We Want Plates is a community of both regular people and dedicated foodies who are joining their forces to make restaurants serve food on actual plates, not on bits of wood and roof tiles. To do so, they are shaming all the ridiculous food presentations they are receiving online, and their crusade has made them quite famous.
Founded in 2015 by Ross McGinnes, We Want Plates already has 157K followers on Twitter, 100K on Facebook, and 30K on Instagram. However, the biggest unit of their army is located on Reddit — over 650K troops. I think it's safe to say that the growth of the project is a pretty good indication that restaurants should think twice before serving cured meat on a bone or pouring a cocktail into a baby bottle. At least I hope so.
More info: wewantplates.com | Facebook | Instagram |Twitter | Reddit
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Welcome To Hell
The last photo of the guy looking at the server, like, "are you seriously doing this?" made me lose it.
Well tbh the server doesn't look very excited about doing this either
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Why would they do that? It makes it more difficult to eat and will spread absolutely all over the place. Ridiculous idea.
Is this one of those cool new age places that tries to be different and only ends up being weird?
There used to be this thing called a dump party or dump dinner where I used to live. You wrap the table in butcher paper, as shown here, and now just....dump the food directly on the paper in front of each person. The one I went to was all grilled or boiled and strained food. Crawfish, chicken, huge shrimp, broccoli, small red potatoes, corn, etc with a pat of butter and a swirl of sauces at the top of each "setting." It helped we were all warned ahead of time and everything was steaming hot when it hit the table. It really turned out to be a fun time and delicious food.
I can't tell if the guy in the bottom photo is staring longingly at the waitress and admiring her beauty or is having a profound existential crisis and questioning why the hell said waitress is slopping a pile of cold noodles and sauce on the table.
Love the bibs! Here in Belgium it is a not so uncommon fun dinner party among students or young people, that's called "spaghetti on the table", and that you have to eat without any cutlery ;)
hey pandas this is very random but today is my birthday can't really do anything because of covid but at least i can spend time with my family on christmas i hope you do to
Happy Birthday AALIYAH UMOREN! I sure hope you will get to have a nice dinner with your family today too, and one that is served on actual plates.
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We did something like this with the cub scouts (around 7 years old) during a camp. In addition, the kids (and staff members) were supposed to eat with their hands. It was great and it resulted in very funny pictures! But I admit that in a restaurant I would most likely not appreciate it.
Surely the cost of trying to get spaghetti sauce out of tablecloths every time must be way more expensive than washing plates? Oh, and also....eeeuw for hygiene - serving food on fabric? Bleeegh.
oh, no, that's butcher paper, my dear! not fabric at all. It will be discarded after each table leaves. STILL SUPER GROSS THOUGH
Load More Replies...One of the moderators of the We Want Plates subreddit, Merari01, said that even though the food itself is the cornerstone of dining, its presentation is important too. "A wonderful meal is enhanced by a superb presentation. But an overly excessive display can detract from the meal," the moderator told Bored Panda.
"For me, the line [between creative and absurd] presentation is crossed when the creativity hinders the enjoyment of the food. Food that cannot be eaten without messing up the table, because the sauce gets everywhere since there's no plate but a piece of slate used. Food that cannot be eaten without carefully dismantling it from the display on which it is mounted and pinned. Our current top post is a good example. You'll have to dismantle the display and then there isn't much room on the board for cutting the meat."
Edible Plates Only
This one I kinda like. If they are using a recyclable paper to help keep it hygienic underneath I wholeheartedly approve.
In an earlier Bored Panda interview, McGinnes noted that some restaurants put food on strange things, because they want to try to stand out from the crowd. "My local pub used to do a great Sunday roast: twelve quid, piled high, tasted great and yes, it came on a plate. One weekend they added a quirky offering to the menu: little sandwiches, pies, dainty cakes, and mini milkshakes served on a miniature picnic bench. The benches, painted bright pink and yellow, sat on top of tables seating actual grown adults. And what was the first thing these infantilized diners did? It wasn't try the food — it was whip out their phones and take a picture."
