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My parents were in town last weekend. Along with sweating through my shirt in the Wrigley Bleachers, we also participated in the well known parents weekend tradition of eating out at places I would never go to on a typical weekend. This time around, that meant we were going to a new, hip American cuisine joint in West Loop. The beer list was robust, the vibe was nice, and the food was amazing. The problem? There just wasn’t enough of it, which led to me inhaling a full plate of cheese and crackers afterwards at my place. I’m all for fine-dining and I’m certainly no food critic, but the current movement towards minimal usage of the plate often leaves me hungry and out a lot of extra money as you end up ordering the price equivalent of five (+) entrees for a party of three.
This is why small plates dining is trash.
The crux of this argument is portion size. The vision of small plates dining is to serve more plates in smaller quantities, so that people get to try more things for a more shareable dining experience. At least that’s what my feeble-brain thinks it means. In my experiences, this often leads to a difficult decision: do you order two plus plates per person or try to skirt by with like five plates for three people, potentially leading to semi-filled stomachs for all. I’d venture that the portions at the last small plates place I went to was like one-third of the average serving size I’d get at a good brewpub or even Chili’s – I love me some Chili’s fajitas. This meant ordering the Chicken Kabob led to an artfully designed plate equipped with one – albeit delicious – chicken kabob. Now, after the several IPAs I had drank earlier, this clearly wasn’t enough. I could have housed four easily. Instead, I shamefully skimmed off my parents’ plates for remnants. I wasn’t proud, but it seemed like a reasonable alternative to not having to go to Walgreens for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos afterwards. The alternative to this is just buying up most of the entree menu along with a smattering of starters, making your table look like it had just tastefully fed a table of seven. This leads into the other element of my argument.
You can rack up a tab quite easily doing this. This was the primary observation I had after seeing the bill. From a business-perspective, small plates dining is a fantastic idea. You’re getting people to pay for more items to get to the typically quantity expected for a standard entree. This ends up making you pay for two plates to complete your standard entree. When each plate runs for $15-20 a pop, you sample some appealing cheese board options and order a nice beer, the resulting tab can be shocking, running north of $200 for three people. Now, the food is usually exceptional, but I’m a simple man. I typically value quantity over quality for the most extent. Maybe that will change as I age. But right now the whole experience of dirtying five to six plates in a meal is just…meh. Add in the boosted tab – hard pass.
I know this probably isn’t the hottest of takes knowing most people enjoy having a full stomach, but, hey – I think it’s worth mentioning. I’m fine with dying on this hill. Millennials will never kill gut buster food specials like the Denny’s Grand Slam. Cheers!.
I ordered a large pizza last night for myself. I don’t do small plates.
Tapas in Spain would like a word.
I hate any resturant where im supposed to share food with everyone at my table. I was a plus one at an african resturant that the culture apparently all eats out of the same dish with their hands, it was a nightmare. if I want to share, Im sitting at the bar and were ordering apps.
Sharing could work if it’s done properly. Russian restaurant banquets are family style, but there are four courses and each course has 5-8 different dishes. There are also a few dishes of the same type at the tables so that no one goes hungry. Actually, you generally tend to be stuffed by the time the second course is done. And hammered because vodka.
2 moves here:
Order in rounds. Just order a plate per person to start as an app round. Gauge the portio size, and 2nd round adjust accordingly.
Lot of Booze. It’s fills you up, and in leaves you less antsy waiting for the next round of food to arrive.
R fucking T
Its not necessarily trash…it just has a limit on how many people can participate. 3 is typically the limit before you start getting one brussel sprout per person.
Took my parents to my favorite tapas place in DC (Zaytinya) the last time they visited and they absolutely hated it. My dad said there wasn’t enough food and my mom said she just wanted normal food. smh.
Judging by your dad’s weekend in town, there was no way that was enough food for him.
Parents love to talk shit on tapas restaurants
Tapas is the epitome of “experience” eating
this is a great take. everyone should order what they want. sharing small plates means everyone compromises and no one is happy
Aba in West loop and small plates are overrated
Bad take. You’re going to the wrong spots – take the folks to Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! in Lincoln Park next time. Thank me later.
You are a Turd burglar.
I’ve been to multiple small plate joints and the theme is the same: overpay for good food then go home and order a pizza.
Sometimes you overpay for bad food!
logged in just to comment on how overrated I think Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! is. You end up paying $40+ per person on food and I always leave hungry.
Applebees has 2 for $20
God damnit that was supposed to be a reply to Lawschoolishard69
I’ll only do small plates dining if they’re running an unlimited deal for set price (cava for brunch, ambar for dinner)
Me and my wife really enjoy the one we have locally. The food is excellent and it’s priced a lot lower than $15-20/plate. Like half that. 2 complete dinners with drinks I think ran us like $75 last time.
Cafe baba reeba in LP is trash. Idc what you turd burglars say.
I went to ambar with the lady for restaurant week last week. Still cost $140 with the tip…
This is a terrible take