I Didn’t Eat at Expensive Restaurants in Spanish | Say It

You can say “No comí en restaurantes caros” to mean you didn’t eat at pricey restaurants.

You’re trying to say one simple thing: you skipped the pricey places. Spanish can say that cleanly, and it can say it with the exact shade you mean—one meal, a whole trip, a habit, or a choice you made once and stuck to.

This page gives you natural translations, the grammar behind them, and the small choices that make your sentence sound like something a real person would say.

What You Probably Mean In English

English “I didn’t eat at expensive restaurants” can point to a few different ideas. Spanish picks a different tense depending on which one you mean.

• One finished period: a trip, a weekend, a month, a visit.
• A repeated habit in the past: you tended to avoid pricey restaurants.
• A past stretch in progress: you were staying somewhere and, during that time, you weren’t eating at pricey restaurants.
• A period connected to now: “this week,” “today,” “so far this year.”

If you choose the tense first, the rest falls into place.

I Didn’t Eat at Expensive Restaurants in Spanish: Natural Translations

The most common, plain version is:

No comí en restaurantes caros.

That uses the simple past (pretérito indefinido / pretérito perfecto simple). It fits a finished time, like a trip that’s over: “On my trip, I didn’t eat at pricey restaurants.”

Two Details That Make It Sound Natural

Use “en” with places. Spanish often uses en with “eat” + a location: comer en un restaurante. You’ll hear comer en casa, comer en un bar, comer en ese sitio.

Pick the adjective that matches your vibe.Caro is the daily choice for “expensive,” and the RAE defines it as something with a high price or that makes you pay a high price for services. RAE “caro” (DLE) is a handy reference if you want a dictionary-backed meaning.

Restaurant Word Choice

Restaurante is standard Spanish. If you want a quick authority check on spelling and use, the RAE’s doubts dictionary has an entry for it. RAE “restaurante” (DPD) lays out the preferred form.

Pick The Tense That Matches The Time Frame

Spanish past tenses do a lot of the meaning work. Here are the ones you’ll actually use for this sentence, with the “feel” of each one in plain terms.

Finished Trip Or Period

No comí en restaurantes caros. This fits a completed block of time. Think: “last weekend,” “in 2022,” “during my stay.”

You can tighten the meaning with a time marker:

• En Barcelona, no comí en restaurantes caros.
• Durante el viaje, no comí en restaurantes caros.

Time Period That Touches The Present

If the time period is still “open” in your mind, Spanish often uses the present perfect:

No he comido en restaurantes caros.

That can match “today,” “this week,” “so far.” If you want a deeper read on how Spanish frames these past tenses in teaching materials, this Instituto Cervantes paper is a solid reference. Centro Virtual Cervantes on past tenses walks through the contrast in detail.

Habit In The Past

If you mean “I used to avoid expensive restaurants,” you can express that habit with soler or with the imperfect.

• No solía comer en restaurantes caros. (habitual avoidance)
• No comía en restaurantes caros. (ongoing past pattern)

These forms sound natural when you’re talking about a longer phase of life, not one short trip.

Not Eating Out For A Specific Meal

If your English sentence is mainly about dinners, Spanish can switch verbs. Cenar is “to have dinner,” and it can sound more precise in a travel story.

No cené en restaurantes caros.

Now that you’ve seen the main building blocks, the next section gives you ready-to-use variants you can copy, tweak, and drop into a conversation.

Translation Options And Nuance Table

Use this table to choose the version that matches what you mean, without second-guessing your tense or vocabulary.

Spanish Sentence	When It Fits	Notes
No comí en restaurantes caros.	Finished trip or period	Most direct, most common.
No comí en restaurantes costosos.	Finished period, slightly formal tone	Costoso can feel more “written.”
No cené en restaurantes caros.	Dinners, one trip or event	Good when your story is meal-specific.
No he comido en restaurantes caros.	Time frame still open	Fits “today/this week/so far.”
No comía en restaurantes caros.	Ongoing past pattern	Often paired with a time span: cuando vivía allí…
No solía comer en restaurantes caros.	Habit you had	Strong “used to” meaning.
En ese viaje, no comí en sitios caros.	Casual phrasing	Sitios is broad: restaurants, cafés, places.
No comí en restaurantes caros; preferí cocinar.	You want a reason	Adds a simple follow-up choice.

Small Grammar Points That People Trip Over

These are the tiny parts that change how natural your sentence sounds.

