Can we take a moment to discuss how amazing the Sims 4 Dine Out could be? The potential? Be a manager who runs the restaurant, work as the head chef, host or waiter? Or struggle to do all 3!Oh what could've been!! Now let's take ankther moment to discuss the reality of the Dine Out pack. My Sim is running a restaurant & I've tried everything to turn a decent profit. It's a 5 star restaurant, we have 3 waiters, 1 host & 2 chefs per max. * Often only 2/3 waiters will arrive, despite paying for 3. * The waiters will deliver food to tables & do the animation to place it down, yet nothing appears on the table & no money is given. The waiter then retakes their order & starts again. * The host sometimes idles rather than seating customers* Waiters also idle randomly or will gitch & reset* Customers also occasionally glitch & reset losing the star over their heads. * Customers walk all around the dinning room causing chaos, lag & waiters to idle while waiting for them to move.Because of all this, my 5 star restaurant gets an average of 5-8 customers & makes about $3000 a night but only about $500-800 is PROFIT! Despite having the most expensive foods listed. Currently playing with NO MODS, new save file & a repaired game with mods turned off in game. I'm shocked at the state of Dine Out & that these basic issues haven't been fixed still all these years later 😐😐So what do you think? Does Dine Out need to be improved and completeled finally? In my opinion ESSENTIAL FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS to Dine Out include:* Stop random idling * customers once shown their table, stay seated until leaving* bug fixes including waiter glitching, customer resets, & waiter resets* workers arrive when hired & show up on the lot to work * raises to food prices overall NON ESSENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS TO GAME PLAY* Ability to work as the chef, host, or waiter to save on wages by any active family member teen to elder* improved perks, including larger tips* more realistic pricing * ability to stock own kitchen with home grown & harvested fruits, vege & fish to save on ingredient costs & improve meal prices* customers who line up for the host station rather than scrambling all around the dining room or host area.

I own Dine Out and i don't have much problems, but i have never owned a restaurant. I only play as a customer. Usually my food gets served not quicky but also it doesn't take a very long time. I think it's kind of normal. But i only play with premade restaurants. But i think that they won't go back and fix the issues that people that own restaurants often talk about. They won't. There are big bugs in this game, bugs that are more than annoying, bugs that take away the fun. I think that people that has bought all dlc are plagued with bugs and they don't come back. They fix a dozen of small bugs per month... the game wilk never be fixed. Specially what is so old as Dine Out.

Almost every pack has bugs and glitches in them and they have simply been overlooked or ignored in order to move on to other dlc.one bug in dine out that is most glaring is when you order something to eat, there are times where it's like the order was not even acknowledged and every other sim that comes to dine gets something to eat, half a day can go by before you finally run out of patience and leave, worse still when you go back to try order before you leave, the game recognised you ordered from the menu but the food still isn't coming to the table.that one bug is really annoying. so when i have a sim who made it through the other side of that and learned all the experimental food, i then save the sim for a new save, and then if i need to get another sim to learn the recipes, i have that sim who learned them to cook them at home from the chef station and send the food across to that sim i want to learn. This is just to get around that bug.

I usually only play as a customer - it is much less glitchy in this style of gameplay. The biggest disappointment to me is being unable to be the chef in your own restaurant. :(

I wonder what happened to that survey that simgurufrost posted a couple of years ago, you could list three packs that we wanted to see improved...I listed Dine Out.With some mods I have managed to make Dine Out pretty playable, I have also noticed that how successful your restaurant is depends a lot on how your restaurant is built, I occasionally see the bugs you listed though and my waiters fail constantly at cleaning up the tables. I agree about the profit part, I make barely any money, and I can't have my restaurant open while I am on another lot either, I get no customers and I get a message that says that my restaurant is working at a loss.

I don't really look at whether a restaurant is profitable when I run it, so I can't really comment on that. I mostly play Rags to Riches style and by the time my Sim can afford to build and staff a restaurant, they already have another revenue stream like gardening or painting. But I would recommend not having more than 9-10 tables and there needs to be enough space around the tables. I do have the bug sometimes that one table during a shift just won't get served, no matter what I do, but otherwise they run fine.

Dine Out: Broken pack with lost potential?

