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A guilty pleasure some of us have (and, we hope, some of you do, too) is reading through the entire menu at a restaurant or cafe, looking for odd slips, grammar mistakes, and hilarious Photoshop fails. You know, for r-research purposes of course (that was a lie, we enjoy feeling superior and poking fun at bsaic grremar mstakess and anyone who thinks that Photoshop is an actual store).
Some menus, however, are so incredibly bad, so magnificently funny that people couldn’t help but take a picture and share it online for everyone to shame! Shame! Shame! The Photoshop and grammar-loving team at Bored Panda has collected this list of the most egregious menu fails to raise your mood, so have a scroll through and upvote the best of the worst.
And remember, folks, to paraphrase our glorious culinary leader Gordon Ramsay, if the menu has pictures in it, it’s time to start panicking!
Bored Panda talked about editing, proofreading, and kerning (aka the spacing between letters) issues in restaurant menus with Lisa McLendon, the News and Information Track Chair at the University of Kansas and the Bremner Editing Center Coordinator. Read on for her insights and, if you happen to be working on a menu right now, her advice on how to best present the text so its readable, clear, and doesn't cause embarrassing misunderstandings.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
It's On Their Menu
RELATED:
#2
The Peas Are Upside Down
#3
The Sushi Restaurant, That I Went To, Accidentally Put A Picture Of USB Sushi On Their Menu
"Word placement, typeface, and kerning are crucial for effective, professional-looking logos and layouts," McLendon from the University of Kansas said. "If it’s just a few words, all-caps is fine, but it’s harder for people to read longer blocks of text in all caps. It’s also harder for people to read italic or highly stylized type, or type along a curve instead of a line."
She explained to Bored Panda that if you're working with words that are stacked or circled, you ought to look for all the various ways in which they could be misread or read out of order. "Make sure the starting point for readers is as clear as it can be," she said.
Meanwhile, if the kerning is too tight, the letters could run together and create some incredibly embarrassing misreadings. (Side-note: remember that if you ever write the word 'flickering' in capitals and don't want things to get out of hand fast.)
#4
This Seductive Duck I Found On A Menu In Vietnam, Complete With An Excellent Typo
#5
Translated The Menu, Boss
Serial pacifist 3 years ago (edited)
Can I have a Dfgjkghjf Hdfhd with some kfjdrigld on the side, please?
#6
This Menu
Raine Soo 3 years ago
Is it only supposed to appeal to children? I can't keep my eyes straight.
TheLazyPoki 3 years ago
Nope. I'm a child and can barely read that. (could just be my ADHD tho-)
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Foxxy (The Original) 3 years ago
I am sorry but if I walked into a restaurant and this was there menu, I would actually walk out again.
Livvy 3 years ago
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. I thought you didn't like them so I donated them to a restaurant so that their menu could end up on a Bored Panda post."
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StrawberryParfait 3 years ago
It would have been fine if they stuck to one color per menu item.
Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 3 years ago (edited)
They might be able to read it better. The problem with this is there is too much color..
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white_shadow 3 years ago
They ran out of money and decided to visit Dollar Tree . . . this was the only thing they could find.
Just another bot 3 years ago
That could be cute in (very) small amounts...like for "titles" maybe, like starters / mains / smoothies etc
Sofie 3 years ago
It's like in magazines where the letters are scrambled and you should find words. The word that I find on this menu is what I'll have I guess 😅
Mary Peace 3 years ago
Sofie, do you mean Wordsearch? I like crosswords, etc but can't do wordsearch for that reason.
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uber mensch 3 years ago
Need to tell management that somebody is covering up the menu with Skittles.
Black Goat of the Woods 3 years ago
oh my god, is this made with single magnetic letters? it looks like an earthquake hit the middle part! either that or the almond amaretto caramel cherry chocolate coconut english toffee french vanilla hazelnut kahlua peach raspberry toasted marshmallow vanilla white chocolate has seriously gotten out of control...
Nameless 4 3 years ago
If the lighting wasn't so darn low, or the metal was painted white, it might actually work.
tinker bell 3 years ago
what the hell was the person who did this drunk or on drugs becuase i can read it
Bacony Cakes 3 years ago
This is designed to help you understand dyslexia if the map of must-see locations in Iceland doesn't work.
Bacony Cakes 3 years ago
No really, this is hell for my eyes. I hate this. Please burn it. I understand dyslexia now.
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DanikaSerina 3 years ago
I can read the mirror 1 better than this. And my ocd is wondering why isn't at least color sorted
McLendon said that, in her opinion, we should all give the people working on restaurant menus a break. "Especially if they’re not native speakers because their job is food, not language," she said about those employees who are asked to work on the menus because of budgeting issues.
