Gen Z “suffering menu anxiety at restaurants”

[Richey Edwards]

I get anxiety trying to decide which P&B thread to post in.

[Mark Connolly]

There's a girl in our office who had a meltdown on a night out because the restaurant had run out of what she wanted to order. She had spent the previous week studying the menu and selecting that one dish, and couldn't cope with the pressure of having to choose something else.

 

[effeffsee_the2nd]

2 hours ago, BFTD said:

I genuinely didn't know people felt pressure when ordering in restaurants. Is that why so many people want to know what everyone else is ordering before they'll make a decision themselves? I've known people who would get really annoyed if you wouldn't tell them, so now I feel like a bit of a c**t for dicking them around.

Dunno if this helps, but you're attending a business that exists entirely to make money by pleasing you - it's one of the few occasions in life where people are there to cater to your wishes. There are no wrong decisions, and nobody's judging you for what you eat or drink; they'll barely remember you within five minutes, as they'll serve hundreds of people during their shift. The only thing anyone cares about is that you pay your bill and don't act like a Karen, which doesn't include politely pointing out that they've brought you the wrong thing, or that your food is cold/not prepared as you requested. The emphasis being on "politely".

Edit: fussy eaters are fine so long as they understand it's their problem, and act accordingly. Unfortunately, there are plenty who like to inflict it on everyone else.

Finding a lot of foods repulsive seems common with the neurodivergent too, along with being disgusted by the idea of different foodstuffs touching each other on the plate. People can't control how they feel about these things, but know your own issues and make polite requests. Most restaurants will happily make adjustments and if they refuse, you know where to avoid in future. Unfortunately, this is learned behaviour, so worth bearing in mind if you have a younger colleague who seems like they're acting the c**t; they might just need to see a better way of handling things.

I am one of those ND c***s, now I am the probably the furthest from a fussy eater you will get, But nevertheless  there are certain combinations I don't like, but it's not an issue much now that I'm an adult in my 30's but things like beans touching the rest of my breakfast could make me lose my appetite completely when I was wee.  I still sometimes do this weird thing of eating all the items on a plate in order rather than a bite of this n that, varies from day to day. 

[Richey Edwards]

6 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

There's a girl in our office who had a meltdown on a night out because the restaurant had run out of what she wanted to order. She had spent the previous week studying the menu and selecting that one dish, and couldn't cope with the pressure of having to choose something else.

 

Clearly she has never played Football Manager.

You need a:

1) first choice selection

2) dependable back up / up-and-coming prospect.

for every position.

 

Set herself up for failure IMO.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Richey Edwards

[BFTD]

5 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

There's a girl in our office who had a meltdown on a night out because the restaurant had run out of what she wanted to order. She had spent the previous week studying the menu and selecting that one dish, and couldn't cope with the pressure of having to choose something else.

What did she want, just out of curiosity?

4 minutes ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

I am one of those ND c***s, now I am the probably the furthest from a fussy eater you will get, But nevertheless  there are certain combinations I don't like, but it's not an issue much now that I'm an adult in my 30's but things like beans touching the rest of my breakfast could make me lose my appetite completely when I was wee.  I still sometimes do this weird thing of eating all the items on a plate in order rather than a bite of this n that, varies from day to day. 

My son has the food-touching thing, and eats everything in order. Couldn't get him to eat potato for years until it occurred to me that I could put it on a seperate plate from his meat so "meat juice" didn't get on it. I'm not very bright.

His mother thought I was some kind of savage for "food combining" (eating one food with another on the same fork), so maybe it runs in the family. Food must be really boring if you can't have a bit of mash with your chicken, or brussel sprout with your turkey.

[BFTD]

5 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Clearly she has never played Football Manager.

You need a:

1) first choice selection

2) dependable back up / up-and-coming prospect.

for every position.

 

Set herself up for failure IMO.

Nightmare when they both get injured in the same game by looking askance at a Roy Keane regen.

Of course, if you're Brian Rice, you're playing your strikers/dessert at wing-back/entrée anyway, so just replace them with a goalkeeper/fruity cocktail and you're set.

[Richey Edwards]

11 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Nightmare when they both get injured in the same game by looking askance at a Roy Keane regen.

Of course, if you're Brian Rice, you're playing your strikers/dessert at wing-back/entrée anyway, so just replace them with a goalkeeper/fruity cocktail and you're set.

Dip into the kids menu if you run out of options.

[hatchetman]

Carrots don't go with chips no matter what age you are.

[Mark Connolly]

23 minutes ago, BFTD said:

What did she want, just out of curiosity?

