Do Restaurants Want Us To Be Miserable? These Signs Point To Yes
Trends are fickle, changing with the latest viral TikTok or a celebrity-endorsed photo. And while some trends have hung around way past their expiration date (ahem, expensive matcha drinks and truffle oil-drowned everything), diners can’t wait to see numerous restaurant fads thrown out with the stale bread.
Here are a few of the most annoying dining new trends according to food journalists, bloggers and chefs across the country.
QR Code Menus
Among the most polarizing is the pandemic hangover of QR code menus. It once eliminated the need for grubby, grimy germ spreading, but now, diners would much rather flip through menu pages than scroll and squint to read one.
“Diners are there for the experience, conversation and atmosphere of the restaurant, and having to pull out a phone to browse a menu detracts from it,” said chef Suhan Lee.
James Beard-nominated food writer Nylah Iqbal Muhammad said, “I detest QR code menus because they’re not actually helping the environment that much, and they’re super inaccessible to people without phones or older people who get frustrated by them. They also don’t contribute to a communal experience, which is the entire point of dining out,” she said. “No phones at dinner as much as possible, please. We’re already taking pictures and posting them, answering emails and texts, and using them to fidget during awkward silences. Let’s not add ONE more reason to be on our phones during dinner.”
Calorie Counts On Menus
And when it comes to menus, the information included on them is just as important as how you read them.
“I hate seeing the calorific values of meals on the menu,” said culture journalist Abha Ahad. “I have struggled with disordered eating all my life and am a recovering bulimic. Once I see the number, it is very difficult to brush it off and focus on the experience. Every time I am at a place like this, I end up ordering something with a low calorific value and make a mental note never to go back.”
High-Priced Mocktails
A welcome trend on menus across the country is a diverse range of non-alcoholic drinks, aka mocktails, but the progress toward more inclusive dining comes with a hefty price tag.
On menus across the country, zero-proof drinks cost $14 for a mixture of non-alcoholic “spirits” and syrups or $20 for a non-alcoholic gin with honeydew melon, celery, lime and lemongrass.
“I have not had an alcoholic beverage in over 10 years. I’m thrilled to see zero-proof drinks on more menus, so I don’t have to order a Shirley Temple if I want a fun drink,” said freelance food writer Jamie Davis Smith. “However, zero-proof ingredients almost always cost less than alcohol. I know you are paying for the expertise that went into creating the drinks, but there should be a price difference of at least a few dollars for zero-proof drinks, which often cost the same. I always feel like I’m getting ripped off when I order an overpriced mocktail.”
Erica Thomas, founder of Eating With Erica, a food blog and supper club, said, “Paying $15 for a fancy glass of fruit juice with a sprig of mint and a clever name feels like a scam. It’s not that mocktails are inherently bad, but when they’re priced like liquid gold for what’s essentially flavored water, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth — pun intended!”
Deconstructed Plating
When it comes to the food, the trend of deconstructed dishes has some diners rolling their eyes. Instead of the fluffy layers of tiramisu, chefs separate each ingredient layer on a plate in various textures and forms (foam, cream, cake or crumbs), encouraging diners to combine each in one mouthful.
“Very often, I find that restaurants offer menu items that are intended to be permutations of a classic dish, and they call them ‘Deconstructed XYZ.’ This is a concept derived from molecular gastronomy,” said Monika Sudakov, a food and beverage writer for the Daily Meal. “Outside of the context of this culinary tradition, however, this term is often used to describe a dish where each component is separated and plated as is rather than assembled. This feels like lazy cooking and is a fancy way of charging more for something that is otherwise nothing special.”
Isabel Byfield, a food influencer and blogger for TastyAZ.com, agrees, “Deconstructed dishes. Unless very well executed, innovative and visually stunning, this type of dish lacks flavor and sensorial experience of original dishes.”
Vegetarian Meat Substitutes
And speaking of dishes without flavor, plant-based products are on the chopping board for both diners and chefs, including synthetic, lab-grown faux meats ranging from beef to chicken to turkey.
“I’m over plant-based vegan meat products. I’ve worked with a lot of them. They are so strange as they can look like meat and have a completely different taste, smell and texture,” said Los Angeles-based private chef and cooking instructor Mary Payne Moran.
“I cooked at a large vegan event years ago. We made buffalo wings with vegan chicken meat. The texture and consistency were chewy and strangely white on the inside, and it made me gag every time I had to try to make sure it was seasoned correctly for guests. It was so gross,” she said.
Table Time Limits
Diners may notice another new trend popping up at various restaurants around the country, especially at those with a long wait list — table time limits.Semolina Restaurant in New Jersey, for example, has a strict 90-minute table limit, and Mayfield restaurant in California has a one-hour and thirty-minute limit for parties of two or three and a maximum of two hours for parties of four or five.
“Few things kill the vibe of a dining experience faster than being told you’ve got a 90-minute window to eat, drink and be merry. It’s as if the restaurant is saying, ‘Sure, we want your business, but only for a little while.’ Nothing says, ‘We value you’ quite like being hustled out the door so they can flip the table for the next group,” Thomas said.
Tipping On A Swivel Screen
In the United States, tipping has always been a contentious topic, and post-pandemic, many diners feel like it’s gotten way out of control.
“The swivel screen is terrible. I don’t mind tipping for good counter service, but when I’m purchasing a bottle of water, I pull it from the fridge myself, or they’re just literally handing me a pastry in a bag; why am I being asked to tip?” said Su-Jit Lin, a freelance food and travel writer.
“And what gets my goat the most is that these gratuities go into a black hole,” she said. “Some owners are unethical and will take the tips, but I don’t know how these tips are being distributed. Furthermore, this practice also dilutes the importance of tipping for full service and contributes to tipping fatigue.”