Where “No” Goes

In simple statements, no goes right before the conjugated verb: No comí, No he comido, No solía comer. If you add pronouns, the same rule holds: No lo comí.

“Caros” Agreement

Restaurantes is plural, so the adjective goes plural too: caros. If you switch to singular, it changes:

• No comí en un restaurante caro.
• No cené en ese restaurante caro.

“Caro” Before Or After The Noun

Most of the time, caro comes after the noun when you mean “expensive”: restaurantes caros. Spanish does allow adjectives before the noun, yet that placement often shifts the feel. The RAE’s grammar section on adjective position gives the general rule-of-thumb with examples. RAE grammar on adjective position is the reference I point to when I want a formal explanation.

When “Comer Fuera” Fits Better

If your real meaning is “I didn’t eat out at expensive places,” Spanish often uses comer fuera:

No comí fuera en sitios caros.

This can sound more casual and spoken, and it reduces repetition if you’ve already said restaurante a few times in a paragraph.

Make It Sound Like Something You’d Say Out Loud

Once you have a correct base sentence, small add-ons make it feel real: a reason, a trade-off, or a single detail.

Add A Reason Without Overwriting The Sentence

• No comí en restaurantes caros porque estaba ahorrando. (saving money)
• No comí en restaurantes caros porque preferí probar mercados. (you chose markets)
• No comí en restaurantes caros; cociné casi todos los días. (you cooked most days)

Spanish listeners often want the “why,” even if it’s one short clause. You can give it without turning your sentence into a long speech.

Swap “Expensive” For Other Natural Options

If you want a slightly different feel, Spanish has other daily choices. Use them when they match your tone, not as a forced synonym swap.

• caros — plain, common
• de lujo — “high-end,” sometimes a bit playful
• demasiado caros — “too expensive,” more emotional

You can mix them with the same structure: No comí en restaurantes de lujo.

Quick Pattern Builder

If you want to create your own version fast, use these patterns and plug in your details.

Pattern 1: Trip Statement

En + place, no + verb (pretérito) + en + noun + adjective.

En Madrid, no comí en restaurantes caros.

Pattern 2: Habit Statement

No solía + infinitive + en + noun + adjective.

No solía comer en restaurantes caros.

Pattern 3: “So Far” Statement

No he + past participle + en + noun + adjective.

No he comido en restaurantes caros este mes.

Tense And Meaning Table

This second table maps the English intent to the Spanish structure, so you can pick the tense in seconds.

English Intent	Spanish Structure	Sample
One finished trip	No + pretérito indefinido + en…	No comí en restaurantes caros.
Time period still open	No + pretérito perfecto + en…	No he comido en restaurantes caros.
Past habit	No solía + infinitivo + en…	No solía comer en restaurantes caros.
Ongoing past pattern	No + imperfecto + en…	No comía en restaurantes caros.
Dinner-only meaning	No + pretérito (cenar) + en…	No cené en restaurantes caros.
Singular restaurant	No + verb + en un restaurante + adjective	No comí en un restaurante caro.

Common Mistakes And Clean Fixes

These are the errors that pop up when English structure gets copied straight into Spanish.

Mistake: Using “En” Wrong Or Dropping It

Fix: Keep en with the place: comer en restaurantes. You can drop it only when you switch to a direct object style, like No comí comida cara (“I didn’t eat expensive food”), which changes the meaning.

Mistake: Mixing A Finished Time Marker With Present Perfect

Fix: Pair “yesterday/last year” with the simple past: Ayer no comí en restaurantes caros. Pair “today/this week” with present perfect if that’s how you speak: Hoy no he comido en restaurantes caros. Different regions prefer one tense more than the other in casual talk, so listen to the Spanish you hear around you and match it.

Mistake: Over-translating “Expensive”

Fix: Stick with caro unless you have a reason to change it. If you want confirmation that caro is the standard “high price” adjective, the dictionary entry is direct and plain. RAE “caro” definition backs the daily use.

A Short Checklist Before You Use The Sentence

• Decide if the time period is finished or still open.
• Pick comer for general eating, cenar for dinner.
• Use en with the place.
• Match plural: restaurantes caros.
• Add one detail if you want it to sound lived-in: a reason, a choice, or a simple time marker.

If you stick to those steps, your Spanish sentence will be correct, clear, and easy for a listener to grasp in one pass.