r/restaurants

Hi guys,

I was at a restaurant yesterday, staring at the menu for way too long and having absolutely no idea what to order.

There were dishes I'd never heard of, ingredients I didn't recognize, and a bunch of options where I couldn't tell what was actually worth trying.

It got me thinking:

What if the boring, static restaurant menu was actually an AI agent you could talk to?

Instead of scrolling through 100 items, you could simply ask:

“I'm vegetarian, I want something spicy, and I'm really hungry. What should I get?”

Or:

“What's your bestseller?”

“What pairs well with this?”

“Is this very spicy?”

“What's good if I don't like onions?”

“I want something under ₹500.”

And instead of just recommending something, the agent could actually build and place the order:

“Okay, I'll go with the butter chicken, garlic naan and a mango lassi.”

“Done. Your order is ₹620. Confirm?”

I'm wondering if this is actually useful or if I'm over engineering a problem that people don't really have.

If you were sitting in a restaurant and had access to something like this, would you actually use it instead of asking the waiter?

And for restaurant owners: would something like this genuinely help your business, or would it just create another layer of complexity?

Would love some brutally honest opinions.

Hey guys!

Just to give a little context I’m 24F and I live in Charlotte NC and I sub for school (hopefully) i have that interview Monday as well and I would get home about 3PM IHOP is about a 10 minute walk and Chilis is about 12 minutes driving granted I’d prefer to cut down on uber cost because it’s horrible (i can’t drive low vision) i wouldn’t mind taking the bus but from the servers pov and i know it depends on your area but like should I do Chilis. Or IHOP.

Ihop is breakfast that’s cool but i know at night it slows down a lot and Chilis sales increase at night but i believe they’re tip out is bigger and i know it sounds selfish but i need as much money in my pocket as i can get….IHOP sounds great but the location by me doesn’t get a lot of traction…

I have interviews with them Monday and Tuesday lol so please i dont know guys what should i do ?

Im not sure if this qualifies as a rant but I wish some restaurants would start incorporating an option for people with digestive difficulties. For context, I had a stomach surgery called Nissen Fundoplication(GERD issues were putting me in the fast track to get esophageal cancer), that changed my eating habits by slowing down the food intake as well as portion sizes. Similar to people taking GLP-1 medications or gastric bypass surgery.
I’m now looking at kids’ menus when we go out because otherwise I end up with several days’ worth of leftovers(if you’re a texture person, certain leftovers can get gross really fast) kids menus often only have chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, nothing truly good.
For example, ordering a standard size plate of chicken hibachi results in at least 3-4 meals worth of leftovers for me. All you can eat restaurants? No way in hell, especially when you have to pay extra for taking food home. I can’t make the price of an all you can eat restaurant worth it by any stretch of the imagination.
I know how to cook some good meals at home but I miss being able to go out to eat with my husband and enjoy a night out without having to cook.

I kept wanting to check a restaurant's health inspection before ordering, but every city buries it in a different clunky government portal. So, I pulled 10 cities' official health-department data into one place with a normalized A–F grade you can actually compare. It's free, no signup, no ads-wall, data shown unmodified straight from each city. Would love feedback how functional this might be for other people, Thank you!

.This is not a big deal, but I just remember change being dispensed differently years ago in similar situations. I remember that businesses who had no pennies to give would give change as follows:

Assuming a $5 bill tendered by customer:

Ex: Total bill $4.31, change 69 cents. Change would be 70 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.32, change 68 cents. Change would be 70 cents
Ex:Total bill $4.33, change 67 cents. Change would be 70 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.34, change 66 cents. Change would be 65 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.35, change 65 cents. Change would be 65 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.36, change 64 cents. Change would be 65 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.37. Change 63 cents. Change would be 60 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.38, change 62 cents. Change would be 60 cents
Ex: Total bill $4.39, change 61 cents. Change would be 60 cents

This place that I go to ALWAYS gives change to the owner’s benefit. In most places, I would just use a credit card. This place charges extra to use a credit card AND does not want to use pennies.

With more businesses refusing to use pennies in change, this can only become more commonplace.

I (31yr M) Went to try Alpen haus in Valparaiso IN because they market as "authentic German” restaurant.
Personally, the food didn't live up to that for me.
The bigger issue is after I left a negative review,(in my review I mentioned the head chef being hispanic for which i got called a racist for doing…i am also Hispanic) the head chef found my profile and sent me messages insulting my looks and using homophobic slurs. Calling me a racist. For questioning his culture ties with the Authentic German restaurant.
I think people deserve to know how the restaurant responds to criticism before they go.
I tried to stay professional as I could but it got to a point where i was firing insults back because I was just consistently being made fun of and insulted when i was trying to be genuine. But for someone to stalk a facebook profile and screen shot every picture i have and make fun of them calling me “Queer bait” and “Broke back Mountain” is a bit over the top and saying i look like sid the sloth and telling me he can be my daddy because he doesn’t think I have a father figure is just gross. This is my first ever reddit post so idk how i did.

Minnesotans — would a place like this appeal to you?

I had a random food concept and I’m curious what people around MN think.

Imagine a pickup-only place where instead of ordering full appetizers, you build a box with small portions of several different foods.

For example, a Pick 5 could have a slider, chicken tender, cheese curds, mozzarella sticks and a brownie.

The menu would only have around 10–12 options, and you’d build a box of 3, 5 or 8.

The idea is basically for those times when everything sounds good and you want variety without buying four full appetizers.

Would you actually buy this? What would you want in the box, and roughly what would you expect a Pick 5 to cost?

I’m thinking somewhere around the Twin Cities, possibly near a college campus.

Edit- Forgot to mention that this would be a ghost kitchen and I think if a community menu was added it will definitely have somewhat of a customer base. As for the pick up the idea was that it would be fresh instead of just sitting through a 30 min drive to get soggy food

Edit 2- As for operating hours Thursday through Sunday 4pm- Midnight, while Saturday would be open till 2am

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