43 Replies

texxx78
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
I own Dine Out and i don't have much problems, but i have never owned a restaurant. I only play as a customer. Usually my food gets served not quicky but also it doesn't take a very long time. I think it's kind of normal. But i only play with premade restaurants.

But i think that they won't go back and fix the issues that people that own restaurants often talk about. They won't. There are big bugs in this game, bugs that are more than annoying, bugs that take away the fun. I think that people that has bought all dlc are plagued with bugs and they don't come back. They fix a dozen of small bugs per month... the game wilk never be fixed. Specially what is so old as Dine Out.
Hoverael
5 years ago
Almost every pack has bugs and glitches in them and they have simply been overlooked or ignored in order to move on to other dlc.

one bug in dine out that is most glaring is when you order something to eat, there are times where it's like the order was not even acknowledged and every other sim that comes to dine gets something to eat, half a day can go by before you finally run out of patience and leave, worse still when you go back to try order before you leave, the game recognised you ordered from the menu but the food still isn't coming to the table.

that one bug is really annoying. so when i have a sim who made it through the other side of that and learned all the experimental food, i then save the sim for a new save, and then if i need to get another sim to learn the recipes, i have that sim who learned them to cook them at home from the chef station and send the food across to that sim i want to learn. This is just to get around that bug.
Beckablitz
5 years ago
I usually only play as a customer - it is much less glitchy in this style of gameplay. The biggest disappointment to me is being unable to be the chef in your own restaurant. :(
Raevyness
5 years ago
"Becka28;c-17870337" wrote:
I usually only play as a customer - it is much less glitchy in this style of gameplay. The biggest disappointment to me is being unable to be the chef in your own restaurant. :(

Oh, 100% When I saw the trailer I thought we'd be able to run our own restaurants and be the chef, waiter, host etc Or have our family members (as a family run restaurant) working their with the OPTION of hiring. NOT only being able to hire :( Definitely disappointed the majority of people.

"Hoverael;c-17870331" wrote:
Almost every pack has bugs and glitches in them and they have simply been overlooked or ignored in order to move on to other dlc.

one bug in dine out that is most glaring is when you order something to eat, there are times where it's like the order was not even acknowledged and every other sim that comes to dine gets something to eat, half a day can go by before you finally run out of patience and leave, worse still when you go back to try order before you leave, the game recognised you ordered from the menu but the food still isn't coming to the table.

that one bug is really annoying. so when i have a sim who made it through the other side of that and learned all the experimental food, i then save the sim for a new save, and then if i need to get another sim to learn the recipes, i have that sim who learned them to cook them at home from the chef station and send the food across to that sim i want to learn. This is just to get around that bug.

Yeah I agree! The amount of time customers spend at the Restaurant OR even as a player sim eating at one - it just takes too long to get your meal & eat etc. Same with the customers in a player-run restaurant, one sim can be there 4 hours!! And STILL be eating... Far too long.
"texxx78;c-17870327" wrote:
I own Dine Out and i don't have much problems, but i have never owned a restaurant. I only play as a customer. Usually my food gets served not quicky but also it doesn't take a very long time. I think it's kind of normal. But i only play with premade restaurants.

But i think that they won't go back and fix the issues that people that own restaurants often talk about. They won't. There are big bugs in this game, bugs that are more than annoying, bugs that take away the fun. I think that people that has bought all dlc are plagued with bugs and they don't come back. They fix a dozen of small bugs per month... the game wilk never be fixed. Specially what is so old as Dine Out.

Yup 100% agree! I doubt they will go back and fix the buggy content! At this point I think its push as much content out as possible to bring in the $$$ and forget the old content. I think this game needs a YEAR of bug fixes and content upgrades to existing packs before bringing out more content. But it seems theyre working on the Sims 5 now - so lets PRAY they actually FIX the bugs and issues with the content on TS4 prior to release & continue after release. I think I'll give up on the Sims as a franchise entirely if they manage to ruin the Sims 5.
logionX
Legend
5 years ago
I wonder what happened to that survey that simgurufrost posted a couple of years ago, you could list three packs that we wanted to see improved...I listed Dine Out.

