When you sit down at a restaurant, the unwritten agreement is pretty simple: good food served on a good old-fashioned plate. Welcome to the quirky universe of the “We Want Plates” subreddit, where dining norms are tossed out the window and replaced with the most unexpected serving choices. Imagine finding your fish sticks nestled in a Croc shoe or a full English breakfast spread across a shovel. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We’ve rounded up some hilariously bizarre instances where restaurants decided to ditch the traditional plate for something a little more… unconventional. From dinners on vinyl records to desserts cradled in mini wheelbarrows, prepare to be amused and bewildered by these culinary adventures. Plates? Where we’re going, we don’t need plates.
1. “This isn’t a plate! The wig is up!”
2. “Local restaurant decided to try running a Christmas buffet for the first time… I guess someone forgot to buy serving plates”
3. “Fish and chips in a basket, in a frying pan I got served today.”
4. “I think it’s necessary to add that the glasses are filled with hot pork broth to wash down those hog nipples.”
5. “A Full English served by a Hipster”
6. “Paid $26 for this charcuterie BOARD. I literally had to peel the plastic off.”
7. “Sliders served in a bucket. The fries are underneath the burgers.”
8. “At an airport restaurant on layover and order ‘charcuterie for 1’ and this comes out”
9. “$14 worth of fried potato served on a Hacky Sack”
10. “pouring gravy onto a flat wooden board seems so wrong”
11. “This cappuccino was served in a carrot.”
12. “Thank god we asked for a second plate to share”
13. “You can use a knife to cut a toothpick from the log after you finished your dinner”
14. “Whole prime rib dinner in a martini glass served at a conference my wife is attending”
15. “My drink served in a to-go box”
16. “Fish sticks in a croc”
17. “I love scraping the nonstick coating”
18. “Disgusting frayed wooden board that a chimichanga was served on”
19. “Delicious: dinner out of a clown shoe”
20. “Two teff crackers served on an upside-down rubber boot stuck in grass.”
21. “Do they water it to clean the “plate”?Do they water it to clean the ‘plate’?”
22. “I know you guys wants plates, but we just got half a plate.”
23. “Coleslaw in a frying pan. Just what I wanted”
24. “It tipped over every time you tried to put one on a fork…..”
25. “1$ worth of unseasoned tofu on a piece of porous shale, smeared mayonnaise.”
26. “Pasta in a wine bottle in Montalcino, ItalyPasta in a wine bottle in Montalcino, Italy”
27. “I want pläte”
28. “Serving dessert on a cast of the chef’s sneaker”
29. “Fried Chicken in a Wine Glass.”
30. “Burger on a tiny pallet”
31. “Eggs in an egg carton on a piece of plywood”
32. “Fries in a jar. How do we feel about this one, gang?”
33. “Would you like some steak with your lawnmower?”
34. “Double threat: a plant pot in a sneak”
35. “World-renowned Chef Jose Andres serves an appetizer out of a stiletto”
When he's not doomscrolling Twitter or writing for Pleated-Jeans, Nate Armbruster writes jokes—and then tells them on stage as a stand-up comedian, where he can watch audiences (hopefully) laugh in real-time.