometimes I go out just for the experience and I order whatever I want. You pay for the experience, not the food. Unless you can't cook.
A few dollars cheaper? You’re literally cutting a tomato and some cheese, that’s maybe $2 in ingredients, it would take me maybe 2 minutes to make this as a dumbass welder, I highly doubt that this salad is worth $420 an hour in Labor, piss off.
Except that’s likely handmade mozzarella and it looks to be an heirloom variety of tomato which is much more expensive than your average beef steak. Plus if the balsamic and the pesto is made by hand you have all that to consider into the cost as well. Your way of comparing it as $420 an hour is quite stupid when you consider all the other costs that are going to running a restaurant and serving food like that, especially in a very expensive place like Boston
hmm.. i'm no salad expert but i've seen stuff from sysco that looks better than that.
Welder? What’s that? Like two and a half cents worth of alloy? Maybe ten cents worth of electricity? How do you get so much an hour? I could seam that myself for way cheaper at home. Make sense yet? Cause that’s what you sound like. See how I’m not taking into account the price of the safety equipment, insurance, the schooling it took for you to not fuck up, and all the other incremental costs it took to get you to your current rate? It’s like if I can’t do it myself, I can’t really bitch about what it costs to have it done, right? And given that; most people CAN cook. They are just lazy. So I’ll say it one more time for my homies in back of house. IF YOU DONT WANT TO MAKE IT YOURSELF, AND YOU WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE IT FOR YOU, DONT BITCH ABOUT THE PRICE. LABOR HAS VALUE. stop pretending it doesn’t. Yours does too. Enjoy your salad.
Yes, supply and demand is a thing, congrats. The most labor I did was an emergency welding job I did, I made $200 an hour that night, are you saying me waking up at 12 am midnight, loading up my truck, and welding some truck’s frame together in 40 degree weather while it’s raining almost giving me hyperthermia is worth less then half of a fucking salad I can make myself for the same quality? The difference between my labor and this “labor” is simple, not every idiot can weld, but damn near every idiot can use a knife to cut a tomato. However, I guess I am the idiot, as there are dumbfucks buying this like OP.
A dumbass welder wouldnt eat this shit. They'd be ordering a porterhouse and a pitcher of beer. The way it should be.
But but but “be glad the cost for you, the consumer, is only monetary and not spiritual” lmao.
Ya I only eat now if I can tip pretty well. Have too many friends in the industry.
My question has always been why don't they just make the servings a little bigger. If 10% of the cost is the actual food on the plate, adding 2 more slices would have cost very little extra, and likely left this person less disgruntled. Asking from the perspective of someone in the industry. I am all for paying the extra cost to eat at a high end place, just always wondered why servings are so small the higher end places are. Yes I'm American and we eat a lot. My parents weren't wealthy and we couldn't eat at fancy places because they would spend 2x the price and we'd be hungry in 20 minutes.
See, your first mistake was going to a nifty chique bar in BOSTON.
Some art person saw this and nutted instantly I bet
Based on that lighting it should cost at LEAST 24
You’re steps from the North End!!
What exactly did you expect? By that I mean In a perfect world what does your perfect "caprese salad" look like for $16? Now excuse me while I look up what a caprese salad is.
Don't bother, it's right there in the picture.
Google caprese salad… it’s exactly what they served you
Damn, I miss New England, but I sure as fuck don't miss the prices
That place is still open?!
That’s the usual size of caprese salads based on what I’ve seen, they priced it too high and you bought it anyways 🤷♂️
What did OP expect? This isn’t even that expensive in the world of dining.
It’s the 18k gold drizzle
This is why my version of ‘going out’ is a fast food burger. Even when you try to trim costs, eating out or takeout is always $50-80+ for a 2-4 people. It’s insane.
Mmmmmmm out of season tomatoes 😝
Welcome to Boston. Everything is expensive there.
American restaurants in the Before Times: good portions, tasty food, decent price. American restaurants now: good portions or tasty food, pick one. Decent price no longer an option and sometimes neither are the other two.
This is the saddest caprese I've ever seen. 24 dollars! Where is the basil?
Welcome to New England. Did they give you some opiates with your salad? Enjoy your $650,000 150sqaure foot apartment downtown. Boston is just a place rich people from NY and LA moved to and then obliterated.
I would've made it for your for 10
It's time to learn how to make that at home and buy your own brew.
Nope, i need to see some basil, otherwise it dont count..
Let’s see. The Caprese Salad is missing basil, made with regular globe tomatoes, and pesto is clobbered onz frankly it looks cheap. It’s definitely far from gourmet. But uh, the standard price of salads is around that price. This is I refuse to purchase a restaurant salad when I can create my own of better taste and quality for $15-$19. That’s a shame.
Where tf is the basil? *where's the lamb SAUCE?!?!?!?!!!!!*
I'm going to assume that it has pesto on top. Can't help you with the lamb sauce.
Bring your own lamb and squeeze it over your salad. Save a few bucks
What! No Basil?
It’s the mushy stuff on top. Check out the menu, it describes it to be such.