We were in an Italian restaurant, and it was some sort of pasta. Apparently there was no suitable alternative…

[BFTD]

6 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Dip into the kids menu if you run out of options.

Well well well.

@Inanimate Carbon Rod - got another one for your boys here.

Just now, Mark Connolly said:

We were in an Italian restaurant, and it was some sort of pasta. Apparently there was no suitable alternative…

Sounds mad, until you realise they were out of pasta.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

34 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Clearly she has never played Football Manager.

You need a:

1) first choice selection

2) dependable back up / up-and-coming prospect.

for every position.

 

Set herself up for failure IMO.

Third choice for me is Chicken Maryland as a false 9.

[senorsoupe]

I'm 38 and sometimes get a certain amount of Menu anxiety, mostly when the menu has way too many options.  Part of it is struggling to pick one thing and part of it is knowing that the cooks are unlikely to be able to make all 75 options really well so I am likely to be disappointed

[Craig fae the Vale]

15 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

We were in an Italian restaurant, and it was some sort of pasta. Apparently there was no suitable alternative…

It's absolutely mental to not pick a backup choice. I get reading the menu and picking what you want beforehand, but not to have another choice in case your first choice is unavailable is bonkers if you're going to be that cut up about it.

[BFTD]

TBF, I don't think Mark's claiming that she launched a dirty protest because they didn't have any alfredo sauce.

Well, unless they were at Wetherspoon, where I believe that's how you let the waiter know you're ready to order.

[Jacksgranda]

4 hours ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I was placed next to a woman at our Christmas meal last week who ‘didn’t like’ any of the starters, and who only ate the roast potatoes from the main course. She basically just had dessert for her dinner. Fussy eaters are genuinely up there with nonces for me as some of the worst people in society.

I've yet to go to a restaurant where there wasn't at least one thing I liked.

I usually manage a starter, main course and a pudding.

[Jacksgranda]

3 hours ago, BFTD said:

There's too many of them, and they're fitter/stronger than us.

We need someone to come up with a final solution for the problem of youth. Waiting for them to become miserable auld c***s takes too long.

It didn't seem to take too long for me...

[GHF-23]

1 hour ago, BFTD said:

What did she want, just out of curiosity?

My son has the food-touching thing, and eats everything in order. Couldn't get him to eat potato for years until it occurred to me that I could put it on a seperate plate from his meat so "meat juice" didn't get on it. I'm not very bright.

His mother thought I was some kind of savage for "food combining" (eating one food with another on the same fork), so maybe it runs in the family. Food must be really boring if you can't have a bit of mash with your chicken, or brussel sprout with your turkey.

I feel for them that they'll never know the joy of putting all the last bits of your roast dinner into a Yorkshire pudding and eating that up together 

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

It's absolutely mental to not pick a backup choice. I get reading the menu and picking what you want beforehand, but not to have another choice in case your first choice is unavailable is bonkers if you're going to be that cut up about it.

Why, are you somebody's first choice meal...

[carpetmonster]

1 hour ago, senorsoupe said:

I'm 38 and sometimes get a certain amount of Menu anxiety, mostly when the menu has way too many options.  Part of it is struggling to pick one thing and part of it is knowing that the cooks are unlikely to be able to make all 75 options really well so I am likely to be disappointed

If I'm at a 'generalist' restaurant - diner or some such - and nothing jumps out at me, I'll usually go for the Mexican dishes as huge chance that's who's comprising the kitchen team in Chicago so you'd hope those should be decent. Work out which nationality's most overrepresented in Torontonian kitchens. 

ETA - this did bite me in the arse once when I ordered chilaquiles at a diner and was given a weird sort of loaf of American cheese and sadness. The tomatillo sauce - which you only got a thimbleful of - was great and suggested the kitchen knew what they were doing but that it was a management decision to have them send out a plateful of depression. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by carpetmonster

[pawpar]

6 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Yes, hot on the heels of fabric softener and answering the door, it’s another thing that Gen Z are ruining for everyone!

A survey for Prezzo has found that 86% of 18-24 year olds (Gen Z) have experienced anxiety when ordering from a restaurant menu. A third of this cohort said they would ask another diner to speak to the waiting staff for them. Cost and the worry of not finding something they liked in the menu have been attributed to this phenomenon.

Personally I get menu anxiety if I’m in a Prezzo because the food is overpriced shite so I’m with Generation Z here.

Have any P&Bers ever suffered from menu anxiety?

What other staples of life will Gen Z take from us next?

 

Gen Z probably getting anxious about what pronouns the fish, meat and vegetables are ?