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Point well taken.
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If you don’t know, that’s when you ask the waiter.
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More to the point, looking at other patrons’ dishes (ala CIB) will do you no help at all.
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Potato darphin is nothing more than uppity hash browns.
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My general rule is that if I don’t know what it is, I don’t order it.
I’m not shy about asking what terms mean. Though my problem is that they never seem to come up twice; there’s always a new batch replacing the ones I’ve asked about.
Even in restaurants where I always order the same thing (e.g. at a steakhouse I’ll order rib steak), I’ll look at the menu because my wife is looking at the same menu and asking questions.
Yes, I always look at the menu, and I always want to hear the specials. Often the specials will feature a seafood dish or two that are never on the standard menu, because they are seasonal, like halibut.
I do have a default order at certain places I go to frequently. For example, a local Italian place has a consistently great veal saltimbocca.
Veal Saltimbocca is also my litmus test for Italian restaurants; my experience is that if this dish is good, most anything on the menu will be good.
My only exception for always looking at the menu was another Italian place, since closed, where we were regulars and got to know most of the waitstaff. If I didn’t have a taste for something in particular, I’d ask our waiter to choose himself and surprise me. I never got anything I didn’t like.
I like studying the menu, usually much longer than my dining companions do. Not wanting to be a pain, I generally make a point of studying it online before we go. Therefore, I end up not needing to look at the actual physical menu at all. So my answer is Yes or No, depending how you look at it.
It’s not much different than getting a menu with pictures like at an exotic restaurant. I like to see what other people are eating and if they are enjoying it.
Yeah, I like pictures in menus too. Just to make sure my food isn’t going to show up with a face on it.
What does that mean exactly?
The only thing I can think of that doesn’t make this entirely jocular is fish, shrimp, etc., with heads intact. To me, one sign of a place that really knows what it’s doing is one that serves fish and shrimp with heads intact.
I glance at the menu for sixty seconds.
There are a few items I always eat. Ham, Roast Beef, Steak, or occasionally grilled chicken. Sides are usually mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes and another side. I alternate between Pinto beans, Green beans,turnip greens or broccoli.
A quick glance at the menu confirms which main entrees they offer. Then I pick my two sides. Simple.
I don’t go to fancy places. I’m definitely not an adventurous eater.
Me either, other than bavarois. I hate it when you have to ask the server “What exactly is filet of chanteuse with a soupcon of dove’s breath? Oh, so it’s meatloaf?”
Yes, that’s exactly what it means. If we ever go out to dinner together, we won’t have to fight over the head-still-on seafood. It’s all yours!
I normally don’t prefer fish with the head still on, but go to a good Chinese restaurant and order it and you have a delicacy that is one of the best things on a Chinese menu. It’s a specialty served at Chinese New Year and makes for a great group centerpiece to share.
No, but you can get cross words and maize.
BTDT
I always look at the menu. I usually want to try something different each time or see if they have added something (or took something away 
). Some times I’ve regretted it but it usually works out that what I get is pretty good.
Hee. I just saw the **Girls **ep last night where Corey Stoll holds up a couple boxes of cereal - “Do you have any food without an Activity Center on the back?” He’s later shown intently filling in the Activities.
If they don’t whine about it, and quietly make their unadventurous choice, then would you socialize with them? I am one of those people but I try to be polite about it.
Don’t mind **Acsenray **; he has an irrational concern over other peoples’ food choices 
As to the question at hand, I have a restaurant where I go for one specific dish. My dining out budget is such that when I have the chance to go there, I want to have my favorite dish. Other places I’ll look at the menu. How the heck else am I going to know what they serve?
Always! Even if I am in a restaurant with someone specific in mind that I like, I still like to look to just to if anything else has changed, or to find out what’s available (you never know, the next day someone might ask you if you know anywhere in the neighborhood that does fish fry with plaice instead of haddock). So I look at the menu out of nosiness, at the very least.
And specials, sure, I definitely want to know what’s up with those. Again, even if I already know what I want to eat, our table might want to split an appetizer or a dessert from the specials.
I would order doe snot, if it was reasonably priced. Can’t knock it until I’ve tried it!
Is the OP coming back? I don’t understand how you can only eat at places you’ve already eaten before. There’s a first time for everything. Do you already know the one thing you’ll eat when you visit a new restaurant, or do you at least look at the menu then?
Personally, even at places where I do always get the same thing, I still like looking at the menu to see what’s new. I always get gyros at Lilly’s Gyros, but maybe they have a new dessert I’d like to try? Or perhaps I’d like a different side instead of just fries this time?