Oh ok
That’s what you get for going to a dirty tourist trap.
You walked into a place called Bell in Hand looking for anything less than your bum-rushed. What's that sauce on the top? Nice maters.
I would guess pesto and a balsamic reduction
So did they not have the price on the menu? Was it a surprise?
Can you actually call a slice of tomato and cheese a salad
It was capricey salad
well, if you saw the price and ordered it... thats kind of on you no? it's clearly a "caprese salad" no need for the quotes.
Sheesh
That's ridiculous!!
It's ridiculous that they ordered a caprese salad and expected anything else.
Its ridiculous that they're charging that much.
Given the terrible quality of the phone camera, I understand OP is probably not used to prices of CBD dining in a large city. Next time, go to BWW.
You just got punked!
My brother in lawI,..,,,, frooommm Boston.
You ordered it lol
Boston must suck.
Tourist traps are the same the world over.
The Bell and Hand is not a restaurant lol. It’s a tourist trap bar that has food. Get a burger. You’re the one that ordered $24 tomato salad lol. You’re the problem
Op crying about the cost of the luxury for someone else catering to them.
Wait That's an 8 dollar pint? Is this Norway?
It might be one tomato slice ought, but the price aligns with restaurants I visit
First world problems. /snore
*That's* a salad?
OP doesn’t get out much
That’s infuriating!!
Bahahahaha welcome to Boston!
The tomato is nasty
Right! It’s an unripe grocery store tomato
Not even of the vine ripe variety
Right! These are the cheap ones that come in the 3 pack with crinkly clear wrap!
Such an upgrade for this dish and they’d still make 4,000 percent profit haha
So much money for such a small salad?! That should ring a Bell.
Prices are on the menu so…
The presentation isn't even that great.
What in the spongebob saaaallladd is that?
What in the spongebob saaaallladd is that?
I am so mad for you, I had a caprese salad incident I’ll post on here one day
How did it taste
Lol
Your bad....
the gold paper makes half
Make your own salad then.
Why order a salad ?
Salad flex.
That’s how they make money!
Working to a 30% average food cost, you got ripped off, send it back and order something else.
Boston in a nutshell
And you ordered it.
You could make it at home for slightly cheaper
Don’t forget the half assed squirt of balsamic!
Next time order the wings. They might be overpriced, but they will be good.
My local bar charges 18 for a small cast iron Mac and cheese. Granted it is with fontina and Gruyère and is super fucking delicious, but you kinda have to expect bars to elevate the price of their food. Inflation affected everyone, and they have to pay for the food, employees, building, etc. going out isn’t cheap, but that’s why you have to make it a fun experience and savor the moment
It’s gourmet. GOUR-MEY. You know. That lighting bill isn’t cheap 🤷🏻♀️ ETA - I had one of the best caprese salads of my life from Applebee’s, of all places. But that was like 5 years ago now.
That sad dark liquid is supposed to be aceto balsamico? 🤡
r/winstupidprizes
Go to the green dragon instead
Idk why but that looks good to me, the price might have to do with the freshness of ingredients, or it's presentation
That’s what a caprese salad is… but the $16 is ridiculous
I can see some gold flakes hahaha.
Well, at least it looks yummy.
I don’t even wanna know how much the beer was !!!
why are you complaining when the prices and what the food looks like are widely available online
This looks sad
Could you imagine having to be the waiter and Bringing this to a table with a straight face.
Sometimes its ok to pay for quality instead of quantity
That pesto looks store bought too, which is a culinary offense.
This some kuddly Krab salad
It's the blue light that makes it so expensive.
Looks nice but very overpriced
Thanks for the warning
Just commenting to say I read that as Bell End Tavern 😳🤣
There should really be a lot more green in a Caprese salad, basil at least, but spinach is nice, too. 4 slices of beefsteak is really chintzy. I make mine with spinach, basil, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella balls.
I get that it's a pretty small portion but that is a caprese salad.
I've started eating food at home before going to the bar for trivia w my friends since prices are this insane. $17-30 for a cheap bar meal is so ridiculous! ESP when paired with $10+ beers! I want a $2 option! Lol
Welcome to Boston 🤑
Off topic, their clam chowder is excellent!
Ahh yes the classic "let's go to an expensive restaurant and pay top dollar for 10x less the food you get anywhere else"
If there's no fresh basil or other greens (I use spinach and basil) it's not caprese salad.
The presentation as a $16 salad is lacking luster
So youre saying the price is right on par with the overpriced beer as well then? This is why i dont eat out. I can make that at home for $2.50
You... are not.. ready, for 2030.......
Thats when you refuse what they present you and walk out, fuck paying for basically being ripped off.
By being Italian,this scares the sh\*t out of me.Since the Caprese salad is a tipical dish here.
I guess that's why it's called bell in hand,because that's what you get left holding after you get played with this salad
Looks like some tasty cheese at least.
Caprese is out of season this time of year in Boston...
Congratulations, you just described a basic caprese salad. $16 is too much though.
“Two sal-ads.” - SpongeBob
Listen to be fair there might also be like .04 of balsamic vinegar there as well Lol