Do Restaurants Want Us To Be Miserable? These Signs Point To Yes

Trends are fickle, changing with the latest viral TikTok or a celebrity-endorsed photo. And while some trends have hung around way past their expiration date (ahem, expensive matcha drinks and truffle oil -drowned everything), diners can’t wait to see numerous restaurant fads thrown out with the stale bread.

Here are a few of the most annoying dining new trends according to food journalists, bloggers and chefs across the country.

QR Code Menus

Among the most polarizing is the pandemic hangover of QR code menus. It once eliminated the need for grubby, grimy germ spreading, but now, diners would much rather flip through menu pages than scroll and squint to read one.

“Diners are there for the experience, conversation and atmosphere of the restaurant, and having to pull out a phone to browse a menu detracts from it,” said chef Suhan Lee.

Ja mes Beard-nominated food writer Nylah Iqbal Muhammad said, “I detest QR code menus because they’re not actually helping the environment that much, and they’re super inaccessible to people without phones or older people who get frustrated by them. They also don’t contribute to a communal experience, which is the entire point of dining out,” she said. “No phones at dinner as much as possible, please. We’re already taking pictures and posting them, answering emails and texts, and using them to fidget during awkward silences. Let’s not add ONE more reason to be on our phones during dinner.”

Calorie Counts On Menus

And when it comes to menus, the information included on them is just as important as how you read them.

“I hate seeing the calorific values of meals on the menu,” said culture journalist Abha Ahad. “I have struggled with disordered eating all my life and am a recovering