I think there is a bell curve happening here. Very very cheap restaurants will have simple menus written on paper (and possibly laminated).
Middle tier, chain restaurants (like the cheescake factory) will have heavy menus with elaborate food descriptions and departments of people who work on optimizing them.
But then at the very high end, it actually wraps back around. The nicest restaurants I've been to will often have a paper menu, with a very, very small selection of things on it.
My personal opinion is that some of these things are actually a counter-indicator. If you obviously put a lot of thought into your menu, bought an obnoxious folder for it, have lavish descriptions, etc. it's because you are leaning into the perception of your food/atmosphere, rather than the reality of it.
Middle tier, chain restaurants (like the cheescake factory) will have heavy menus with elaborate food descriptions and departments of people who work on optimizing them.
But then at the very high end, it actually wraps back around. The nicest restaurants I've been to will often have a paper menu, with a very, very small selection of things on it.
My personal opinion is that some of these things are actually a counter-indicator. If you obviously put a lot of thought into your menu, bought an obnoxious folder for it, have lavish descriptions, etc. it's because you are leaning into the perception of your food/atmosphere, rather than the reality of it.
To make my point: here is the menu for the french laundry: https://portlandfoodanddrink.com/because-we-all-need-to-see-...