When a server told me my plating looked 'too perfect' I actually changed it

I work the line at a place in Portland and I always plate with tweezers, tiny garnishes, the whole deal. One night a server says 'hey chef, that dish looks like it came out of a catalog, almost too perfect.' I laughed it off but then I noticed guests were picking at the food weirdly, like they didn't want to mess it up. So I started leaving a little more sauce smear chaos and one microgreen just slightly off center. Now we sell 15 more covers on that dish per shift and people actually dig in. Has anyone else gotten feedback from front of house that actually made your food taste better?

2 comments

2 Comments

alice8085d ago

That's an interesting thing about the plating, but I think you might be giving the front of house too much credit. It's more likely the dish itself just sells better now because the sauce smear and the slightly messy look makes it feel more approachable. People don't like feeling like they're eating a museum piece, so making it look a bit more natural probably helps. The server's comment just happened to line up with a change that was already working. Good on you for trying it, but the real change was in how people see the food, not in the server's feedback itself.

wood.noah4d ago

You know, @alice808, I used to think the plating thing was just chefs being stubborn about their art. But reading your post, I get it now. The way you explained it makes sense - the messy look probably makes people feel like they can actually dig in without messing up a perfect picture. I saw a place in Portland that started doing a similar thing with a braised short rib dish, and sales jumped 30% after they stopped making it look so tidy. So I think you're right, it's more about how people see the food than what the server said.