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Entertainment

Greta Jaruševičiūtė

55 Of The Most Ridiculous Ways People Had Their Food Served In Restaurants

Restaurants these days try their best to stand out, sometimes offering incredible, hard to beat prices, or dishes no one else has. Others try unique interiors, but a select few think that what will really help everyone is a gimmick. As is often the case, it doesn’t work out.

So we’ve gathered some of the most ridiculous and ill-conceived examples of restaurants refusing to actually serve their food on anything resembling a plate. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote pictures that boggle your mind, and be sure to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments section down below.

#1 Vegan Dish Served On A Bone

#2 Our Hummus Was Delivered On… An Art Canvas?

We ordered a hummus plate at a very normal hotel bar in the Midwest. This was brought out without context?

#3 This Meatball Martini That Was Served

There is a moment of confusion that occurs in modern dining. You are seated at a trendy gastropub with exposed brick walls and Edison bulbs. You order the house burger with rustic fries. You are hungry and ready to eat. But when the server arrives they do not place a plate in front of you. Instead they deposit a roofing slate, a miniature shopping cart or perhaps a garden shovel. You look at the server. The server looks at you. You are expected to eat your dinner off a piece of hardware store equipment.

This is not a hallucination. It is a global epidemic of plating gone wrong. It has sparked a massive online movement known as We Want Plates. This community chronicles the absolute worst offenders in the restaurant world. They have documented bread served in slippers and sausages hanging from miniature clotheslines.

#4 Hope You Haven't Already Seen This One A Million Times

#5 I Mean I Think The Round Base Is Technically A Plate?

Restaurant in Guadalajara, Mexico. This used to be a great place to taste amazing gourmet Mexican food, but now this is just sad and expensive

#6 Serving Dessert On A Cast Of The Chef's Sneaker

While these images are objectively funny they also point to a bizarre shift in how we value food. We have moved from dining to performance art where the vessel matters more than the meal. You might wonder why a chef would choose to serve spaghetti on a ping pong paddle. The answer lies in a field of study called gastrophysics. This is the science of eating and how our environment affects our perception of flavor.

#7 Paid $26 For This Charcuterie Board. I Literally Had To Peel The Plastic Off

#8 I Can’t Even Pour The Syrup On Or It’ll Get Everywhere ??

#9 Scallops Served On A Bed Of Wood Chips

Professor Charles Spence at Oxford University has spent years studying this. His research shows that the weight, texture and color of the tableware change how we taste food. Heavy cutlery makes food feel more premium. Rough textures can make food taste saltier. By using heavy slates or wooden boards restaurants are trying to hack your brain.

#10 Strange Way To Eat Strawberries And Cream

#11 I Love Scraping The Nonstick Coating

#12 Roasted Brussels Sprouts Served In A Toilet

From a restaurant called “The Meat Wagon” in Las Vegas, Nevada USA

They want you to perceive the meal as more artisanal and authentic. They are trying to justify the twenty dollar price tag on a burger by serving it on a slab of granite that weighs as much as a small child. There is also the undeniable influence of social media. We live in the age of the Instagram eat.

#13 When The Waiter Said “I’ll Just Go And Get Your Vegetables” I Didn’t Expect This

Sunday roast in a rural English pub

#14 Fish Are Friends Not Food

#15 I Brought Myself Here

A white plate is classic but it does not necessarily stop the scroll. A milkshake served in a mason jar covered in donuts and sparklers gets likes. A steak served on a clipboard gets shared. Restaurants are designing dishes specifically to go viral. The absurdity is the point. If you take a picture of your food because it is ridiculous the restaurant gets free advertising. They are trading your dignity for brand awareness.

#16 Served In A Jar

Szechuan noodles served to us in a high-end resort in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), resort is called Meraki, some of the worst presentation ever.

#17 Check Out Those Knife Marks. Is That Sanitary For Next Customer?

#18 A Glass That Can Only Be Kept In Its Dock In A Certain Way? This Is A We Want Cups Situation

However there are serious downsides to this trend beyond just looking silly. The most obvious issue is hygiene. A ceramic plate is a miracle of engineering. It is non-porous and can be blasted with high heat in a dishwasher to kill bacteria. Wood boards are a different story. They are porous and can develop cracks where bacteria love to hide. A report from Birmingham City Council actually fined a restaurant for serving food on wooden boards that were unfit for use. When you eat off a cracked wooden paddle you might be getting a side of E. coli with your artisanal sliders.

#19 A Little Too Transparent About The Portion Sizes Maybe?

#20 Chicken Burger In A Shovel In New Zealand

#21 This Is How They Served Me A Fish... It Was Good Though

Then we have the physics of the situation. The rim of a plate is one of the most important inventions in the history of civilization. It keeps the gravy where it belongs. When you serve steak and peppercorn sauce on a flat piece of slate there is no containment system. The sauce follows the laws of gravity and ends up in your lap.

#22 This Japanese Guest Did Not Enjoy The Food At Alton Towers Resort... (To Be Fair, They Have A Point!)

#23 How Am I Supposed To Scoop This Out With Chips?

#24 There Is A Plate Right There. What Is The Point?

This is what the We Want Plates movement fights for. They are not just being grumpy traditionalists. They are fighting for the functionality of dining. They believe that you should be able to eat your meal without requiring a hazmat suit or a degree in fluid dynamics.

#25 Who Needs Plates When There Are Dysfunctional Metal To Go Boxes

#26 Steak Served In A Deep Bowl On Top Of Fries. Had To Ask For A Plate So I Could Actually Cut It

#27 Whoever Thought About This Has Never Eaten Onion Rings

The trend has reached a point of self-parody. We have seen croquettes served inside a plaster bust of a Greek philosopher. We have seen bacon hanging from clips like laundry drying in the wind. This implies the bacon is wet which is a disturbing thought on its own. It feels like chefs are bored. They have mastered the cooking part so now they are just seeing what they can get away with. They are testing the limits of human patience.

#28 Easily One Of The Worst Salads I’ve Ever Had…

#29 Dumpling On A Skull On A Board

#30 A First For Me: Had My Burger And Chips Served To Me In A Lunchbox That Was Burning Hot

Hopefully the pendulum will swing back. There is a quiet dignity in a white ceramic plate. It frames the food without screaming for attention. It holds the sauce. It is clean. It does not require you to eat off a shoe. Until that day comes we must remain vigilant. We must continue to ask the server if the shovel has been sterilized. And we must continue to demand that our food be served on the one thing designed to hold it. A plate.