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Comment by callmeed | Hacker News Reader

> Pictures sell

Uhhh, what? I'm struggling to think of a favorite or popular restaurant that has pictures on the menu or in the restaurant. That's a move generally relegated to cheap chinese or mexican restaurants. You'll find pictures on yelp and sometimes on the restaurants website. But, in general, no–pictures aren't what sells.

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Up here in where I am most restaurants have pictures on every page of the menu. For example Earls, Joeys, Red Robins, Boston Pizza. Menu's that don't have pictures often feel cheap and non-professional.

Edit: typo

You and the parent may be referring to different tiers of restaurants.

Where do you live? In Vancouver, Earls and Joeys don't have pictures on their menus. Red Robins and BP do, but they're definitely a tier below the former two.

I'm in Edmonton, AB. Last time I went to those places I seemed to recall they had pictures on the menu, but I could be mistaken.

Red Robins and BP are definitely lower tier, but they still count as a "popular restaurant," at least in Edmonton they are very popular.

Yes, I suppose chains like Red Robin, Applebee's, Chili's, etc. do have pictures on their giant, laminated menus. My mistake on that.

But again, those are chain restaurants and not what I'd consider a favorite or desirable place to eat.

Couldn't agree more, just logged in to write the same comment. An all picture menu typically indicates the restaurant doesn't change its menu frequently. To me this calls into question the creativity of the chefs and/or their willingness to adapt the menu at short notice in response to the availability of unusual ingredients. In contrast, a hand written chalkboard menu is usually a good indicator. Although I suppose in many cases a handwritten specials board is a good halfway house.

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