"That said, a particularly awful or amusing typo can make a business go viral in a negative way—not something any business wants. The easiest thing is obvious, but many people forget to do it: run a spell-check. Spell-check will catch any typo that is a misspelling (most typos on restaurant menus are). But spell-check won’t catch typos that result in a word that is still a word, just not the word you want."
The solution? McLendon suggests having someone else proofread the menu text before sending it off for printing. "Some printing companies provide this service, plus there are freelance editors who do proofreading, and I’ve also heard of small businesses swapping services for work like proofreading."
#7
This “Plane” On My Airline Menu
#8
My Friend Is In Florence, Italy And This Restaurant He's At Has An Assassins Creed Screenshot As Their Menu Background
#9
Anyone Want Some Thai Food?
Menus with pictures in them generally indicate that the place you’re eating at is a little bit on the cheap side. (If they’re laminated, get out of there, quick! Gordon Ramsay has a point, after all.)
Now, there’s nothing wrong with eating cheap food once in a while—who doesn’t enjoy a cheeky curry or a guilt-free kebab in the middle of the night when we’re peckish? But there’s something to be said for glancing a bit deeper into unchanging menus with low-quality pictures in them.
#10
Subway Salad Menu
#11
This Was The Image Of Choice For An Ice Cream Menu In Austria
#12
This Busy Ice Cream Shop In Seattle Put Their Menu On A Mirror So It’s Impossible To Read
However you might want to slice things (pun not intended), menus with pictures indicate that the owners of your chosen eatery aren’t investing a lot of money into the business, the staff, or the food. While this isn’t an automatic death sentence (plenty of businesses care about their employees, though, then again, plenty also don’t), it does mean that the quality of the food might be low.
Frozen, canned, and processed food is the norm. And if saving’s the main goal, you can bet your bottom dollar that leftovers will be reheated in microwaves and brought to you as though it was all fresh.
#13
This Picture Isn't Blurry, That's How The Menu Looks
#14
French Restaurant Menu
#15
"You'll Need To Use The Flashlight On Your Phone To Read The Menu" - Waitress
Meanwhile, if the staff aren’t paid enough or motivated in some other way to act professionally, hygiene standards can drop. This can mean that the weirdly-photoshopped burger meal you’re laughing your head off at while flipping through the menu is an indication of low standards and nasty things crawling all over the kitchen.
What’s more, even if by some miracle the pics in the menu look terrific, there lies another problem: what you see and what you’re bound to get can be two completely different things. That’s why, personally, we’re in favor of small menus that only have words on them. If in doubt, you can always ask your server about each meal and they’ll be glad to tell you all about them.
#16
Top-Notch Photoshop On This Greek Menu
#17
An Online Menu For A Restaurant I Was Considering Eating At
#18
This Menu
#19
The Peas On This Menu Photo Are Photoshopped In
#20
The Motherlode Of The 90s Nightmares
#21
Got Those Drinks On The Menu, Boss
Small and clear menus don’t mean simple and boring! If it’s readable, approachable, and user-friendly, your clients are more likely to get to the meat of things (literally, if they’re not vegan) and leave a healthy-sized tip.
#22
This Restaurant Wraps Their Menu Around A Wooden Stick. There Was Absolutely No Explanation Or Purpose To It
#23
This Cocktail Menu
#24
I Honestly Don’t Know What To Look At
#25
I'm Impressed That This Thai Menu Has Text Cropping Both Over And Under The Image
#26
This Menu That Seems To Be Upside Down At First Look
#27
This Restaurant Pirated The Pirate Bay Torrent Site Logo For Their Menu
#28
Seen At A Restaurant In A 5-Star Hotel In Los Angeles
#29
This Is What I Found On The Menu Of A Pizzeria
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Rose the Cook 3 years ago
My favorite menu typo is a Beijing hotel with a neon sign on top of the building that declares in English, "We burn the steak every Thursday" to promote their grill night. The table menu offers "Lamp Chops."
Raine Soo 3 years ago
I have mentioned this before, but my favourite typo was on a Chinese restaurant menu. There was human beef on it. My niece kicked up a fuss: "Ewwww! That's disgusting!" I told her that it was supposed to be Hunan beef. We still laugh about it.
