22 Particularly Pretentious Restaurant Meals Served on Anything But a Plate

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Jun 9, 2026 3:45 PM EDT

What's wrong with eating a meal served on something practical?

Food is a wonderful thing for many different reasons, but one of its downsides is that it has a tendency to encourage the most pompous impulses of some chefs. We have all seen those annoying, high-end conceptual restaurants that serve bite-sized meals in ridiculous ways and claim that it's an 'experience', but it isn't just these kinds of venues that have an occasional aversion to the traditional porcelain serving plate. 

It is all very well wanting to be creative, and give a diner a side of novelty along with their hopefully tasty food. It is quite another thing to be slapping that culinary delight on a random object and acting like that makes it more edible. The journey away from plates and bowls to weirder ways of serving not only boggles the mind, but it is often downright impractical, too. There is a reason that we didn't stray away from the classics for so many years, and that is because they are so effective at doing the job that they are supposed to.

There is one upside to the madness of abandoning the humble plate, and that is the fact that it does have some entertainment value (provided you are not the one expected to eat off of that thing). It is highly amusing to bear witness to the various ways of serving food that some overly ambitious cook decided would come across as impressive, but just ended up confusing everybody.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

plate restaurant gross food food
Scroll Down For The Next Article

Also From Memebase

Guy in an 8-month situationship surprises his 24-year-old partner with chocolate on a bad day and gets called a stalker for knowing her schedule

Guy in an 8-month situationship surprises his 24-year-old partner with chocolate on a bad day and gets called a stalker for knowing her schedule

Trending Now

Mom Pressures 17-Year-Old Daughter to Give Her College Scholarship Stipend to Her so She Can Pay For Household Expenses

Mom Pressures 17-Year-Old Daughter to Give Her College Scholarship Stipend to Her so She Can Pay For Household Expenses

01
College student went through 2 years of silence from her parents, tells them they lost the right to have opinions on her life now that they suddenly want to weigh in on everything

College student went through 2 years of silence from her parents, tells them they lost the right to have opinions on her life now that they suddenly want to weigh in on everything

02
New boss denies PTO requests from every employee, lets their PTO days expire without them getting paid for them: 'They've changed the rules'

New boss denies PTO requests from every employee, lets their PTO days expire without them getting paid for them: 'They've changed the rules'

03
'Got in trouble for having a life outside of work': Boss chews out employee for taking time off during the summer

'Got in trouble for having a life outside of work': Boss chews out employee for taking time off during the summer

04
Tolkien Tuesday: The Best Lord of the Rings Memes This Week

Tolkien Tuesday: The Best Lord of the Rings Memes This Week

05
21 Aging Memes for Millennials Who Are Still Just Teens

21 Aging Memes for Millennials Who Are Still Just Teens

06
Advertisement