Online menus: entice you to try a new restaurant?

[H. du Bois]

I have never even thought to look up a menu online! I just always went by word of mouth or Zagat's (don't throw stones - it's a busy person's best way of getting general where/what info), and went in, waiting to be surprised, hoping to be amazed.

[sockii]

I love on-line menus, especially - as others have mentioned - when I'm traveling and unfamiliar with a city or area. It's easy for me to stroll around Philly and check out menus posted on doors, or get lots of good local reviews and word-of-mouth about where to try. On the road, though, that's not always that easy and I like being able to do some "advance research" on where I'd like to eat. For instance, is this Italian place going to be a red-gravy joint with just the standard choices, or more Northern Italian? Will there be any good choices for my vegetarian friend? What kind of wine selection is available? Even if the menu is out-of-date, it can still give me a good idea of what to expect and if it's what I'm in the mood for.

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

I like online menus for several reasons, some of which have been already mentioned. My family is a bunch of geeks... who happen to live in the sticks. And boy, do I mean <i>in the sticks</i>. To go out for dinner on purpose entails over two hours of driving, plus eating, plus (usually) trying to combine in-town erranding needs, so having the ability to scope out restaurants to see if they seem to be places we'd enjoy is valuable. As an example, when my husband and I were looking to go out to dinner for our anniversary last year, we decided to forego our usual sushi place and try something new. Our daughter-in-law suggested two seafood restaurants in a nearby town, and I checked out both. One billed itself as preparing "Cuban-infused" seafood cuisine; the other was more generic. While I was all for the former, after looking over their menu, my husband (who is, granted, a more persnickety diner than am I) couldn't find a thing that looked even remotely pleasing to him, so we 86'd that idea and had a pleasant, if somewhat unremarkable, meal at the latter. Having the ability to see what was offered kept my husband from not enjoying our anniversary meal, and I just waited a few weeks and hit the niftier place with my Mom.

Another reason I love finding a restaurant has a website is something akin to judging a book by its cover. Because the husband and I are both web designers, we look at any company's web presence as a yardstick for its ability to adapt to the technology of today, its awareness of the needs of its potential clientele, and its (for lack of better word) pride. We've found that sometimes this judgment holds true... and sometimes the restaurant would have been better served by putting the money spent on the website into other, more consumable, considerations. And our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond has no web presence at all; the owner and his clan spend most of their time at work... and the rest with their family, and he has told us before, when we asked specifically, that he thinks word-of-mouth is better for business than some web page. Interestingly, he also said that having an online menu (which they apparently did for a short time) caused customers to be disappointed or even angry when they discovered that the restaurant didn't deliver. (It's a very small, family-run place in the heart of a business district in the West End of Richmond, VA.)

Lastly (and sorry for the epistle-length post,) I find online menus to be like... well, if not food porn, then at least foreplay. I have a list on my computer (and periodically updated into my kitchen notebook) of dishes I found on restaurant sites & online menus that I hadn't thought to make, or combinations that I found original, or dishes that I plan (or even just dream of) developing for myself at some point. Because I feed a big family every day, a gaggle of folks every weekend (we have an open-house drum circle on Saturday nights,) and significantly larger crowds at periodic festivals on our grounds throughout the year, I'm always trying to find dishes that go beyond the norm for such occasions. I find online menus inspiring and exciting and just a whole heck of a lot of fun.

Of course, I'm pretty easily amused...

[tryska]

i love online menus.

i like to know what i'm getting into, and perhaps have a dish or two in mind for when I get there.

[Jerry_A]

I love online menus, though I realize now that I must never get my heart set on anything as the menu has often changed by the time I get to the restaurant. They are very useful for getting an idea of style and price that's for sure.