Opening up an eating and drinking establishment is not easy and sometimes owners make crucial mistakes. Whether it’s some sort of design issue like see-through bathroom doors or a ridiculous spelling mistake on a sign, these 75 clueless restaurant and bar owners messed up big time.
We’ve chosen the funniest ones to share with you today. While we would never wish failure on anyone, in these unfortunate cases it’s already happened, so why not? It’s very likely that these places will be out of business soon so we have to enjoy them while we still can.
1. Public Health Fail
The public health inspection resulted in the restaurant getting an A. However, right there on the glass next to the sign is a giant cockroach. Somehow, the little pest slipped through the cracks or was overlooked.
2. Dictionary Translation
Instead of hiring a professional to translate their menu from French to English, this Paris restaurant simply pulled the food definitions straight out of the dictionary. It’s not the worst strategy, except for the fact that they included every possible translation for each word.
3. Best Italian Mexican Restaurant
How does something like this even happen? The local Mexican restaurant won the award for “Best Italian Restaurant”. As far as we know, there aren’t really a lot of culinary similarities between the two countries.
4. Owner Confusion
The sign says it’s Sherrill’s gas station and eatery. However, it’s all one big lie. The real owners, Bill and Ann, want to make sure you are aware of the truth. They added some clarification at the bottom.
5. USB Sushi
Do you notice anything off about this menu? Look closely. The menu creators accidentally put a picture of fake sushi with USB adaptors sticking out of them as their primary image. Somehow, no one noticed.
6. Lighted Sign Outage
At first glance, one might think this is some sort of strip club. When driving by in the dark, the sign reads “Ho On Ho”. We imagine it might unintentionally attract the wrong sort of clientele to this roadside family diner.
7. Gain Weight Quick
It’s well known that Chinese food contains a lot of calories. Between the rice and oils, it can add up quickly. This takeaway restaurant doesn’t beat around the bush about it though. They tell their customers how it is right from the get-go.
8. Vulgar Window Shadow
It’s not just your mind playing tricks on you. The sunlight passing through the window sign left a pretty crude shadow on the customer’s back. Remind us not to take that seat if we ever eat there in the future.
9. Italian AF
This Italian restaurant is guaranteed to be authentic. If you don’t believe us, just read the sign. The place is Italian As F**ck and proud of it. All of the other pizza places in town are just fronting.
10. Foodie Fail
What’s up with all these concept restaurants recently trying to be overly fancy with their presentation? That’s what happened here. The customer ordered a caesar salad and received a couple of romaine lettuce leaves in a glass.
11. To Hot Too Cook
This person called up the restaurant to let them know about a spelling mistake they saw on the street sign. The restaurant assured them they would change it. However, they kind of messed up, again…
12. Sticker Surprise
Lemons are a great way to add some flavor to water or an ice tea. Although, it’s important to remove the stickers from the lemon first. Otherwise, your customers won’t be happy.
13. Smart Acronym
Using a fun acronym is a great way to get your message across. However, it only works if you start the sentences with the correct letters. It turns out, this “smart” salad bar is actually not so smart after all.
14. Classy Wall Art
This stunning work of art was spotted by a customer at a Mexican restaurant. We understand that modern art isn’t always easy to understand and can get pretty bizarre sometimes, but really? The best they could do was a painted pallet?
15. Basement Windows
We’re not sure if you can tell from the photos, but the window is fake. The restaurant is located in a basement and they wanted to make it appear as though it isn’t. To improve the atmosphere, they used a random image of a parking lot.
16. Mounted Picture
Instead of removing the mount where the television used to be, they just hung a picture over it. It looks pretty ridiculous. It’s obvious that interior design isn’t the owner’s forte.
17. See-Through Stalls
Every door in the bathroom has its own semi-transparent frosted glass window. Even though the view is partially obscured, you can clearly see that there is activity going on through them. Privacy is pretty much non-existent.
18. Bathroom Attendant
In this restaurant bathroom, every stall features an obscure naked man sculpture. It’s equal parts intriguing and creepy. Going to the bathroom here would definitely be a memorable experience.
19. Hilarious Counterfeit
Occasionally, restaurant fails are a result of employee mistakes too. Take for example this bar where an employee accidentally accepted this ridiculous counterfeit bill. It is a five-pound British note with a North Korean image on it.
20. Diet Ice
Low-calorie drinks are all the rage these days, but this is the first time we’ve ever heard of diet ice. The real question though is whether it contains contain gluten? Gluten-free ice is normally our first choice.
21. Trash Can Box
The trash can at this bar is actually a box from a trash can. It makes you wonder what happened to the original trash can? Not to mention, after a couple of spilled beers, this box-version is going to have to go in the garbage too.
22. 50% Off Bad Sushi
Technically, it’s not “Bad Sushi”, it’s “B.A.D. Sushi”. It stands for best and delicious, but unless you read the fine print underneath the sign, you would never know. They also advertise it as 50% off like they are trying to get rid of it quick.