This Restaurant Is Rated 4.7/5 Stars
Over the following months the picnic benches became increasingly popular, coinciding with the specials board becoming progressively smaller, before it eventually disappeared altogether. "I sat there one Sunday, watching bench after garish bench emerge from the kitchen like a technicolor carnival of idiocy, before my usual roast arrived. The meat was cold and the potatoes were burnt. It was once their main Sunday trade, but the traditional roast had died an unpalatable death. But that’s OK because they were doing a roaring trade with the benches, right? Sure, until the pub down the road started doing them too. Then the one around the corner. Before you know it, everyone’s doing the same ‘quirky’ thing, except it’s not ‘quirky’ any more because you can’t move for mini picnic benches and now all their roast dinners are rubbish to boot."
Yes, serving bread chips on a comb might get your restaurant tagged in a photo on social media, but customers will probably also caption it "NOPE" and won't come back to your place ever again.
When you're done enjoying this post, check out the equally hilarious posts we did on We Want Plates here and here.
Eggcelent Fried Bitterballen
Chickenfingered
Bread Chips On A Comb
Little Bite Size Appetizer Served On A Box Of Uncooked Potatoes
Cursed Cocktail
Deconstructed Hand S'more?
A Friend Of Mine Showed Me This Photo Today, Served In A Restaurant In Las Vegas
you could order two of these and not have to go shoe shopping afterwards
This Was A Tiramisù, The Top Layer Was Crushed Oreos. Delicious, But How Did They Come Up With This?
We’re Just Eating This Cake With Our Faces
Yes That Is A Bagel Filled With Cheese Mounted Like A Deer Over A Bowel Of Tomato Soup
Old School Friend Just Posted This Abomination
I'm Glad To See They Be Serving Ramen The Traditional Way
Does This Count?
A bit twisted, a bit sick, a bit lack of sleep, a bit of "who aprove this idea" and a lot of What da f... uck.
It Finally Happened To Me Last Night
They Call This Everything But The Kitchen Sink
It would have looked SO yummy without the sink. But now I'm thinking of dirty dishwashing water.
Browsing Through My Old Photos And Found This... Chips In A Pine Cone!
I Guess There Is Technically A Plate... But Common
$37 “Butter Shrimp”
Big Dawg Breakfast Served In An Actual Dog Dish
Thanks For The Plate But Am I Supposed To Lick The Glass Clean?
Tiramisu Served In A Coffee Maker
Cured Meat Served On A Bone
In my opinion this isn't even bad compared to most of the others. It functions well as a plate and looks exceptionally clean.
Fries In A Maison Jar... Why
Not the worst of the bunch... but the last fries are going to be squished and hard to reach. Also, I am now craving saucy fries.
[i Ate] Pizza In A Jar
![[i Ate] Pizza In A Jar](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/5fc8e12b9e8ab_3mhkrtfaeaq51__700.jpg "[i Ate] Pizza In A Jar")
Some Goober Filled My Drink Full Of Rocks. Does This Count?
Excuse Me?
Really Hoping That Isnt Lead Paint
Note: this post originally had 106 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
The majority of this article is a lesson in "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
What is with the ridiculous trend of skewering food on top of drinks? It looks kinda neat, but must be a pain in the ass to eat.
A lot of those odd serving objects aren't going to go through the commercial sanitizing dishwasher, either.
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I'm pretty certain these cReAtIvE ideas came from some douche marketing people from corporate sitting around in a conference room who don't know how restaurants (or food safety) work. Chefs and servers are embarrassed and each "presentation" adds wasted prep time. Then there's the poor minimum wage dishwasher who has to attempt to clean all this crap. And when this stupid trend dies, more trash in the environment.
I'm all for creativity, but this wreaks of trying too hard and douchebaggery.
There is a point where creativity degenerates into sheer insanity.
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The level of pretension on some of these presentations is astounding. Good food is good food. I don't need all the bells and whistles, and clothes pins, shovels, tackle boxes, flower pots, sinks, toys, and old shoes. Have I left anything out?
