Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
40 Times People Would’ve Rather Got Plates And Glasses Instead Of These Disasters (New Pics)
Dear bars and restaurants, we do genuinely appreciate how hard you try to impress us. After the pandemic hit, it has been a continuous struggle to save your business and attract both workers and clients. So it's only normal to put that extra bit of effort into everything, from the thoughtful playlist to premium Marseille soap in the bathroom.
Some restaurant owners and chefs take the dining experience up to the next level and come up with very ingenious ways to serve their food. Think of starters served straight on the table, croquettes served in an iron mask and no, I am not kidding.
Thanks to the internet's beloved We Want Plates project founded by Ross McGinnes back in 2015, we now have a crazy collection of absurd food servings to scroll through. “It’s the global crusade against serving food on bits of wood and roof slates, chips in mugs and drinks in jam jars,” says its description and hey, thanks for the public service, you guys.
Psst! More hilarious food servings from We Want Plates can be found in our previous posts here, here and here.
More info: wewantplates.com | Reddit | Facebook | Instagram |Twitter
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Quality Postmodernism
RELATED:
#2
The Juices Dripped Onto My Legs Through That Nice Crack In The Board
#3
This Rose Flavored Chocolate Dessert That You Have To Lick Off Your Hands! (Miami)
Previously Bored Panda spoke with Ross McGinnes, the founder of the ‘We Want Plates’ community. Ross started the campaign in 2015 after a friend posted a picture of an average-sized steak on Facebook, which had been served to him on a large 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,” he recounted. Then, Ross searched Twitter for an account which would allow him to vent his spleen with like-minded people, but he found nothing. That’s how We Want Plates was created. Today, the project has 900,000 followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.
#4
Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition
#5
Multi-Flavor Pizza Served In A Tire
#6
You Could Order Barbie Meat At A Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant My Sis-In-Law Went To Last Night
McGinnes also noted that some restaurants put food on strange things because they want to try to impress their customers. Sometimes, that turns against them. “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 to try the food—it was to whip out their phones and take a picture.”
#7
So I Went To Alinea This Weekend
#8
Pasta, Sauce, Bread. In A Wire Cone
#9
Breakfast In A Egg Carton
“Over the following months the picnic benches became increasingly popular, coinciding with the specials board becoming progressively smaller, before it eventually disappeared altogether,” Ross told us. He remembered sitting there one Sunday, watching bench after garish bench emerge from the kitchen like a technicolor carnival of idiocy, before his usual roast arrived.
#10
Dinner With A Side Of Tetanus Anyone?
#11
A Friend Ordered Tiramisu In Scotland. Why Sugar The Lid?
#12
Friend Of Mine Went To A Restaurant And Their Starter Came In A Book
“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.”
Ross recounted that 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,” he told us.
#13
Plates Shouldn’t Fall Over When You Stab Them With A Fork
#14
Uhm.. How Do I Drink It..?
#15
Our Corn Chips Came In A Rusty Bucket
#16
The Croquette In The Iron Mask
#17
Lunch Served On A Heavy Stone? I Felt Bad For My Server Who Had To Carry It
#18
Crepes Served As Babushka Barbe
#19
My Meal Was Served In A Folded License Plate. I Mean I Guess It Is A Plate In A Way
#20
Friend's Mother Went To A Restaurant And Got A Glass Of Pasta! Upside Down!
#21
A Bottle Of Fish
#22
On A Cleaver...
#23
My Boyfriends Ice-Cream Came In A Little Metal Tub, But Mine Came In A Little Plastic Wheelbarrow
#24
Twigs And Moss
#25
I’d Send This Back. This Replaced An Amazing Restaurant In My Town That Was Killed By Covid
#26
Spaghetti-No
#27
Pasta Flight, Ended Up Everywhere
Gaby Almodovar 3 years ago
Ridiculously unnecessary, not practical for guests and too much idiotic work for the kitchen. The chef here is a jerk.
#28
My “Flying“ Noodles. They Where Cold Within A Minute
Theoretical Empiricist 3 years ago
There are a reasonable number of things I want from my food. Flying isn't one of them.
