Menus

[Bill Robertson]

I'm floored by people. I'm sitting at the bar of one of my favorite haunts. A guy next to me has been on his phone since he sat down. But when he asked for a menu and was told to scan the code on the bar top he threw a hissy fit. I don't get it. Be one with modern communication systems or not. And, at least in the case of this bar/grill price and availability of things vary. The online menu is up to the minute current. The nasty paper menus they can give you are now and the bartenders/servers have to point out the discrepancies. I don't get it.

[unfundedrick]

I'm floored by people. I'm sitting at the bar of one of my favorite haunts. A guy next to me has been on his phone since he sat down. But when he asked for a menu and was told to scan the code on the bar top he threw a hissy fit. I don't get it. Be one with modern communication systems or not. And, at least in the case of this bar/grill price and availability of things vary. The online menu is up to the minute current. The nasty paper menus they can give you are now and the bartenders/servers have to point out the discrepancies. I don't get it.

I also don't like for the only menu option being to scan the code with my phone but I go along with it anyway if that's required., Seeing a full menu on my phone is not nearly as easy as with a regular menu. For that reason, if I know I'm going someplace like that, I look up the menu on my desktop computer before I go to decide what I want.

[catch22]

I hate the digital menus and while I wouldn’t throw a fit I would be equally annoyed as the person you describe. I go to bars by myself a lot, and usually it is because I want a social atmosphere but generally do not wish to be bothered. So I find a corner of the bar and play with my phone and occasionally watch TV or interact with the bartender. Paper menus allow you to do both. If I am in the middle of writing a lengthy email, reading something, watching a video, in a text conversation I can keep that going while also glancing at a menu. Impossible if I have to browse the menu on my phone. The mobile menus are always clunky to load, zooming in pushes you to the next page, etc.

And if I am with company I usually prefer limited phone interaction, and the mobile menus force everyone back into their phone. There’s no interaction with someone such as spinning your menu around and pointing out items, “this looks good!” Etc, it’s now “oh it’s on page 4 under that banner”

I’m not a fan of them at all. I request paper menus all the time.

[sooner88]

I hate the digital menus and while I wouldn’t throw a fit I would be equally annoyed as the person you describe. I go to bars by myself a lot, and usually it is because I want a social atmosphere but generally do not wish to be bothered. So I find a corner of the bar and play with my phone and occasionally watch TV or interact with the bartender. Paper menus allow you to do both. If I am in the middle of writing a lengthy email, reading something, watching a video, in a text conversation I can keep that going while also glancing at a menu. Impossible if I have to browse the menu on my phone. The mobile menus are always clunky to load, zooming in pushes you to the next page, etc.

And if I am with company I usually prefer limited phone interaction, and the mobile menus force everyone back into their phone. There’s no interaction with someone such as spinning your menu around and pointing out items, “this looks good!” Etc, it’s now “oh it’s on page 4 under that banner”

I’m not a fan of them at all. I request paper menus all the time.

Depends on the restaurant, but 99% of the time I'll ask for a physical menu if it's available.

[MagzOK]

About half the time, I will have some sort of malfunctioning issue when pulling those bar-coded menus. From zooming issues, to page turning, and to even some of the bar codes not loading at all on my phone, I am generally not a fan of them. That being said, I don't get disgusted by them and try to get them to work, but overall I am a fan of the old school menu.

Good luck trying to get my parents to use digital menus. They struggle with the basic functions of their smart phones.

[Ginkasa]

I've had enough experiences with sticky menus or stained menus that I don't particularly mind the digital menus. They aren't as easy to use, for sure, with having to zoom in and scroll around, but I think its a fair trade off. That said, I think paper menus should be pretty simple to print off on demand if asked for. At the least for potential accessibility issues, but even just for personal preference.

[kukblue1]

I try to find the menu online before I go somewhere that way I know either what I want or have it down to 2 or 3 choices.

[shartel_ave]

Really? Seems super trivial

[PaddyShack]

Some places have poor signal availability and little to no wifi, There have been a number of times that I simply cannot get the menus to download. So, if restaurants want to push these digital menus, please have signal boosters and fast open wifi for me to use effortlessly. As a general rule I don't normally connect to any old wifi, just because often I won't be using my device for any length of time while eating.

[shartel_ave]

WiFi? Everyone's phones has cell signals unless you're at a restaurant in the middle no where

[Jersey Boss]

With competition between restaurants for competent staff, rising food prices, supply issues, etc. a restaurant would be incompetent to alienate customers over refusal to provide paper menus.

[PaddyShack]

WiFi? Everyone's phones has cell signals unless you're at a restaurant in the middle no where

I was in the Jones Assembly for dinner on evening and had the worse cell signal I have ever experienced in a city. There is also the issue or high volume areas/times that may cause stress on the cell signal.

[jerrywall]

I don't get upset about it, but it is annoying that restaraunts assume:

1) everyone has a smart phone
2) everyone has a smart phone with a functioning camera that can read QR codes
3) everyone has eyes good enough to try to make out stupid pdf menus on cell phones.

I don't get upset, but I do leave if I can't get a physical menu. It doesn't help that I routinely leave my phone at home or in the car when I go out to eat. I have a smartwatch that alerts me to anything important. I don't carry my phone unless I have to.

If a place is going to put menus online, they need to not put scans of PDFs online for their menu. That's lazy and honestly technologically speaking rather stupid, and from web/usability standard it's flat-out borderline malpractice if someone in the industry recommended it. At least have the menu as a responsive web app that automatically adjusts and formats for mobile devices and is usable with screen readers and such for the visibly disabled. This isn't 2005, and the capabilities to offer this is out of the box with any decent web host, and since so many of the local restaurants use Squarespace or Wix and such they could use the built in functionalities if they insist on doing this stupid practice.

[jerrywall]

With competition between restaurants for competent staff, rising food prices, supply issues, etc. a restaurant would be incompetent to alienate customers over refusal to provide paper menus.

This - I gotta wonder how many places that go this way will eventually be posting signs and facebook messages blaming staffing issues and the economy when they eventually shut down.