29+ Times Restaurants Went Too Far and Served Their Food in Questionable Ways

With so many restaurants to compete with, it seems as though many eateries across the globe are trying to stand out from the crowd. They’re getting creative with their food and even more creative with their presentation, and this sometimes leaves customers questioning their decision to leave the house.

We understand the need for these establishments to be innovative. These days, every plate has the expectation to be Instagram-worthy for its patrons. But some restaurants truly take their creativity to bizarre levels. Yep, these pictures show how over-the-top, impractical, and downright bizarre these restaurants are becoming.

Just Hanging Out With Your Meal

You don’t need to tell us that bacon is a hugely versatile food item. We already know that. You can eat it for breakfast, you can eat it for lunch, you can eat it for dinner… and you can even eat it for brunch. But while the meal in which bacon is served can change all the time, the bacon normally stays the same. In most restaurants, anyway.

We’re not sure what this restaurant was thinking when it decided to hang up its bacon like freshly washed laundry, but we’re confused on so many levels. The wooden structure may be pretty cool, but we just don’t know what purpose this serves. And while we love bacon as much as the next bacon-loving person, we don’t think that four rashers would fill you up. This must be a joke, right?

Getting Your Teeth Stuck Into Your Dinner

Trends come and go, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with what’s “hot” and what’s “not.” But one thing we do know is that normal dishes and plates must be out of fashion, as restaurants are going to the ends of the earth to find something new and exciting to serve their food on. An orthodontic mold, though? That’s just downright weird.

What makes this whole situation even more bizarre is that this isn’t just a random mold you can pick up from the store or from a dentist-themed joke shop. That food – whatever it may be – is actually sitting in the teeth of the restaurant owner! Gold-capped tooth and all. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Who’s up for Some Barcuterie?

Never once have we wondered what would happen when you mix Barbie dolls with charcuterie, but it seems as though this restaurant has. In fact, they were so intrigued that they decided to bring their creation to life and force their Lady-Gaga-esque experiment upon their unsuspecting customers. Behold… the Barcuterie.

While we can’t deny that this is a different way to serve cured meats, we can’t help but look past the intriguing aesthetic and think more about the practicality of the dish. And more than anything, we just can’t stop thinking about all of the bacteria stuck in Barbie’s hair. After all, the restaurant probably doesn’t give their dolls a wash and blow out every time they make these meat dresses…

Stick a Manure Fork in Us, We’re Done

When it comes to serving food, there are a few unwritten rules that people should follow. And perhaps the most important rule of all is that you should never make food look like excrement – but it seems as though this restaurant didn’t get that memo. We can only assume that they understood the rule to be “make the food look as much like excrement as possible” instead.

Yep, they went all out with this poop-themed dish. Not only did they make the chocolate truffles look like… well, like the chocolate truffles that would come out the back end of a horse, but they also served it on a manure fork. This really couldn’t look more like manure if it tried, and while most people love chocolate more than anything, this would put even the biggest chocoholic off their food.

Oh Deer, What a Nightmare

If you go to a fancy restaurant, you can almost guarantee that the portions are going to be tiny. It seems as though the more you have to spend on your food, the smaller that food actually is – and it just doesn’t make sense. So, the tiny venison cubes these people were served aren’t too much of a shock. It’s the way they’ve been served that’s giving us the heebie-jeebies.

Yep, this restaurant obviously wanted to use all of the deer when they bought this venison – so much so that they also decided to use the antlers as decoration. In our eyes, this whole dish is a little too on the nose, but we guess anyone who orders this meal won’t ever forget what animal it came from.

Forget the Bread, We’ll Take the Lego

Although you can always book a table in advance, there’s no telling whether a restaurant is going to be busy or not. This all depends on how many other customers they have booked at the same time as you, how many wait staff they have available, and even how the chefs are feeling on the day. So, we have to commend this restaurant for providing customers with something to occupy themselves with when they’re waiting.

Because who doesn’t love Lego? Even if we had to wait half an hour for our appetizer to arrive, we’d happily eat the bread and create our own Lego constructions to pass the time. But let’s hope that the restaurant only uses this trick for their breadbaskets, as using these Lego bowls as soup bowls would surely end in disaster. And a huge cleaning bill.

Getting Your Coffee… To Go

After you’ve finished a delicious and (hopefully) normally-presented dinner at a restaurant, you might like to finish off with a hot coffee. And why not? It’s good to treat yourself every now and again, and a coffee can be a great way to unwind and talk amongst your friends and family before you head home. And while coffee is known for causing digestional movement, it seems as though this restaurant took that notion a little too literally.

