When you go out to eat, typically its a special occasion. We expect good food, better than what could be made at home, a nice environment, and just generally a good time. But there is a strange thing happening, especially amongst high-end restaurants. Instead of serving food on a plate, as one would expect, they are serving them on just about anything but a plate. This phenomenon is turning the act of going out to eat into quite a surprising event. Sometimes it's fun and cool, and other times it's just a little overboard. It makes sense for the themed restaurants, almost like you would expect it. Other times it's just totally out of the blue and uncalled for.

Sure, having your food presented on something other than a regular old plate or bowl can be fun. But in reality, we just want plates, functional and easy. Some of these restaurants are trying too hard to be cool and artistic. Reddit's /r/wewantplates is full of people's photographed accounts of restaurants giving anything but a plate. Here are 20 of the most bizarre.