Small plates

[Flyhigher]

Does it drive anyone else nuts when you sit down at a restaurant and the server says
Have you been here before?
The concept is small plates , they come as and when they are ready.

Small plates have been around for 20 years at least!
Is it because I'm over 50 and they think that I've no idea what small plates are???

I was pretty pissed when I went to the Pizza Hut Buffet and their plates were so small I could only fit 5 slices of pizza on FFS. Had to keep going up.
Stupid.

...

Whaddya mean that's not the same thing? 🤪

Unless it was a very small pizza, 5 slices is rather a lot of pizza.

I meant to add that, unless it is a very high end restaurant, I find portion sizes are very generous these days, so I particularly like the small plates option.

On holiday in Greece recently DH and I often had three starters between us for lunch instead of a large main course each. And we are not competitive under-eaters by any means.

I find it annoying too but given the number of people on this thread who don’t know about them, I think I will be more accepting of it!

As an aside, I also find myself less annoyed when they say it but also say how many they recommend between however many of you are there, given that the size of small plates varies wildly from restaurant to restaurant.

They do them in Wetherspoons, though they always all come out at the same time 🤣

OMG a waiter doing his job! What an absolute arsehole!

I have no idea what “small plates” means in a restaurant. Is it like tapas?

Handy to know they will come out randomly ( because then you don't have to complain they've forgotten something).

I was going to start a thread on how pubs need to change their offering. Here all the pubs charge £16+ for a main ( simple burgers) and in excess of £20 for meat and fish. With wine now £8 a glass, it's very expensive and for things most people are making at home now. And would I pay £18 for a pub curry when I can get a more authentic restaurant version for less
I prefer small plates of stuff I don't normally eat.

Ah! I did not know that a few people didn't know what small plates is.
I stand corrected. It's just been around for a long time, like 20 years. It's tapas. Like lots of starter portions.

I thought it was patronising but I guess a few people here didn't know about it. So the waiters are right to ask. 😊

I once went to San Carlo Cichetti in Manchester (not my choice). One of my dishes was peas & pancetta. It came at least 15 minutes before any other dish on a table of 5, and the rest of the restaurant was almost empty. It was nice, but I wasn’t expecting to eat it in its own.

Why on earth would a kitchen do that? Never went back!

I think maybe because small plates can be either a whole restaurant concept or just a way of describing smaller starters/tapas - at my favourite local restaurant they have a small plates section for starters and recommend at least 2 or 3 pp to share, but they all come out at the same time and then you have a normal main and dessert.

I've been to a couple of places where it's the whole concept (random small plates brought out throughout the evening, no mains etc) and didn't love it tbh, so would have appreciated the heads up. I prefer to have everything laid out in front of me so I can choose what to prioritise (sad memories of filling up on nice but not exceptional veg/carb based small plates and then being unable to fit in the gorgeous looking smoked salmon/calamari/steak/prawn etc based dishes they brought out later 😔).

Oh I love it there, DH and I go most times we are in Manchester (he’s from there). I love the gnocchi in cheese sauce served in a Parmesan basket.