So much of this enrages me, I don’t even know where to start.
Okay, yes I do.
What are you hiding? one wonders.
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Funny that no diners said
“not posting information actually improves the experience for diners”
or that they
“kind of want to be dommed,” … “want to have control taken away.”
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I do.
These feckers have forgotten that the industry they are in is called HOSPITALITY.
I sort of get it that a restaurant that is produce driven cannot easily maintain an up to date accurate menu on line. But , please, show a sample menu so we can get an idea of what you do. And, big please, make sure that the word “sample” is very prominent. I can get very antsy when I’ve read a menu and decided what I want to e at - only to find out when I sit down that it was the menu two months ago.
I’m also OK with the upmarket tasting menu places just having a very brief mention of the dish. Even just one word, as this favourite place in the city. https://the-french-manchester.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/SIGNATURE-aug-24.pdf
But, you know, if the restaurant can’t be arsed to give basic info about their food, then I can’t be arsed to go.
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Yeah, no.
It’s LA, though, so… I’m sure plenty of suckers will line up anyway.
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Zizou does have a few food pics on insta, the under-baked canneles don’t inspire confidence.
Otherwise, not everything has to be for everyone. If you’re super picky or on a budget, don’t go. Restaurants somehow survived without websites in the previous century. 
Nothing? Just people trying to run their business in a way that works for them? Who want to have a dinner party every night without hiring a designer and a photographer and a PR team? The mystery won’t last long, there will be reviews on yelp, google, etc.
They should be hiding those canneles though. 
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not to sure that this is a big problem - in my experience not many resto keep their on-line menu up to date. I have some favs - and it’s a real downer when the server says ‘oh we don’t have that anymore’
Nah, it’s a shtick. See “mystery as marketing tool” comment above.
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Exactly what I thought - provide an online SAMPLE menu, with a note that dishes change regularly, based on what is available to the chef on a given day, and perhaps provide a price range ("Most of our entrees range between $19.99 - $45.00) would suffice.
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One of my local places uploads an actual menu as the sample, so it’s priced. It stays there for several months.
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If you’re old enough to remember that, you’re also old enough to remember that restaurants routinely posted their menus in the Yellow Pages or in newspaper ads.
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I wonder how people chose restaurants pre-internet times. Opening times and address are the important information.
In my case, reviews and word of mouth. Probably in your case, too.
That’s it? You don’t care what the food is, or how much it costs? You base your dinner plans on whether a place is open and you can get to it?
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As you said, perhaps reading somewhere about it or hearing from it from a colleague is enough that a restaurant gets on our “restaurant list”. These words of mouth information give us a very rough idea or even the name of the restaurant what type of cuisine we might expect but otherwise we don’t really need additional information (and in most cases don’t want additional information as we find it very boring going into a restaurant already knowing the menu or courses of a tasting menu)
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To each their own. I wouldn’t go into a restaurant without knowing the menu. That’s how I determine if I want to eat there - the food appeals to me.
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Just curious - do you need to know the menu to make sure that you find at least one dish which interests you to order or do you want to know the prices ?
Yes.
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I prefer a descriptive menu online with updated pricing. During the pandemic so many restaurants were forced into websites to get by. Then they were slow to (on purpose or not) update the prices. A major pet peeve of mine.
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Better yet, websites without any prices. Although that tends to mean that I can’t afford them.
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Guidebooks when travelling. Local press and word of mouth for new local places.
Even in internet times, when travelling in the UK, I relied on the Good Food Guide - now, sadly, only a digital version. I still keep the last print edition (2020) close by to act as a starting point.
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