Roland Gosselin 3 years ago
I am a graphic designer and this makes me so depressed... but also very confident that I will never be out of work, ever. :)
MizAdeleM 3 years ago
I bet that most of these were "designed" by non-designers; an employee with some basic software or on-line template. This is what you get from not having a graphic designer work on something so important for your business. Yes, the Mom & Pop places do get a pass, but some of these restaurants looked high-end. I've been a graphic designer for bout 35 years, and many a time, I had to talk clients out of doing a certain thing that they wanted. Yellow text on white paper was one. I designed menus for a hospital, and made the text a bit larger as people often forget their eyeglasses when they end up in a hospital.
N G 3 years ago
Our local pub managed to misspell "spaghetti" twice, on two different menu items. The third item it was spelt correctly, but then they misspelt "tomatoes"!
Jonas Grinevičius 3 years ago
Hi, N G, that sounds absolutely hilarious! Any chance that you've got any photos of the menu?
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Stephanie Chapman 3 years ago
This was a sign I saw for smoothies in Japan. Do you want mango, banana, or Pain or a Flesh flavored smoothie? flesh-6020...0cdcdb.jpg 
Mary Hiers 3 years ago
There is a restaurant one town over from me that categorizes the selections as "Steak," "Chicken," "Salads," "Desserts," and "Children Under 12."
Walter 3 years ago
One time at an asian restaurant, there was a whole page filled with just, "ASIAN RIBS" and then they had different prices. The funniest part is that the waiter explained after we asked about it. "That's just because we have different prices for each one." But that still makes NO SENSEEEEEEE
Andrew Warmington 3 years ago
Way before the internet I travelled in India and stayed at a place where the menu included Chicken Bullet, Chicken Hens and Egg Cyloned Parrots...
Stephanie Chapman 3 years ago
#13 is a plant based ice cream store called "Frankie & Jo's". I have been there and don't remember having a hard time reading the menu.
Lexi Mitchell 3 years ago
I can just imagine Gordon Ramsay going to these places for one of his shows.
Charlotte A. 3 years ago
I bet most of these were made by family members considered "good at computers" because they're marginally better than say, mom & dad (whoever owns the restaurant).
Rose the Cook 3 years ago
My favorite menu typo is a Beijing hotel with a neon sign on top of the building that declares in English, "We burn the steak every Thursday" to promote their grill night. The table menu offers "Lamp Chops."
Raine Soo 3 years ago
I have mentioned this before, but my favourite typo was on a Chinese restaurant menu. There was human beef on it. My niece kicked up a fuss: "Ewwww! That's disgusting!" I told her that it was supposed to be Hunan beef. We still laugh about it.
Roland Gosselin 3 years ago
I am a graphic designer and this makes me so depressed... but also very confident that I will never be out of work, ever. :)
MizAdeleM 3 years ago
I bet that most of these were "designed" by non-designers; an employee with some basic software or on-line template. This is what you get from not having a graphic designer work on something so important for your business. Yes, the Mom & Pop places do get a pass, but some of these restaurants looked high-end. I've been a graphic designer for bout 35 years, and many a time, I had to talk clients out of doing a certain thing that they wanted. Yellow text on white paper was one. I designed menus for a hospital, and made the text a bit larger as people often forget their eyeglasses when they end up in a hospital.
N G 3 years ago
Our local pub managed to misspell "spaghetti" twice, on two different menu items. The third item it was spelt correctly, but then they misspelt "tomatoes"!
Jonas Grinevičius 3 years ago
Hi, N G, that sounds absolutely hilarious! Any chance that you've got any photos of the menu?
Load More Replies... Stephanie Chapman 3 years ago
This was a sign I saw for smoothies in Japan. Do you want mango, banana, or Pain or a Flesh flavored smoothie? flesh-6020...0cdcdb.jpg
Mary Hiers 3 years ago
There is a restaurant one town over from me that categorizes the selections as "Steak," "Chicken," "Salads," "Desserts," and "Children Under 12."
Walter 3 years ago
One time at an asian restaurant, there was a whole page filled with just, "ASIAN RIBS" and then they had different prices. The funniest part is that the waiter explained after we asked about it. "That's just because we have different prices for each one." But that still makes NO SENSEEEEEEE
Andrew Warmington 3 years ago
Way before the internet I travelled in India and stayed at a place where the menu included Chicken Bullet, Chicken Hens and Egg Cyloned Parrots...
Stephanie Chapman 3 years ago
#13 is a plant based ice cream store called "Frankie & Jo's". I have been there and don't remember having a hard time reading the menu.
Lexi Mitchell 3 years ago
I can just imagine Gordon Ramsay going to these places for one of his shows.
Charlotte A. 3 years ago
I bet most of these were made by family members considered "good at computers" because they're marginally better than say, mom & dad (whoever owns the restaurant).
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