With some mods I have managed to make Dine Out pretty playable, I have also noticed that how successful your restaurant is depends a lot on how your restaurant is built, I occasionally see the bugs you listed though and my waiters fail constantly at cleaning up the tables. I agree about the profit part, I make barely any money, and I can't have my restaurant open while I am on another lot either, I get no customers and I get a message that says that my restaurant is working at a loss.
Netzspannung
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
I don't really look at whether a restaurant is profitable when I run it, so I can't really comment on that. I mostly play Rags to Riches style and by the time my Sim can afford to build and staff a restaurant, they already have another revenue stream like gardening or painting. But I would recommend not having more than 9-10 tables and there needs to be enough space around the tables. I do have the bug sometimes that one table during a shift just won't get served, no matter what I do, but otherwise they run fine.
crocobaura
Legend
5 years ago
I don't have that many issues with Dine Out in my game, I have quite a lot of restaurants and they run fine except one I downloaded that appears to work but my sims never get served in it, so I'm thinking there is some issue with the lot. I rarely play as the manager and would have liked if we could play as a chef at a restaurant. One funny glitch that happened din my game once when playing as a manager, I hired a young lady as a cook but an old man showed up for work instead of her. He had the name of the lady I hired, he even did the trainings I paid for him to do. Eventually I fired him and when I rehired the young lady the right sim showed up for work.
JanuaryGarnet08
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
I quit downloading player built restaurants and it solved a lot of issues for me. Now I either use the restaurants that shipped with the pack or use them as models in terms of spacing and table numbers for my own builds.

A lot of problems occur if there is too much clutter in the space especially decor that takes up floor space, not enough empty tiles around/between tables (you need at least one full tile, two is ideal). Not leaving enough space near the hostess station, sims will bottle neck if it’s too cramped. Over decorating the kitchen and having too many tables also causes routing issues and bottle necks.

There is a limit to how many sims will show up in a restaurant at one time. I think it’s around 12 not including staff so 6-8 tables maximum should do. Mods that increase this limit also foul things up badly because the game mechanics don’t know what to do with all those extra sims. Bathrooms having at least 2 toilets and sinks helps too, but isn’t mandatory.

There is a lot of back and forth floor traffic in restaurants which can cause massive routing issues and simulation lag if your build isn’t designed for it, or you insist on cluttering up floor space with decor or unnecessary tables, or by trying to mod your game in a way that overwhelms the capacity the game was designed to handle.
alanmichael1
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
"Pamtastic72;c-17870518" wrote:
I quit downloading player built restaurants and it solved a lot of issues for me. Now I either use the restaurants that shipped with the pack or use them as models in terms of spacing and table numbers for my own builds.

A lot of problems occur if there is too much clutter in the space especially decor that takes up floor space, not enough empty tiles around/between tables (you need at least one full tile, two is ideal). Not leaving enough space near the hostess station, sims will bottle neck if it’s too cramped. Over decorating the kitchen and having too many tables also causes routing issues and bottle necks.

There is a limit to how many sims will show up in a restaurant at one time. I think it’s around 12 not including staff so 6-8 tables maximum should do. Mods that increase this limit also foul things up badly because the game mechanics don’t know what to do with all those extra sims. Bathrooms having at least 2 toilets and sinks helps too, but isn’t mandatory.

There is a lot of back and forth floor traffic in restaurants which can cause massive routing issues and simulation lag if your build isn’t designed for it, or you insist on cluttering up floor space with decor or unnecessary tables, or by trying to mod your game in a way that overwhelms the capacity the game was designed to handle.

Thank you for this helpful advice!
However no clever design fixes the worst bug: that Sims stop eating after having finished their drinks.
telemwill
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
I really don't have problems with Dine Out. However, I use restaurants as places to go, not as businesses. If you could have your Sim work as a chef, I would give that a try. So I agree, the pack is disappointing in that aspect.

I do sometimes download player built restaurants and have had no problems. But I am careful to pick simple builds and have modified things myself. The latest one was a lovely Japanese themed restaurant. It had an upstairs bar area and apartment which I deleted. I don't want extra stuff like that to entice Sims away from ordering food and eating it. Instead I added extra tables upstairs including an 8 seater for my largest families.

The only problem I've ever had is an EA built restaurant where I never got my food because the waitress kept dropping it. This had happened repeatedly. Finally I deleted her from Manage Households and it solved my problem. She must have had the clumsy trait. So don't hire clumsy Sims!

The only other thing lately the waiters and waitresses don't clear your table, so sometimes I have had to make one of my Sims do it if dessert is wanted. This is fairly recent though.