Sure, coffee may encourage people to use the toilet more regularly, but it seems as though this particular coffee allows you to drink out of a toilet as well. We don’t really know who asked for such a thing, but we guess this is a cool little inside joke between the restaurant and the customers. Five points if you’ve also spotted the hilarious name of the restaurant…

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hungry Place

We have so many questions about this dish. For one, on what planet is two chips a sufficient meal? Even for an appetizer, this doesn’t seem like a lot of food, and we’re hungry just thinking about it. But then why did this restaurant choose to serve said chips inside of a rock?

This whole process seems like a lot more hassle than it’s worth because it can’t be easy to carve these slots into rocks. And considering they do all this for just two chips that won’t put a smile on anyone’s face it just seems like a complete waste of time. But you never know; these could be the most delicious chips of all time – and it might be totally worth it.

Time To Chug Those Onion Rings

When you head to a restaurant, do you stick to the standard appetizer-main-dessert order? Or do you mess with the system and just buy a whole load of sides to munch down on? If you’re more like the latter, then we want to be your friends – because there’s nothing better than ordering fries, chicken tenders, and onion rings to share with the table. But would you eat these onion rings?

We don’t know why this restaurant decided to make a siphon tower of onion rings, but we guess we can kind of see the logic. It’s a great way to keep the onion rings altogether, but does this tower also offer instructions on how to eat them? Maybe you simply pull the onion rings off one by one. Or perhaps you put the end of the hose into your mouth and chug them all at once. Either way, we can already taste the metal.

Please Take a Charcuterie and Find a Seat

Every business needs efficiency, and while we’re all for coming up with new and exciting ways to become efficient, we have a feeling that this restaurant took it a little too far. They decided to ditch their dishes and instead allow everyone to pick up their own appetizer clipboard on their way into the establishment. A neat idea… in theory.

But in reality, this just takes away the magic of going into a restaurant and waiting for your meal to arrive. And while we don’t think we’ll be getting on board with this clipboard idea, we do have to applaud this eatery for one aspect of their presentation skills. We have no idea how they managed to stick all that food to the paper, but we’re impressed. Especially with the brie.

Who Ordered the Charcoal Waffles on a Coal Shovel?

We’re going to be totally honest with you; we don’t understand the charcoal food trend in the slightest. Why would you want to ruin perfectly good waffles by adding charcoal into the mix? But despite our reservations, people around the world are jumping on this trend and embracing it with open arms – and this restaurant is more than happy to give the people what they want.

But they didn’t want to just stop at the charcoal waffles. They wanted to give their customers a whole coal experience, which is why they served their food on a coal shovel! The whole thing is a little bizarre, and we bet the servers hate people who order this because then they have to decide whether to hold the makeshift dish from underneath, or from the tiny handle. We think we’d go for the underneath.

When You Need a Hand To Eat Your Food

There’s no doubt about the fact that the dish below looks pretty awesome. It’s beautiful, it’s full of different ingredients, and it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. But do you want to know the one thing that gives us the heebie-jeebies? The fact that it’s served on a hand. This restaurant was doing so well… and then they had to spoil it.

We don’t know about you, but we don’t want our food to be handed straight to us. Not in a literal sense, anyway. And what makes the whole thing even more confusing is the fact that the hand itself is on a plate. Why couldn’t they just skip the whole hand situation and put the food directly onto the dish below? People just always have to be so extra.

This Is Why Nobody Ever Orders a Salad

When you head to a restaurant, do you really want to order a salad? Live a little! Order the burger with extra fries! But if you do feel the need to order some leaves on the side to counteract the excessive amount of potato, you might want to avoid this place. Especially if you’re a fan of the classic caesar salad – because we’re not actually sure the picture below can be called one.

In an effort to be cool and quirky, this eatery decided to “deconstruct” their caesar salad, but in doing so they actually ruined the whole thing. Now, all that’s left are a few heads of lettuce, two and a half measly pieces of bread, and some sauce. And don’t get us started on how you’re supposed to eat this. Like a lollipop? Sandwich the lettuce between the bread? Somebody help this restaurant.

Just Having a (Cocktail) Bath

Don’t get us wrong; we love a cocktail. There’s something about adding a cherry, a straw, and a paper umbrella to a drink that just makes it so much more fun – but it seems as though many eateries and drink establishments are straying away from the traditional cocktail form. They’re opting for things that are a little more creative.

At this restaurant, you can even have a cocktail bath if you want to. Unfortunately, this doesn’t involve you plunging into a giant bathtub full of drink, but rather you have a mini bathtub complete with your very own rubber ducky. And while we admire the attention to detail, we have to question the practicality of this drink. How the heck are you supposed to drink it? From the long end of the bathtub? Or the side?

Erm, That’s Not a Gravy Boat

No meal would be complete without at least one sauce, right? Whether you love to dip your fries in ketchup or slather your chicken tenders with ranch dressing, a sauce can take a meal from 0 to 100 real quick. And it seems as though this restaurant agrees, as they wanted their customers to put gravy on their meat and mashed potatoes. We do question their “gravy boat” though.

