30 Times Restaurant Clients Got So Annoyed By How Their Food And Drinks Were Served, They Just Had To Document It (New Pics)

"The presentation of a dish—both the food and the serving vessels—can have a huge impact on the impression we have of the food we are about to consume. The most delicious-looking slice of beef wellington you’ve ever seen, plated on a chipped plate with a dirty thumbprint in the corner is just not going to be the taste sensation that it ought to be because you will be preoccupied with the grody presentation," the talented pie artist explained. "Likewise, a fairly pedestrian mini cupcake, presented on a charming little gold carousel that you must hand crank to reveal your treat, is suddenly elevated by whimsical association."

How food is served can play into a chef's understanding of what gastronomic narrative they want to present to their guests. It acts as an amplifier and that's why it's always a risk: you can either make a great meal even better or you can crash the entire experience.

"When chefs go above and beyond in the consideration of the presentation of their food, it is because they are looking to craft a little narrative and add meaning to the experience of consuming their food. When done well, this added meaning enhances the guest’s experience and leaves a lasting pleasant impression. When done poorly, it detracts from the experience of eating the food and leaves guests frustrated, grossed out, or simply bemused," pie artist Jessica shared with Bored Panda.

"Artful plating is not a competition to see who can inject the most randomness and absurdity onto a table! Unless of course, the meaning you want to impart has to do with conveying a sense of absurdity as a critical commentary on societal excess… but that’s a little meta for most chefs!"

According to the food expert, some restaurants have a holistic approach to the service that they provide their clientele. "They consider the experience of sitting down for a meal at their establishment to be a form of sensory engagement designed to delight and harmonize taste, texture, fragrance, appearance (of the food, plating, and larger room ambience), sounds, and general mood."

However, only a small handful of establishments can lay claim to this level of sophistication and thematic dedication. There are a lot of (unsuccessful) copycats who don't fully understand the role of each element of the experience.

"In an attempt to emulate the success and sophistication of these rarified venues, on occasion newcomers to the restaurant game will copy certain aspects of what is meant to be an integrated holistic experience and in doing so, really miss the mark. This is where you’ll encounter the mediocre establishments presenting mediocre fare on objectively ridiculous serving objects, devoid of any context or meaning."

Bored Panda was curious to hear about Jessica's own experiences with food being served in peculiar ways. She revealed to us that she is a "high tea aficionado" and that this particular experience is "very aesthetic-forward." And this is where the importance of context really comes into play.

"I’m a “high tea” aficionado and the experience of high tea is very aesthetic-forward. I’ve seen some delightful presentations of treats like spun caramel clouds served on the branches of brass trees and little jack-in-the-box petit fours. But these types of interactive presentations are appropriate in this context because you are there to spend two hours being delighted," the pie artist said that these are instances where serving food in innovative ways completely matches the intent of the chef and the narrative they're trying to create.

"If I was to pop into a greasy spoon on my way home at 2 am and just want to stuff my face with some calories, I would be rather less delighted to find my fries individually harpooned and served on a little tree!" Jessica joked, and now we can't stop thinking about how we'd love to see just that!

"I also have fond memories of kids' meals served in a little cardboard boat (a 'Pirate Pak') when I was a child… Sadly they won't serve me 'Pirate Paks' anymore (I asked!)," the pie artist suggested that growing up isn't all that it's cracked up to be. We think that everyone deserves to have a 'Pirate Pak' if they want one, no questions asked.

The members of r/WeWantPlates obviously have good taste. They can recognize when fashion-forward serving ideas simply aren’t up to par. Sure, we might all mumble how everything depends on taste and how even the worst-designed thing will have a niche full of fans, but let’s get real here: there are some objectively bad decisions.

Like serving meat in a jewelry box with a mirror. Like putting food on top of a garbage can lid. Like bringing out a piece of cake on a slab of table (most likely yours). Oh, it’s definitely brave to present food in such a way. But bravery doesn’t really pay off if there’s no thought behind the process. There’s got to be at least a dollop of good taste there somewhere. Otherwise, you’ll end up with disappointed customers and an entire subreddit that pokes fun at ridiculous restaurants.

Look, we’re not saying that the food industry shouldn’t push the boundaries and experiment with new cooking techniques and aesthetic presentations. That should definitely happen.

But restaurants should be agile enough to realize when something is just silly and pivot to avoid making fools of themselves. Does anyone truly want to be known as ‘that place that sticks bits of seafood on a tiny fence’? Or ‘those weirdos who bring out sushi on a creepy mannequin’s hand’? Experiment, for sure, but don’t stick to a horrible decision just because you don’t want to admit you were oh-so-wrong.

The ‘We Want Plates’ community has been growing strong since the midsummer of 2015 and we have no doubt that some of you Pandas will want to join the community after going through this list.

There are some rules that you need to be aware of, of course. For example, above everything else, the moderators ask you to be civil. “This means no personal insults or threatening behavior. You'll get one warning and then it's perma-ban time,” they write loud and clear.

Meanwhile, don’t post pics of avolattes (lattes served in avocados) or else you’ll be banned. What’s more, you should definitely not post any photos not taken in restaurants. And just because there’s a plate somewhere in the frame doesn’t take away from the fact that some meals are served on atrocious objects.

Previously, Bored Panda had a chat with Ross McGinnes, the founder of ‘We Want Plates,’ about the roots of the project. He told us that he started the campaign way back in 2015 when a friend of his shared a picture on Facebook of a steak served on a chopping board.

“It was captioned, unironically, ‘That is a big meal!’ It wasn't a big meal—he'd fallen for all this style-over-content hipster gastropub nonsense. I searched Twitter for an account which would allow me to vent my spleen with like-minded people, but found nothing. We Want Plates was born,” he told us.

According to the founder, some restaurants avoid using plates because they want to stand out. “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,” Ross shared with Bored Panda.

“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,” he shared the gastronomically nightmarish experience with us.

“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’ anymore because you can’t move for mini picnic benches and now all their roast dinners are rubbish to boot,” Ross said that restaurants tend to copy each other and passing fads spread like wildfire.

“The worst I've encountered personally was when I was served a piece of cake on a table tennis bat in Barcelona around 2008. It still gives me sleepless nights,” he quipped. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to experience anything even in the same ballpark.