#29
Steak Pie In A Jar…
#30
Kids Food On Dvd-Case (Photo From Restaurants Own Page)
#31
Soup In A Burnt Cabbage
Cip IESAN 3 years ago
They don't! They will use the same cabbage for 100+ clients and, after a week, they'll cook the cabbage and serve it in a pumpkin, for example. They will use the same pumpkin for 100+ clients and, after a week, they'll cook the pumpkin and serve it in a pineapple, for example. They will use the same pineapple for...
Load More Replies...
Chyppa Homer 3 years ago
And after you're finished, they feed the plates to whatever is unfortunate enough to end up in tomorrow's soup, and so on...
Ann Coffman 3 years ago
Yeah, that's probably what they do. Lots of restaurant do.
Load More Replies...
Brian Bennett 3 years ago
You are now on a diet (like it or not) looks like there is about 2 spoons of soup in that cavity!
#32
Removing Splinters With Greasy Fingers
#33
We Want Tables?
Marcellus II 3 years ago
I actually was planning to do my garden table somewhat like this, with left over 'green roof' materials. I hate mowing and grass, so it would be Sedums; the problem it it's either boring or very uneven.
#34
I Swear, It's A Chocolate Mousse And Pop-Corn On A Wooden Board....
Rose the Cook 3 years ago
Is there a conspiracy against chocolate mousse I haven't heard about?
#35
Flattened Chips Due To The Weight
#36
I Guess We Are Serving Fish On Fish Bones?!
#37
Aah Yes, I Finally Experienced The Classic Shovel Plate
#38
An Actual Non Stick Pan, Instead Of A Plate
Horatio Jay 3 years ago
Well, that's bowel cancer waiting to happen. Never use metal on non-stick cookware, kids.
#39
This Would Be Embarrassing
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Kayla J 3 years ago
I just feel like if you're going to serve me in a mini wheelbarrow, hat, trash bin, or throw a skeleton model on my food, that I should be able to keep it as a prize.
Sawdust 3 years ago
Like a souvenir ice cream baseball helmet at a stadium.
Load More Replies...
Horatio Jay 3 years ago
I've almost never seen well-executed "quirky" serving ideas. If you want to stand out, let the quality of your cuisine speak for itself.
NsG 3 years ago
Exactly. The king of quirky cuisine is Heston Blumenthal - he does things like make apple purée in the shape of a pork chop and makes the pork chop look like potato wedges or whatever, and other random taste combinations and "feasts for the eyes", but from what I've seen on the internet, his restaurant serves quirky food on actual *plates*. There are some things served on breadboards, but they appear to have been specifically designed for this use and able to be properly cleaned after, and not some random driftwood. (He did do some weird serving stuff for his TV programs, but that was kinda the point - they were usually experiments and definitely one-offs as part of the wider experience)
Load More Replies...
Valisbourne Spiritforge 3 years ago
Half of this isn't even quirky or cute, it's just pretentious. AND unhygienic.
Marnie 3 years ago
I didn't see even one that was quirky or cute, let alone half. The ice cream in the wheelbarrow was borderline cute. The rest were all terrible.
Load More Replies...
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
I wonder if these people knew what they were getting into. If they served me these, I’d send them back and leave. It’s ridiculous and unhygienic.
Caro Caro 3 years ago
I would not go to one of these joints and if it did happen I would send it back too! I stopped reading after a few posts.
Load More Replies...
Pungent Sauce 3 years ago
As what l’m now guessing is a “boomer” cook (50, don’t do it professionally anymore) every single one of these irritated me immensely, and honestly I quit around #12. I made very good food, presented quite well, served on nice plates. Plates are about the best thing ever for food to be put on, imho.
Candia Lee 3 years ago
As a boomer, I say you are too young to be a boomer. We are in our 70s. Baby boom after WWII, 1945-1950.
Load More Replies...
it's me again 3 years ago
I would send every one of these back & leave the restaurant. This is stupid.
Jill Bussey 3 years ago
Two comments: One - if you pay for the meal after you have finished eating, I would send it back (before eating) and ask for a proper portion, properly served; two - why do people go to these places? It is pure pretentiousness.