Made a couple of comments on particular posts, but most of these aren't that bad. However, as per my comments, hygiene and possible contamination does concern me.
All of these are disgusting, unappetizing and just plain stupid. I would never eat at these places. I've seen the cake on a glass on one of those cooking channels. It was disgusting on tv, too.
Some of the comments make me wonder if people in the U.S eat anything that doesn't come in a cardboard plate from a mall food court. Such uneducated people!! Some of the photos are ridiculous/gross, but there are quite a few that are actually pretty standard serving style at any +2* restaurants, even in sh*thole countries like the one I was unfortunately born in.
We're uneducated because we want real plates when we eat out?
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cake "mom's favorite flower"
(COCOCO Group restaurants in Saint-Petersburg) 494f1444df...ab9201.jpg 
These are beyond a joke, with most of them I would have told the restaurant to keep it.
Almost of all them make me shudder just for hygiene reasons. And I loathe wasting food - and there is a lot fo that going on, too. I have never ever seen anything like this in my country, probably for both those reasons.
I feel sorry for the servers as they struggle to balance these rocks and other insane items to the tables
People need to find a good balance between "looks neat" and "easy to eat" because many of those pics are a disaster or even worse, insults to whoever was hungry and stupid enough to eat there.
Most of these restaurants think they're being edgy and serving edible art, and they are just ridiculous
I'm startled, never seen such atrocities in Germany before. Where were these pics taken??
I don’t understand why these people went into these restaurants and paid for this gross stuff. They didn’t see the menus? There must be pictures and reviews of these restaurants.
The majority of this article is a lesson in "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
What is with the ridiculous trend of skewering food on top of drinks? It looks kinda neat, but must be a pain in the ass to eat.
A lot of those odd serving objects aren't going to go through the commercial sanitizing dishwasher, either.
Load More Replies... I'm pretty certain these cReAtIvE ideas came from some douche marketing people from corporate sitting around in a conference room who don't know how restaurants (or food safety) work. Chefs and servers are embarrassed and each "presentation" adds wasted prep time. Then there's the poor minimum wage dishwasher who has to attempt to clean all this crap. And when this stupid trend dies, more trash in the environment.
I'm all for creativity, but this wreaks of trying too hard and douchebaggery.
There is a point where creativity degenerates into sheer insanity.
Load More Replies... The level of pretension on some of these presentations is astounding. Good food is good food. I don't need all the bells and whistles, and clothes pins, shovels, tackle boxes, flower pots, sinks, toys, and old shoes. Have I left anything out?
Made a couple of comments on particular posts, but most of these aren't that bad. However, as per my comments, hygiene and possible contamination does concern me.
All of these are disgusting, unappetizing and just plain stupid. I would never eat at these places. I've seen the cake on a glass on one of those cooking channels. It was disgusting on tv, too.
Some of the comments make me wonder if people in the U.S eat anything that doesn't come in a cardboard plate from a mall food court. Such uneducated people!! Some of the photos are ridiculous/gross, but there are quite a few that are actually pretty standard serving style at any +2* restaurants, even in sh*thole countries like the one I was unfortunately born in.
We're uneducated because we want real plates when we eat out?
Load More Replies... cake "mom's favorite flower"
(COCOCO Group restaurants in Saint-Petersburg) 494f1444df...ab9201.jpg
These are beyond a joke, with most of them I would have told the restaurant to keep it.
Almost of all them make me shudder just for hygiene reasons. And I loathe wasting food - and there is a lot fo that going on, too. I have never ever seen anything like this in my country, probably for both those reasons.
I feel sorry for the servers as they struggle to balance these rocks and other insane items to the tables
People need to find a good balance between "looks neat" and "easy to eat" because many of those pics are a disaster or even worse, insults to whoever was hungry and stupid enough to eat there.
Most of these restaurants think they're being edgy and serving edible art, and they are just ridiculous
I'm startled, never seen such atrocities in Germany before. Where were these pics taken??
I don’t understand why these people went into these restaurants and paid for this gross stuff. They didn’t see the menus? There must be pictures and reviews of these restaurants.
