Bring back physical menus in restaurants

[Globules]

What is it with online menus?

I really miss holding a menu in my hand that I can flick through.

Just had another farce where my data dropped out so I can't access the online menu. Amazingly a menu in a leather bound folio then appeared.

I understand it's cheaper for the company for everything to be online as there's less printing. But boy I miss the book.

Particularly when I need to speak to waiting staff to place my order anyway.

Agree. I don't like phones on the table so don't want to be forced to use it.

There are things a phone cannot replicate.
I'll never forget going to a very exclusive restaurant in the early 80's where samples of certain available foods had been smeared onto the pages (tastefully done and in no way decaying as it had a layer of film over). You could really get a sense of the colours and texture of the food for an idea etc
The menu was all hand written too and leather bound and you actually had to hand over your car keys before being given one

Yeah, I’ve been in restaurants where there’s food smeared on the menu too. One reason to use online menus.

Hand over your car keys? That sounds more swinger-ish than dining out 🤣

Totally agree OP

I like to flick back and forth on a menu I also hate it when they take it away after you've ordered something because I tend to order something else later and I like to sit perusing it.

I cant see on my phone and I have a disability that makes using a phone difficult.

I refuse to go to any restaurant that expects me to use my phone to order.

Are you sure this wasn’t some kind of fever dream.

I agree, I hate it, phones are so small and you can't flick back and forth or share with a neighbour.

I didn't know it would be that way until I was handed the wooden qr code!

Agree OP. If I had my way I'd ban QR codes and apps, and force every restaurant to go back to paper based ones. I like to be able to flick through one and see lots of options on one page, rather than endless scrolling on a phone.

The smeared food menu is a step roo far though - are you sure that happened @ShakyBake ?! I mean, the 80s were odd times, but I don't remember that being a thing 😂

Much prefer phone ordering. People are much more likely to pay for themselves. I hate dirty menus, wait staff who get it wrong, stuff being unavailable when you ask for it and having to wait ages after eating to pay.

Never been to a restaurant that doesn’t have a physical menu weird

I like a combination, if it's a quick pub lunch rather than "nice meal out" I like ordering on my phone rather than at the bar, but I still want to read a physical menu. I don't think I've been anywhere that doesn't have them though!

Yeah, I walk out when that happens and tell them why.

The only way these places will change is if we stop giving them money.

I agree. Happy to have to ask for one, if it reduces the number they need to print.

This. It's a way of saving on staff.

Sounds utterly pretentious. I was taken to a couple of those at the tail end of the 80's which were so excruciating and some of the staff were so up themselves a good slap would have done them the world of good.

I eat out a fair bit in chain restaurants, pubs and independents and I haven't come across a restaurant with no physical menu or wait staff. I'm in Bristol so maybe this is more of a London thing? Either way, I would hate it.

Ew. This sounds like the stuff of nightmares.

Anyway, I can’t say we go to many, if any, places where one orders by phone. I can only think of airport restaurants.

We often go to a local restaurant where the menu is illuminated from within as if by magic. Stops all the 40 plus diners from shining their phone torches at it.

I far prefer online ordering and am more likely to return to a restaurant that has apps rather than one that doesn't. I like the way you can often "tailor" your meals so easily, with lots of options, etc., that are never shown on menus. Also dislike the way that waiting staff fire questions at you which I have trouble hearing especially in loud restaurants and if the waiting staff have a strong accent. Also better not having to wait for waiting staff to appear before ordering as these days there are few of them and usually hard to get their attention.

Where are people eating that theres no physical menus? I havent came across this since covid times & way out every week!

I’ve honestly never encountered this.

Same.

I like the app option. Works fine for me.

I’ve never come across this either and would just leave if asked to do this and go somewhere else

I like it in casual places and cafes - if you're with a group, people can just order what they want and pay individually.
If it's a cafe/breakfast place etc I like it because I'm usually by myself, and it means that I can find a table and occupy it while I order, rather than queueing up and then finding that there's nowhere to sit, because all the other people with companions have sent them there to reserve the tables. (Especially in the summer when I don't have a jacket or whatever to leave there!). Also it means that if you want a second coffee or something, you can do it without having to try to time it so that there's a break in the queue. (I seem to go to quite crowded cafes, not that much choice sometimes when I"ve been out for a jog or whatever).

For a fancier place, or somewhere with a lot more choice, yes it's nice to have a physical menu. Even in the casual places and cafes, there's often a physical menu too, and I can use that for browsing. But it's the online ordering/paying I like. You can see what's out of stock, you can add notes, you can pay at the time and know it's done if you're having to leave at a certain time, you can choose if/how much to tip without someone watching you ,etc.