Shadow 3 years ago (edited)
Most of these are so unhygienic that if I was served them I would leave the restaurant and I wouldn't pay. Most of those "plates" can't be cleaned properly and would be hiding bacteria, fungus/mold and uneaten food from previous uses. The rusty bucket, the nest, the untreated wood, the barbies, the f***ing tire!! All are extremely unsanitary and would be enough for me nope right out of there!
François Bouzigues 3 years ago
Come on Bored Panda, please remove the picture of the caviar. That is the classic way to have it.
Curry on... 3 years ago
Urm...no thanks. I don't play with my food, and I don't want the restaurant to play with it either.
Filipe Vieira 3 years ago
Aside from the ridiculous, my biggest concern is the hygiene in the accessories they use.
California Jones 3 years ago
UGH. Hipsters should NOT be allowed to keep opening pretentious restaurants. You're not an iconoclast, you're a moron.
DC 3 years ago
I have this new innovative idea ... let's just make round pieces of ceramic, like, kinda flat, but the outside, kinda bowed up, so that eventually expectable liquids won't spill over ... but, the center part has to be really flat, and make up around 80 % of the diameter or so ... and, you know, for differently sized portionage, differently sized eating flat pieces may be made ... and the upbowed outside, for soups and such, my be upbowed a little more, so that you can, like, fill these ... and then, let's sell them! Although they do not serve any other purpose than being eaten from, I have a feeling that founding a startup to promote and make these might be a bigtime winning operation, hahaha, although it sounds so scary and weird and frightening even, this will totally work out! I even already have a name for these things: Eat bottoms. Or potato coasters. Or ... whatever we name this fanciest of the fancy fancieties, they'll, like, practically sell themselves with any name.
Grungy Gecko 3 years ago
Ngl a bunch of these aren't even that bad. For this to be an art website, some of y'all lame asf
Joanna Werman 3 years ago
Oh I so don't get this. Years ago I was responsible for creating a children's menu and the chef wanted to serve it in the back of a toy pickup truck. Not
Thorfin Wolfsbane 3 years ago
Hmmm, I'm terrible at cooking but want to be a chef...I know I'll serve terrible food on weird stuff and hope the novelty brings me income!
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
I can hear my father say "Waiter, I think you've made a mistake. I wanted food, you served me your cooks nervous breakdown. If you can't serve me food on a plate like it's been the custom in civilisation for centuries, I well politely decline, step out and find a real restaurant."
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
I'd be calling the health department on most of these. You can't serve food to the public on "plates" that aren't made from food safe materials, or "plates" that can't be sanitized between uses. Don't even get me started on the rusty, peeling paint vessels.
Gail Bresser 2 years ago
If someone put this crap in front of me, I would get up and walk away. So many of these are completely unhygienic.
Joyce Blodgett 2 years ago
I'm very glad the only two restaurants I can eat in (severe allergies, so don't go out to eat much) serve everything normally, on clean plates and bowls, with flatware, cups, etc. Nothing weird or "quirky."
Cydney Golden 3 years ago
I love to cook, love to go out to eat. But I'm just old...I want a clean plate that looks like a plate.
nala simba 3 years ago
We need more of these for influencers! Me? I wouldn't go inside a place like that, or I would it send back to the kitchen to serve properly. Disgusting. Yuk!
Marnie 3 years ago
This is honestly upsetting. Who would ever go back to a place like this? First of all, I wouldn't just accept it. I'd say I wasn't going to eat it, make them take it back, then I'd go to a real restaurant. I'd go out of my way to find every place I could to give them one star review. They only stay open if there are people who actually accept this nonsense. That there are such people is what is upsetting.
Chantal Noordeloos 3 years ago
I actually think most of these were really awesome! But even I have to admit some were extremely unpractical and a few even a little disgusting. I happen to like getting weird plates and glasses. It makes the food more memorable. As for eating caviar off your hand: that’s very common! We learned that here too (in the Netherlands)
Suze Williams 3 years ago
I really don't understand this modern day pretentious presentation bull s**t! Id rather have my food served on a polystyrene plate rather than any of these dumb ideas!
