SMORGASBORD FOOD TOPICS : Dinners to Go : Two new services, Let’s Eat In and The Town Waiter, offer home-delivered meals from 14 restaurants.

It has been another long and grueling day. Your only objective is to get home and unwind. In an almost vegetative state, you make it there and begin to relax.

Upon inspecting the contents of the cupboards and the refrigerator, you realize that the possibility of getting a decent meal is bleak.

The idea of having to trek to the outside world again brings on a migraine attack, and the notion of having pizza delivered for a third night in a row is nauseating.

Until recently, the solutions in this county were dismal. But some local entrepreneurs have decided to offer interesting alternatives to the pizza-or-nothing dilemma.

Let’s Eat In and The Town Waiter bring us the latest concept in food delivery services.

Between the two, they offer food from 14 restaurants. Choices are limited to the establishments in your given area.

But both companies promise that the food will arrive quickly and will be hot.

For Dick Ziegler and his wife, the idea for a food delivery service began when they were staying at a hotel that did not offer room service. After a few calls, they discovered that the only thing they could order in was pizza. Ziegler didn’t like it, but it gave him an idea.

He came home and started Let’s Eat In.

His mission was to allow people to order a meal and have the food delivered for the price they would pay at the restaurant, without a service charge.

He started five months ago, after cutting deals with Giovanni’s Restaurant, Peking Inn, Tijuana Express and The Crab House & Rotisserie in Camarillo.

The service was a success and last month a branch was set up in Ventura with four local favorites; Giovanni’s Cafe, Golden China Restaurant, Rosarito Beach Cafe and BJ’s Steak & Seafood. Delivery areas are basically the city limits.

There are plans to establish services in other cities such as Oxnard and Thousand Oaks.

At this time, only dinner is available. Eventually Ziegler hopes to include lunch, mini-catering and more restaurants from which to choose.

Even though this type of service is new to Ventura County, it has been operating in other cities in California and throughout the East Coast.

While on a recent trip to Philadelphia, Rick and Meredith Solano saw a delivery service that included a variety of restaurants. They decided Ventura needed just such an operation and started The Town Waiter. They offer dinners from Charlie Brown’s, Garden Fresh, La Trattoria, Sizzler, Gary’s Restaurant & Bakery and Yolanda’s Mexican Cafe.

Each restaurant’s entire menu is offered and the prices are the same as on the menu. Ordering from more than one place is available for an extra dollar.

Delivery areas are from Shell Road to the Ventura Harbor (east-west); from California 33 to Wells Road (north-south). Service charges are $3 to $5, but deliveries are free for orders over $50.

If you order three times in any calendar month, you receive a 10% discount off purchases for the rest of the month. Coupons are also located on the back page of the menu booklet.

The Town Waiter serves only dinner, but it plans to reach out to businesses and offices by including lunch. Expansion into other communities is also planned.

Who are the customers of Let’s Eat In and The Town Waiter? Menus and flyers have been distributed to hotels and motels that do not have restaurants or room service.

Deliveries have been spotted at a number of retail businesses and to evening office workers.

The idea of a restaurant meal delivered to the house or office might appeal to just about anyone.

* FYI

Let’s Eat In: Camarillo 386-8020; Ventura 647-0772; open seven days a week; reservations taken: 3 to 9 p.m.; dinner served: 4 to 9 p.m.; free delivery with minimum $15 order per restaurant.

The Town Waiter: Phone: 658-8778; fax: 658-2171; hours: Sunday through Thursday 4:30 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.; $3 to $5 delivery charge, none for orders over $50.