Businesses with Ugly AI Menu Redesigns: Reactions and Insights from Hacker News

Overview of AI-generated menu adoption

Many small businesses are using AI to create menu images, leading to criticism about aesthetics and authenticity. The author of the blog post visited a Filipino/Hawaiian restaurant that had recently replaced its menu with AI-generated pictures, describing the results as "uncanny" and "bad" and noting that the AI images looked nothing like the actual dishes served.

Customer reactions: unease and distrust

Diners report feeling uneasy, uncanny, and less trusting when menus feature AI-generated food pictures.

"The disturbing uncanny-like look of all these plates are so… bad. I’m sorry to subject you, the reader, to such slop." – blog author "I get the consumers’ ick when I see an AI-generated menu, logo, or sign as much as the next person." – @diabllicseagull "These are absolutely consuming Taipei over the last few months. This spring I saw an AI-generated menu for the first time, and then it was like overnight that now on basically every street there’s at least one restaurant that has an AI menu, sign, or window dressing. It looks awful and I can’t understand how anyone thinks it’s a good idea." – @eloisius "I live in Brazil, and on our delivery apps (like iFood), AI photos have become a plague. It’s so bad seeing pictures with that distinct GPT look. You just don’t know what your rice and beans will look like." – @hei-lima

Concerns about misleading representation

AI images often do not match the actual dish, creating expectation vs reality issues and potential false advertising.

"Beyond that, there is an argument to be made about the discrepancy between the pictorial depictions of a food item and what you are actually served in real life." – @diabllicseagull "We always expect what was promised to be different than what was delivered to some degree… the AI pics always set michelin-level presentation expectations. The final promise‑vs‑plate pics in this post were pretty dramatic." – @floatrock "GPT‑Image has that horrible deep‑fried look to it… the images in the picture look nothing like the real thing is unethical." – @joegibbs "What’s sad is that that AI could make this better… Right now it looks pretty “AI” but wouldn’t be hard to find a style that works well." – @prplfsh

Debate over effort, skill, and perceived low quality

Commenters argue that AI menus signal low effort and can harm credibility, while others note that some customers do not care or prioritize food taste.

"I do think that AI signage/advertising is the new signifier of low‑effort, low‑skill output and that is how it will be perceived by clientele." – @gegtik "Low effort products will be used by low effort companies… if I went to a “high end” place with an AI menu and instagram decor – bad, bad sign. I genuinely think AI companies need to worry more about their brand." – @biophysboy "My personal opinion is that these days most people simply wouldn’t be able to tell that the photos are AI generated, and even if they could, they wouldn’t care or have any strong thoughts about it." – @_override "It is disgusting but only to a specific kind of autist. Everybody else doesn’t care." – @andunie "if the food tastes good, fugly menu can be forgiven" – @madhacker

Possible mitigations and alternatives

Some suggest using real photos, AI-assisted enhancement, or stricter truth‑in‑advertising rules akin to Japan's food labeling laws.

"I wish something akin to Japan’s strict food packaging laws existed for restaurants." – @diabllicseagull "I think the Japanese laws requiring strict truth in food advertising would be a good transplant." – @duskdozer "Google maps needs a tool to create menu from best user submitted pics. Still use AI to clean up lighting, masking, layout etc, but there’s enough data to cover most popular dishes." – @maxglute "I think you could have an AI system that makes menus correctly: the restaurant would take (amateur) pictures of all their menu items, give the system the names, descriptions, prices and so on, then the agent could use Nano Banana or something like that to give the images consistent lighting and angles, use a different model to remove the backgrounds and then write a menu in the desired sizes using HTML." – @joegibbs "What’s sad is that that AI could make this better… Here’s a low effort pass of the photo that they shared … which I don’t think people would find misleading." – @prplfsh