23. Salt And Pepper Fail
This hotel totally failed here. You can either fill up salt and pepper shakers with loose salt and pepper or you can put out a little dish of the packets for customers to use. Trying to combine both into one just doesn’t work.
24. Confusing Sign
It’s important that your potential customers understand what your business offers. This restaurant definitely messed up on that front. At least, we think it’s a restaurant. Maybe it’s a park or a memory origin space.
25. Excellent Drive-Thru Special
The offer is so appealing, how could anyone ever pass it up? They give out free straws with every drink purchase! It’s a deal that is sure to create a lot of return customers.
26. Deep Fried Baby
This up and coming Thai restaurant dropped the ball big time on their kid’s menu translations. We have no idea what these dishes are actually supposed to be. All we can say for sure is that we won’t be letting our kids order them.
27. Convincing Wall Mural
The mural on the wall at this Texas restaurant makes it look like every booth is already occupied. It’s pretty humorous. Although, it does make the restaurant appear more busy and popular than it actually is.
28. Eat Jessica’s Family
Eating an entire family sounds really tasty, however, we think we’ll have to pass on this one. Maybe if we were cannibals we would dine here, but at this point, we aren’t that desperate yet.
29. It’s People
On the other hand, if you do happen to be a cannibal, this restaurant would probably hire you. At Taco Time, people are an essential ingredient. Be forewarned though, if you ever get fired, you might find yourself on the menu.
30. Candle Drippings
A lot of dive bars are well known for not cleaning very regularly. In a strange way, it’s part of the allure. However, what about this bar that never cleans up the candle wax? Is it a cool idea or simply disgusting? We aren’t sure.
31. Staffing Issues
When a hungry customer noticed that the restaurant was closed due to “short staff”, he left them a simple recommendation — hirer taller staff. It is a straightforward solution to their problem.
32. Diet Fair Food
“I was worried going to the fair would break my diet, but thankfully they had SlimFast bars,” wrote this enthused customer. He was really pleased that they offered his favorite healthy snack — deep-fried weight loss bars.
33. Fresh Robster
Don’t worry, this lobster won’t actually rob you, but it is pretty funny that the Asian restaurant messed up the spelling like this. It hits on multiple different stereotypes at once.
34. Pho-King Delicious
They are the kings of pho — a delicious Vietnamese noodle soup. However, if you read their name really quick, it sounds a little different. Some would say it’s a fail. Others would say it’s a very clever play on words.
35. Stick Menus
Imagine trying to read these goofy menus. They arrive at the table wrapped around wooden sticks. However, if you get too frustrated, you can always use them to bang on the table for additional assistance.
36. Bathroom Lounge
Have you ever seen a men’s bathroom like this? It’s a first for us. They’ve provided a couple of conveniently placed leather chairs so you can get a front-row seat to someone taking a dump.
37. Photo Art Choice
For whatever reason, this McDonalds decided to put these appetizing giant photos up next to the booths. A giant nose and beard are exactly what people want to look at while trying to enjoy a burger.
38. Poorly Designed Booths
Every time you want to sit down, you have to climb over the step to get your feet into the booth. Not only would these be hard to clean, but they also present a big tripping hazard for customers.
39. Funny Quote
This goofy sign is a little confusing. On one hand, it thanks the customers, but on the other hand, it kind of appears like it is quoting a fire extinguisher. If fire extinguishers could talk, it’s pretty unlikely this is what they would say.
40. Terrible Name Choice
In the Philippines, this restaurant name makes total sense. It is an abbreviation for the Katipunan — a Philippine revolutionary society. However, to outsiders, it stands for something very different.
41. Lighting Fail
It was a good idea in theory — shine spotlights on the menu to illuminate it. However, it didn’t really work in reality. It makes several parts of the menu next to impossible to read.
42. Eating Customers
We understand what they are getting at here. They only want you to occupy a table if you are eating. However, the other way to interpret it is that the tables are only for people who want to eat other customers.
43. Complicated Phrasing
We’ve tried to read through this sign multiple times and we still have no idea what it is saying. There is just no logical way to read it. Do you start at the top, bottom, middle, or some combination of all three?
44. Difficulties Ordering
This hard-to-read menu can be found at the Cereal Killer Cafe in London. It’s like those old fashioned ransom notes made out of cut-up magazine letters. It’s kind of a cool idea, but also a total mess.
45. Bad Plate Design
Clean freaks might want to avoid this restaurant. It looks like the plates are already used and dirty. However, that’s just how they were made. The speckles on them are part of the design.
46. Open Prostitution
Cash and sexual assault, right this way. That’s what comes to mind when viewing the shadow of this sign. Whoever did the designing inside the bar didn’t really think this one through.
47. Suggested Tips
Leaving various recommended tips on the bottom of a check is a great way to simplify the tipping process for those bad at math. However, it’s important to actually get the math right. Whoever made the original tip suggestions was only thinking about getting paid.
48. Roast Leg Of Lamp
This buffet made a very rookie sign mistake. They spelled lamb, lamp. Making it even funnier is the fact that it is actually positioned underneath a lamp. It’s a pretty comical error.