Chewie Baron 3 years ago
There's a tv show over here the the UK called 'Great British Menu' and every year they have a theme for the banquet, in the past it's been to celebrate the NHS, The Women's Institute and the celebrate Children's Literature, and the chefs competing have to come up with a menu fitting the brief so they'll often use props to serve the food. They do tie in with whatever the theme of the banquet is, but as it's for a banquet, it's not so bad.
AnnaBanana 3 years ago
I love that show! As for weird servingware, I reckon Michael O'Hare had the cookiest when he was a contestant.
Load More Replies...
Inga Paškevičiūtė 3 years ago
So f**k my clothes and me apparently, right? Who wants to eat like a pig, god damn. I'm upset, they ruined perfectly delicious food, presented it in an unappealing way... God damnit.
Noel Benavente 3 years ago
This is what happen when some idiots believe that a banana attached to a wall with adhesive tape is a piece of art...
Kayla J 3 years ago
I just feel like if you're going to serve me in a mini wheelbarrow, hat, trash bin, or throw a skeleton model on my food, that I should be able to keep it as a prize.
Sawdust 3 years ago
Like a souvenir ice cream baseball helmet at a stadium.
Load More Replies... Horatio Jay 3 years ago
I've almost never seen well-executed "quirky" serving ideas. If you want to stand out, let the quality of your cuisine speak for itself.
NsG 3 years ago
Exactly. The king of quirky cuisine is Heston Blumenthal - he does things like make apple purée in the shape of a pork chop and makes the pork chop look like potato wedges or whatever, and other random taste combinations and "feasts for the eyes", but from what I've seen on the internet, his restaurant serves quirky food on actual *plates*. There are some things served on breadboards, but they appear to have been specifically designed for this use and able to be properly cleaned after, and not some random driftwood. (He did do some weird serving stuff for his TV programs, but that was kinda the point - they were usually experiments and definitely one-offs as part of the wider experience)
Load More Replies... Valisbourne Spiritforge 3 years ago
Half of this isn't even quirky or cute, it's just pretentious. AND unhygienic.
Marnie 3 years ago
I didn't see even one that was quirky or cute, let alone half. The ice cream in the wheelbarrow was borderline cute. The rest were all terrible.
Load More Replies... Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
I wonder if these people knew what they were getting into. If they served me these, I’d send them back and leave. It’s ridiculous and unhygienic.
Caro Caro 3 years ago
I would not go to one of these joints and if it did happen I would send it back too! I stopped reading after a few posts.
Load More Replies... Pungent Sauce 3 years ago
As what l’m now guessing is a “boomer” cook (50, don’t do it professionally anymore) every single one of these irritated me immensely, and honestly I quit around #12. I made very good food, presented quite well, served on nice plates. Plates are about the best thing ever for food to be put on, imho.
Candia Lee 3 years ago
As a boomer, I say you are too young to be a boomer. We are in our 70s. Baby boom after WWII, 1945-1950.
Load More Replies... it's me again 3 years ago
I would send every one of these back & leave the restaurant. This is stupid.
Jill Bussey 3 years ago
Two comments: One - if you pay for the meal after you have finished eating, I would send it back (before eating) and ask for a proper portion, properly served; two - why do people go to these places? It is pure pretentiousness.
Shadow 3 years ago (edited)
Most of these are so unhygienic that if I was served them I would leave the restaurant and I wouldn't pay. Most of those "plates" can't be cleaned properly and would be hiding bacteria, fungus/mold and uneaten food from previous uses. The rusty bucket, the nest, the untreated wood, the barbies, the f***ing tire!! All are extremely unsanitary and would be enough for me nope right out of there!
François Bouzigues 3 years ago
Come on Bored Panda, please remove the picture of the caviar. That is the classic way to have it.
Curry on... 3 years ago
Urm...no thanks. I don't play with my food, and I don't want the restaurant to play with it either.
Filipe Vieira 3 years ago
Aside from the ridiculous, my biggest concern is the hygiene in the accessories they use.
California Jones 3 years ago
UGH. Hipsters should NOT be allowed to keep opening pretentious restaurants. You're not an iconoclast, you're a moron.
