It doesn't really matter to me what we spend at "sit-down" restaurants.  All in all, the cost is all relative to what you're getting.  However, if I try and extend that rational to fast food, I really don't expect to pay that much, especially at a burger joint.
 
Take for instance, today we went to Dairy Queen.  I left the house with $23 for food and ice cream, thinking that surely that was enough.  Wow, was I wrong.  Here's what we ordered:

• Me: Mushroom and Swiss double burger, Large onion rings, small drink
• My Wife: Chili-n-Cheese Dog, Reg. Fries, small drink
• Both kids: Chicken Strip Kids' Meals.

This came out to almost $19!!!  Come on.  The price of soft-drinks is getting so crazy, we always choose small drinks.  Well, I guess they caught on, because they charge the hell out of those now.  The worst is Hardee's...but lest I digress.  This left me with just a little over $4 for ice cream.  The kids each got a "token" in their kids' meals for either a small cone, an ice cream sandwich, a dilly bar, or $.39 off a blizzard.  Well, of course our kids wouldn't opt for the entirely free route with each of them wanting a blizzard.  Rohan was putting up a good fight, not wanting to eat his chicken, so I got Allie's blizzard long before he was ready for his.  Good thing I went up to the counter only wanting one.  Even with the token, the total came to $2.46.  That left me with a little over a buck and half for Rohan.  SOOOO....I had to go home and grab some more money and come back, because an almost four-year-old would not have grasped the hopelessness of my situation, and would have been way less than agreeable about the whole thing.  Needless to say, the whole thing sucked rocks.  To think: that if Emily and I had wanted any "Royal Treats" (I'll say they're for royalty) and maybe large drinks, we would have spent almost $30.  For Dairy Queen...I don't think so.