49. Awkward Silverware
This restaurant uses the skinniest and longest silverware we’ve ever seen. We can imagine it makes eating quite difficult. There is a time and place to be creative, and choosing silverware is not one of those times.
50. Grocery Store Bar
It’s a really unusual place to put a bar, but it looks like there’s a lot of customers there. If it works, it works. Who are we to argue with success?
51. Vegetarian Fail
It’s always a good idea to label which dishes on the menu are vegetarian. This Chinese restaurant totally gets it. There’s just one tiny issue — they labeled every dish on the menu vegetarian, even the ones that aren’t.
52. Slanted Bar
It’s obvious that the designer of this bar has never worked in a bar before. They made the bar-top sloped at a slight angle resulting in constant broken glasses and spilled drinks. It’s a giant disaster.
53. LED Sign Restaurant
Either the restaurant forgot to program their new LED sign, it’s their real name, or it’s a beautiful tribute to the band Led Zeppelin. We’re betting on the first one. Otherwise, it’s a pretty bad name for a restaurant.
54. Almost…
It was a nice try, but stressed spelled backward is desserts, not dessert. We appreciate the effort though. There are definitely bigger fails out there than this one.
55. Quality Beer Coaster
This insightful beer coaster comes really close to getting the message across. Although, there is certainly room for improvement. For starters, what does “sure refreshis” mean?
56. Customer Name
Servers sometimes need to label their checks in order to keep track of them. Although, there are probably more considerate ways of going about it than simply labeling the table “white guys”.
57. Global Cuisine
This restaurant doesn’t exactly have the clearest branding message. Not only are they an American delight, but they also give you a taste of Africa and offer Mexican food. Really, they do it all.
58. Fat Sign
Unfortunately, this sign looks more like it says “fat” than “eat”. However, is there really that much of a difference? If you eat, you can get fat. If you are fat, you probably eat.
59. Awkward Introductions
The barrier between these two toilets doesn’t really provide very much privacy. It could easily result in an awkward experience for the restaurant diners. You go to take a leak and end up making a new friend.
60. Salt And Eppe
Whoever designed this restaurant’s salt and pepper packets should probably be fired. The salt one isn’t that bad, but the pepper one… well, it makes no sense.
61. Restaurant Mascot
This ridiculous sign can be found in the bathroom hallway of a Tampa eating establishment. We have to say, the implication of the cartoon photo and mascot is a little scandalous.
62. Intimate Urinals
The urinal placement at this bar is not the best. They tried to fit as many into the tiny restroom as possible. However, if anyone were to ever use them, it would result in two people standing on top of each other.
63. Menu Watermark
Our best guess is that it was a branding attempt gone wrong. While you aren’t going to be able to read the menu now, at least no one will copy it and you’ll always remember where you are eating.
64. Flower Bong
Don’t worry, it’s just a vase. Yes, it looks like a bong for smoking weed, but that’s just an illusion. You aren’t high right now, are you?
65. Le Anal
We understand that the restaurant’s actual name is Le Fanal, but that’s not what the image underneath the menu logo says. It very clearly says anal. It’s a pretty unusual choice for a menu cover image.
66. Inspired Facebook Logo
It is the real Facebook logo from a small-town bar in Virginia. They are the only bar in town so have no reason to make any significant effort. If people want to drink, it’s the only option. Although, by glancing at their logo, you would think the place is run by three-year-olds.
67. New Digital Menu
This place finally got with the times and upgraded their menu from a letter board to a digital display. However, it seems like they don’t really understand the point of going digital. They set it to show a picture of their original non-digital menu.
68. Fart Taco
The “s” in their name looks more like an “r”, which totally changes the meaning. It’s something that you think would have been picked up on when they were still in the design phase. Somehow, it was overlooked.
69. Logo Theft
Imitation is a form of flattery. However, directly copying someone else’s logo for business use is not. This pizzeria took their logo directly from The Pirate Bay online digital content website. To be fair though, The Pirate Bay owners themselves were also arrested for copyright infringement recently too.
70. Comical Misdirection
This hospital direction sign is not entirely clear. It appears as though it is leading visitors to the Gynaecology Restaurant. If that’s true, we know we won’t be eating there.
71. Plumbing Fail
This bathroom urinal isn’t even attached to any pipes! Everything goes straight through the hole and into a five-gallon bucket. It would really suck to be the employee who has to empty it. It could easily overflow or spill while carrying it.
72. Light-Up Brail Sign
The point of brail is to allow blind people to be able to read something using their hands. Doing a giant light-up version like this is completely pointless. It’s just a bunch of annoying lights.
73. Steak Presentation
Steaks are often one of the biggest money-makers on a menu, but if your steaks are shaped like music notes, you are already starting from a huge disadvantage. The customer was shocked when it came out like this.
74. Pricing Fail
The cost of the free steak salad came out to $1,223. It’s a pretty expensive freebie. And to think, that’s not even including tax and tip…
75. Multiple Wrong Translations
This place claims that they have menus in several different languages. Interestingly enough, every single translation is wrong. Yes, they failed, but at least there is some consistency in their failure.
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