Anyone who has ever used a portable urinal before will know exactly what we’re talking about – because that woman is pouring gravy out of it! We’re pretty sure that’s not what they were designed for and we really, truly hope that it was brand new when the restaurant decided to use it as a gravy boat. The other option is just too disgusting for words.

Warning: Not To Be Sold on the Children’s Menu

We’re all for going a bit wild with food presentation. After all, part of the restaurant experience is trying new things – not only in terms of taste but also in terms of how it’s laid out on a plate. But sometimes we can’t help but wonder if some things are really necessary. You know, like how this restaurant poked some tiny beef wellingtons on some gnarly barbed wire. Could they have just… not?

There are so many options to choose from when it comes to trying out a new style of presentation, and we’d love to have heard the conversation that led to this extremely dangerously and frankly creepy concoction. Let’s just hope that they didn’t put this torture device on the children’s menu because we just know that wouldn’t end well. Even beef wellington isn’t worth losing a finger over.

“I’ll Take Some Brown Stuff on the Rocks, Please”

Everything sounds fancier when you add “on the rocks” to the end of it – but this normally only works when you’re talking about whiskey or tequila. But it seems as though there are restaurants around the world trying to make “on the rocks” happen with food as well. And the jury is still out on whether we love it or hate it.

In our eyes, this seems like a total waste of rocks. Especially as a lot of the rocks around the world are incredibly porous which means that any juices or flavors will get sucked into it – which doesn’t sound very hygienic if you ask us. Someone in this restaurant ordered the brown stuff on the rocks, though, so we guess someone liked the sound of it. Even if it looks like a disaster.

A Michelin Star Comic Book Extravaganza

Would you believe us if we told you that this dish was actually served at a two Michelin star restaurant? Because it’s true. Anyone who has ever eaten at a Michelin star establishment will know that the food is always pretty delicious – but the presentation is always a little weird and wacky. And it’s safe to say that this comic book extravaganza is the same.

We’re confused by this whole setup. But, actually, the aspect of the dish we’re most comfortable with is the food on the trowel! What we can’t get our heads around is the strange glove bunny sitting to the side of it, and the comic strip underneath it. Are these things all supposed to be linked in some way? Is the comic about rabbits? Did someone just leave their winter gloves on the table? We have no clue.

Ordering a Truckload of Curly Fries

Everyone loves curly fries, right? And when you order these bad boys you don’t just want one or two of them. You want a truckload. This restaurant obviously knew that their paying customers wanted a truckload of curly fries, so that’s exactly what they gave them. And that’s how you make a business successful, my friends.

They really have thought of everything, as well. They’ve added the paper at the bottom so they maintain a barrier between the food and the plastic, and even if the fries do touch the sides we bet this thing can be easily cleaned. We’re actually struggling to find anything wrong with this presentation. Perhaps the only negative is that now we’re craving a truckload of curly fries.

A Hair Raising Meal Option

If you’re a fan of hearty, warm, home-cooked-style food, then you probably would love all of the ingredients in this dish. It includes parsnip, sprouts, and swede, and while those foods are totally normal, this restaurant decided to go against the grain and serve them a little differently. And we’re not just talking about how tiny the portions are.

These vegetables have actually been served on an afro comb that’s standing in a bag of salt… because how else are you supposed to serve them? We’re so bemused by this serving choice that we can only assume the restaurant thought the afro combs were giant forks. And when you’ve ordered 5,000 afro combs by accident there’s only really one option. You have to use them.

Taking Surf and Turf to the Extreme

Surf and turf is a hugely popular dish no matter where you are in the world, but it’s fair to say that every restaurant that serves it has its own unique way of doing so. Some may stick to the more traditional presentation and style, while others might be constantly on the lookout for new and inventive ideas.

In this restaurant’s case, they decided to focus more on the “turf” than the “surf.” Sure, they offered the fried fish, but more than anything they wanted to provide the literal turf – even though we’re not quite sure what anyone is supposed to do with it. It looks pretty cool, though, we’ll give them that.

Doing It for the Environment… Kinda

Many restaurants are bringing eco-friendly initiatives to the forefront of their food and presentation – and they all deserve a round of applause and a pat on the back for doing so. But how far is too far? Well, we think this tempura dish may have just tipped itself over the edge… and not in the direction of the sauce it’s supposed to be dipped in.

According to the person who received this tempura fish dish, it was advertised as an “environmentally friendly tempura is made with sustainable seafood and vegetables, harvested in ways that consider the long-term well-being of our precious land and oceans.” So why did they go and ruin it all by sticking them into a large polystyrene block? The’s definitely not eco-friendly, and we doubt it’s very hygienic, either. Plus, it just doesn’t look very appetizing.