Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
A Filipino-American diner is disappointed by AI-generated menu images at a local restaurant.
The author visits a Filipino/Hawaiian restaurant in Austin that recently replaced its menu with AI-generated food photos. She describes the images as "uncanny" and "slop", contrasting them with the actual food which she enjoyed. The author notes that small businesses often use AI out of ignorance rather than malice, but prefers hand-drawn or chalk menus.
She ordered the spamsilog plate ($10) and found it tasted like home cooking, despite the ugly AI picture.
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely agree AI menus signal low effort or cheapness, akin to chalkboard signs or MS Word menus. Some see it as a new form of "dog whistle" for poor quality, though a few note that bad signage can still correlate with good food. The discussion also touches on: Japanese truth-in-advertising laws, the homogenization of design via Bootstrap and now AI, and the challenge of distinguishing AI from genuine human effort in a post-truth era.