Food presentation in restaurants / pubs

Carolpaint having a meal in a restaurant is not art! When I order a meal I want to eat the food not have an art experience.

A chorus of vindictiveness? Grumpy grans just waiting to pounce? What odd comments.

I've never eaten at a training college.

Plates please....but not square ones.....also chips served on the plate properly instead of the "enamel mug" which holds the very sparse quantity which is now considered to be a portion. We used to enjoy going to a lovely old pub which served good food on normal plates.....then closed for a while for refurbishment. Is now a gastro-pub ....slates...chopping boards...enamel mugs.....you name it they have it....apart from proper plates.

I don't mind pasta or maybe chili in a bowl, and usually use one at home for these. Everything else on a plate please.
And I wouldn't dream of eating somewhere like MacDs or KFC. If I walk past these sort of places, I often see couples eating there - why would you?

I don't like lasagne and fish pie served in small individual dishes.I usually tip them out on to the plate.but I dont mind chips in a bucket or cone..but. generally speaking I Go With The Flow for most other dishes ☺

This subject comes up regularly and with good reason.
I do mystery shopping in restaurants and hotels and always request they remove the offending board, slate or whatever and replace it with a plate. I complain about the presentation in my reports, congratulate the places which use appropriate plates and am often asked to return to the same venues every six months. In no cases have I seen any change in the presentation. Clearly nobody in management is listening!

We went to a gastropub and I ordered curry and rice. It was served in two tiny separate bowls balanced on a slate. I obviously couldn't tip the curry out of the bowl so had my elbows in the air trying to get a bit of rice out of one bowl and put it in the other to get some sauce on it. My husband had tuna on noodles and there were so few noodles that he sat there waiting for the rest of the meal. It was hugely expensive and he was sniffing appreciatively as we walked past a fish and chip shop on the way home! The price of the drinks was also ridiculous.

Has anyone seen this website? It is hilarious. www.facebook.com/WeWantPlates/

DH thinks that the most disgusting photo was food on a spade...

I hate food served on anything but a plate. Baskets, pieces of slate, etc, etc, must be very difficult to clean properly and I am always wary that they may have received only a quick rinse from the last time they were used.

I stayed in a very low note in Torquay last week. The dining experience was lovely, and they did serve the food on plates. They served the baked beans with the full English breakfast in a little ceramic pot which I just tipped onto the plate. Chips served with dinner came in a small copper pan! What tickled me though, were the "chef's tasters", tiny cup and saucer with soup before the starter course, and a wee bottle, with a straw, containing fruit juice between the main and dessert courses. All delicious but quite amusing.

Apparently wood halts the growth of bacteria very quickly.

Food has got to be served on a plate, I don't mind the shape as long as it's white. Thank goodness my waitress days are long behind me

Can't get my head round a lot of the trends for serving food in "odd" containers

I had a meal served in a dog bowl at our local cafe, wouldn't mind but it had a chip in the enamel.

Sloppy things that should not be presented on wooden boards ... the awful sound of cutlery scraping on slate ... the odd 'grouping' of different elements of a meal when /I would prefer it all side by side ...

No doubt we have seen prices go up as plates have been discarded for trendier serving platters that might not be dish-washer friendly either.

And another reminder that I am probably just getting old and grumpy .

Chewbacca .You and me both, are behind the times.
Oh for the massive platters of the 80's and 90's which held no falling off the sides, our steaks French fries. crispy onion rings and accompanied by a side bowl of salad with dressing of your choice
Followed with good old fashioned apple pie and cream.

I hate boards and wierd serving ideas, and thinking about it, here in Belguim it seems to be the Irish and UK bars/restaurants who go for the boards and things.
I cannot think of a Belgian place which does not use proper plates, but then again I am not eating in the 5* places.

Mushy peas in a tiny pot. Try getting them out without spilling some down your front.
Back to plates for me.

Don't mind really, as long as the food is edible!!

Carolpaint Quality of service not just the food itself is the right of every customer.
We grumpies should be so lucky.
'duh, don't fink we do that' when on ordering I ask may I have extra tomato in place of the cucumber in my salad,?
Should this not be
'Certainly madam, I will ask the chef'
Wasn't so difficult was it?
Doesn't need Brain of Britain to deal with that.If such a problem and 'duh'is not capable of dealing with it then head waiter or restaurant manager.

I like food served in small potjie pots

A widespread gripe! see

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/sep/16/plates-slates-backlash-gimmicky-serving-dishes

scrabble That's why you got that particular bowl and not the dog

No, you are definitely not alone. There is a proper way to serve food which stood the test of time until some chefs decided they wanted to be different. Consequently they must lose some custom but clearly not enough to make them realise that. The answer is to avoid restaurants that do not satisfy you.

An alternative is to ask the waiter/waitress before ordering to confirm that the meal will come on a 'proper' plate. If the answer is no then either get up and leave or insist on seeing the manager to give him a piece of your mind. You may not only feel better but find that you can be served your meal on a proper plate after all.

My husband loves spit roast chicken but when it comes in a full size skillet with an enamel mug of gravy, a small amount of chips and the skillet spins round and round the table that was it. The waiter had to find a pile of napkins to put under the skillet to stop it falling off the table. We have not eaten there since.

Yes please, a traditional dinner sized plate. I don want the food arranged in a tiny pile in the middle. I'd like the meat or fish separate from the potatoe and veggies. I like pasta or ride dishes in a bowl. I do not want a slate and I particularly don't want a wooden board. Hygienic ?