When we are traveling I use Google Maps to see what restaurants are around. Naturally I need to see the menu. There is very seldom an actual printed menu you can call up on the smart phone. Instead what they do is lay their real menu on the counter and snap a photo of it. But they don’t center the camera above the menu and shoot straight down. They stand in front and photograph the menu so each page is a trapezoid and perhaps only part of it is focused. Very hard to read. And many times they will have several photos of one page and miss other completely. How hard can this be to do correctly?
Another thing I find occasionally is a nice menu but no prices. Restaurant owners, this is your advertising. Get it right!
Are they restaurant-submitted menus or patron-submitted ones? I’ve noticed a lot of the latter when it comes to photographed menus, not as much of the former.
As for prices, that annoys the crap out of me, but I also understand not wanting to list prices because of fluctuations and having some jackass pull up a menu from two years ago and bitch about why they’re not getting the prices they found on the internet or something like that.
I agree with the above post – the photographed menus you’re finding on Google are almost certainly submitted by customers, not by the restaurant owner. I find it’s best to go to the restaurant’s official website and pulling up the menu there, rather than relying on the ones on Google, which may be several years old and out of date.
As for prices, are these chain restaurants, or local mom and pop places with just one location? As I understand it chains often don’t list prices on their online menus because the prices may differ from one location to another.
I ran into this just last week, when I violated the rule I posted above and relied on a menu posted on Google. When I actually got to the restaurant and looked at their actual printed menu it no longer listed the item I’d been looking at on the menu I found online. Then when I ordered I remembered the menu I saw online said they had Pepsi products, so I asked for a Diet Pepsi, and was slightly surprised when the waitress said they had Coke products. Then I looked at my phone again and realized the menu on Google Maps was 2 years old.
I’m in the top 5% of restaurant reviewers on Google Maps and I totally agree. (What can I say, I love reviewing restaurants)
As far as menu prices, do people really decide wether or not to eat somewhere based on price? I can’t recall ever being shocked by a restaurant’s prices.
What annoys me are restaurants requiring you start an order before the let you see a menu. Yes, you can just cancel the order, but why? Forcing your customers to start an order is showing complete contempt for them.
There is also the issue of people photo-shopping prices on pictures of menus.
At the store where I work we get that on a regular basis, images of our stuff with edited prices. For several years people would get furious that cashiers couldn’t accept a photo of our shelf price, but that’s the reason. We have a work-around of sorts for that now, but it’s not perfect and we still get people giving us stink. I imagine restaurants get it, too.
I don’t tend to pick the restaurant that way, but I will use it to figure out what I want. And I very much prefer knowing what I’m going to get before I go—since I also have to look at nutrition information and allergy stuff. I’ve lost at least 70 pounds over this last year, and I want to keep on going.
Huh. I can see this for someone in your position, but personally, I order from the “specials” board very often. That or the recommendations of the waitstaff/owner/kitchen.
One explanation for this could be that the owners are Orthodox Jews, and it’s shabbat (Friday evening to Saturday evening) or a Jewish holiday. Jews are not supposed to do any work, or do anything involving money (among other restrictions), on shabbat. Even on their websites, according to the strictest interpretation of the rules.
I know that the Kosher butcher in Brookline, MA, does this, and I’m pretty sure that B&H Photo in New York does, too.
Of course, if this is not the reason, they may just be bad business people. Or stupid.
Shocked? Not really. Surprised? Yes. I tend to want to have an idea of a ballpark price. Am I spending $5 a burger? $10 a burger? $20 a burger? I might just be looking for a simple lunch – it does help me to decide, plus I might have a couple kids in tow, so I don’t really want my $20 or so lunch out with them turn into a $50 meal.
Just this past week I was at a normal looking ma & pop place for a hot dog. It was $7+tax. It came with fries, but I didn’t want fries. Wasn’t an option. I just wanted my typical $3.50 hot dog as something to tide me over to dinner; had I known, I would absolutely have gone elsewhere (and the dog was waterlogged and overcooked, to boot.)
It’s not really the restaurant making that decision. What happens is they’re partnering with some 3rd party ordering service. And then they’re thinking “well, there’s no point in having the menu twice on our website. If someone wants a menu, they can just go to the ordering thing.”
We’re not millionaires, nor are we poverty stricken, but I definitely want to know if the entrees are in the $10-20 range or $30-40, and we’ll generally only go to the latter on special occasions.
I’ve never understood relying on a waiter’s recommendations at a restaurant. First, they obviously have a vested interest in suggesting the more expensive items, and may even have instructions to push certain dishes. But even absent such issues, why would I expect a complete stranger’s tastes to coincide with mine?
Now, I have been to very upscale restaurants where the server’s description of the dish, its ingredients, and how it was prepared, was practically a show in itself. That’s not only entertaining, but useful information on which to make a decision. And if my wife or someone else who knows my taste and who has eaten this dish recommends it? Sure.
But a random server saying, “I really like the Eggplant Parmigian,” means nothing to me.
We go to local favorite restaurants a few times a week, and are on a first name basis with many of the owners and staff. It’s not unusual for someone to tell us that the salmon is meh, but the new ravioli dish is amazing. I don’t remember ever being disappointed by recommendations like this.
As far as the server running up the bill, I’ve never had this happen. Although one time I was on a Caribbean cruise, solo. I met a Polish sommelier and discussed wines during his time off. At dinner he made recommendations, but he always gave me cheap, mid-range, and ridiculously expensive suggestions along with why I might want to go with a specific wine.
Okay, that makes sense, if they’ve learned what you like and you know you can trust their suggestions.
But what if you’re in a place you’ve never been before and the waiter says the Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, with a fried egg on top and spam is terrific. Do you try it? Even without the spam?