It has seemed strange to me that some nicer restaurants that seem to care for every other detail of the experience have held onto this as long as they have. Man

It has seemed strange to me that some nicer restaurants that seem to care for every other detail of the experience have held onto this as long as they have. Many QR menus are pretty terrible from a UX point of view regardless of whether it “cheapens the experience” in a less tangible way. At a basic functional level I find that my brain can keep the location of a few items I’m considering and want to “glance between” in memory on a physical menu, but not with a digital menu (particularly given that scrollbars as a visual cue have been pushed aside over time). One circumstance where I do love QR code menus is with a big casual group at a brewery type place that has unique QRs per table so you can just order straight from the menu, pay, and have things come out. This is a great experience that solves a bunch of annoying issues when the gathering is not specifically a meal but instead involves people coming early or late and ordering disparate items. It improves a lot over the longstanding “order at the counter and take a stick with a number” model.