DC 3 years ago
I have this new innovative idea ... let's just make round pieces of ceramic, like, kinda flat, but the outside, kinda bowed up, so that eventually expectable liquids won't spill over ... but, the center part has to be really flat, and make up around 80 % of the diameter or so ... and, you know, for differently sized portionage, differently sized eating flat pieces may be made ... and the upbowed outside, for soups and such, my be upbowed a little more, so that you can, like, fill these ... and then, let's sell them! Although they do not serve any other purpose than being eaten from, I have a feeling that founding a startup to promote and make these might be a bigtime winning operation, hahaha, although it sounds so scary and weird and frightening even, this will totally work out! I even already have a name for these things: Eat bottoms. Or potato coasters. Or ... whatever we name this fanciest of the fancy fancieties, they'll, like, practically sell themselves with any name.
Grungy Gecko 3 years ago
Ngl a bunch of these aren't even that bad. For this to be an art website, some of y'all lame asf
Joanna Werman 3 years ago
Oh I so don't get this. Years ago I was responsible for creating a children's menu and the chef wanted to serve it in the back of a toy pickup truck. Not
Thorfin Wolfsbane 3 years ago
Hmmm, I'm terrible at cooking but want to be a chef...I know I'll serve terrible food on weird stuff and hope the novelty brings me income!
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
I can hear my father say "Waiter, I think you've made a mistake. I wanted food, you served me your cooks nervous breakdown. If you can't serve me food on a plate like it's been the custom in civilisation for centuries, I well politely decline, step out and find a real restaurant."
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
I'd be calling the health department on most of these. You can't serve food to the public on "plates" that aren't made from food safe materials, or "plates" that can't be sanitized between uses. Don't even get me started on the rusty, peeling paint vessels.
Gail Bresser 2 years ago
If someone put this crap in front of me, I would get up and walk away. So many of these are completely unhygienic.
Joyce Blodgett 2 years ago
I'm very glad the only two restaurants I can eat in (severe allergies, so don't go out to eat much) serve everything normally, on clean plates and bowls, with flatware, cups, etc. Nothing weird or "quirky."
Cydney Golden 3 years ago
I love to cook, love to go out to eat. But I'm just old...I want a clean plate that looks like a plate.
nala simba 3 years ago
We need more of these for influencers! Me? I wouldn't go inside a place like that, or I would it send back to the kitchen to serve properly. Disgusting. Yuk!
Marnie 3 years ago
This is honestly upsetting. Who would ever go back to a place like this? First of all, I wouldn't just accept it. I'd say I wasn't going to eat it, make them take it back, then I'd go to a real restaurant. I'd go out of my way to find every place I could to give them one star review. They only stay open if there are people who actually accept this nonsense. That there are such people is what is upsetting.
Chantal Noordeloos 3 years ago
I actually think most of these were really awesome! But even I have to admit some were extremely unpractical and a few even a little disgusting. I happen to like getting weird plates and glasses. It makes the food more memorable. As for eating caviar off your hand: that’s very common! We learned that here too (in the Netherlands)
Suze Williams 3 years ago
I really don't understand this modern day pretentious presentation bull s**t! Id rather have my food served on a polystyrene plate rather than any of these dumb ideas!
Chewie Baron 3 years ago
There's a tv show over here the the UK called 'Great British Menu' and every year they have a theme for the banquet, in the past it's been to celebrate the NHS, The Women's Institute and the celebrate Children's Literature, and the chefs competing have to come up with a menu fitting the brief so they'll often use props to serve the food. They do tie in with whatever the theme of the banquet is, but as it's for a banquet, it's not so bad.
AnnaBanana 3 years ago
I love that show! As for weird servingware, I reckon Michael O'Hare had the cookiest when he was a contestant.
Load More Replies... Inga Paškevičiūtė 3 years ago
So f**k my clothes and me apparently, right? Who wants to eat like a pig, god damn. I'm upset, they ruined perfectly delicious food, presented it in an unappealing way... God damnit.
Noel Benavente 3 years ago
This is what happen when some idiots believe that a banana attached to a wall with adhesive tape is a piece of art...
You May Like Gourmet Restaurant Jokes For Foodies Who Love Dining Out 98 Funny Restaurant Names From Owners With A Sense Of Humor
Eligijus Sinkunas
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Related on Bored Panda
