Start your story with someone looking at a restaurant menu.

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 80 stories

“Meatballs and Peppers” by Avery Crescent

Submitted to Contest #162

“What have you got to lose?” asked Louise as she perused the menu. Wilma slumped back in her chair and stared at the concrete Jersey barrier that abutted their table. She preferred to eat indoors, but COVID had forced the restaurant’s owners to limit seating in the dining room and serve customers outside on a makeshift patio that now extended into the street. “My dignity.” Louise almost choked on her wine. “Your dignity!” Wilma tapped her calloused fingers on the base of her glass. “I don’t wanna move. My home’s here.” She took a long si...

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“The grave mi-steak” by Martha Brown

Submitted to Contest #162

(TW: not suitable for vegetarians)I've picked out the perfect victim from tonight's customers. Even from where I'm lurking in the shadows, I can smell he's my type. He is simultaneously muscular and gangly, gripping the menu between fleshed-out fingers. I don't know how he can read it, with that great mass of hair falling over his eyes. I watch him from the shadows as he flips it over and promptly flips it back. Everyone does this. Sorry for our lacklustre menu, but we only serve steak.He lifts his head and scans the restaurant, his pie...

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“The Goldfinch” by Juliette Lambert

Submitted to Contest #162

The Goldfinch The words covered in plastic danced between soft yellow splotches covering the page from the candles lining tables and held in sconces. Amelia’s eyes flickered with hope as she wove between the wobbling letters on a menu she had read time and time again. She knew every dish, the monthly specials memorized. Amelia watched out of arched windows as the sky faded from blue, blushing clouds of pinks and oranges covering the sky like a curtain, beckoning the night to take the stage. She picked at the corner of her fingernail, a...

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“Suddenly, I See” by Kayla Eichelberger

Submitted to Contest #162

‘When I was a kid,” Jamie thought, ‘these pancakes were not sixteen dollars.’ The menu in her hand was thin and long, only a few pages of breakfast foods served all day and night. The Breakfast Bar was one of only three diners that stayed open 24 hours, 7 days a week in this part of town. She and her family had always gone here for her birthday because she declared they had the best birthday cake pancakes. And she always got a milkshake with it. But that had been a simpler time. She had only had to worry about homework and her friends’ bir...

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“A Sentimental Menu” by Uma Nambiar

Submitted to Contest #162

It felt like the fanciest of silks. The way my hand was holding the menu felt like I was holding the silk pillow that I cherished, the one that made sure my face stayed clean and acne free. I never thought that anything could feel the same way my special pink silk pillow felt, but this menu proved otherwise. I must have stared at the calligraphy that read Secret Garden for an eternity before actually opening it. But how could I not? They were the most beautiful words I had ever seen. The first letter of each word was made up of big, elegant...

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“Cooking with Love” by Mary Delaney

Submitted to Contest #162

As she looked down at the menu, Diana smiled, running her fingers over the laminated pages. Her own restaurant, Cooking with Love, was born. She finally made her dream come true. After saving enough for down payment plus beginning overhead costs, she was now the owner of a waterfront location she had her eye on for years. Now here she was with a staff of 20, bringing to life her grandmother’s recipes along with some of her own authentic Italian creations. Diana had fond memories of watching her mother and grandmo...

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“Alla Two” by M.E. Kirby

Submitted to Contest #162

Pesto alla Genovese. Pesto alla Geno…vese. Alla! Pesto. Genovese. Genoooveeese. The Italian vowels took twirls in Meg’s head as she scanned down the glossy menu of Mama Caruso. It was a quaint restaurant, the ones packed on weekends but not necessarily the weekdays. Also, her favorite place to go after a trying day at work. Reading over the words for a fourth time, the only meals Meg could decipher were “margherita pizza” and “lasagne”. Sighing, she let the menu fall out of her hands and catch her face instead. A breeze from ...

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“The Lunch Menu” by Kevin Quin

Submitted to Contest #162

The Lunch Menu It was lunchtime and both men knew that looking at the menu would spoil the surprise. The place looked like Heaven. Some might say it was only a step or two away. But it wasn’t. It was just a veranda with windows. Not an old, pre-war breezeway, but a modern, well-lit sunroom. The large glass windows let in the light and the sun - yet protected from the cold and the heat. The quiet buzzing of the air-conditioning saw to that. In any case, today, the place was pleasantly warm from the winter sun which streamed in picking up the...

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“Forgetful” by Katherine Marley

Submitted to Contest #162

The diner was quieter that day. A few booths were occupied by families and couples that were minding the silence and conversing softly, but other than that it was empty. It wasn’t often that we had so few customers, especially on a Sunday morning, when diners tend to be at their busiest. Although I was especially appreciative, and frankly, in desperate need of the tips I often received from larger crowds, the quiet was a nice change of pace every now and then. I had lost interest in the bland conversations held in the kitc...

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“Honey Glaze” by Lauren Montgomery

Submitted to Contest #162

The menu is rigid in my hands. Embossed onyx lettering on one hundred pound seashell cardstock. It’s too full of entrees and appetizers for such a small restaurant. Lamb meatballs with a honey glaze served over hand rolled pappardelle pasta. Crusted Bronzino wontons. Pear and prosciutto salad on a bed of wild long grain rice. Red velvet ganache and rosemary sorbet. The diminishing sun laces through the latticed windows of Basin & Wood, veiling the mirrors on the opposite wall with webbed light. I didn’t want to come here. Ostent...

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“A Night at the Grasshopper Spot” by Zach Martz

Submitted to Contest #162

“Bartender, this menu has way too much crap on it. What kind of joint is this?” “Sorry about that.” The young barkeep took the menu from the customer, and wiped it with a damp rag. “There. That should be pretty clean by now.” The door opened and in walked Wayne Picard and Christopher Maddox, who gazed around the smallish wood-lined tavern before taking a seat at the bar located only a few feet from the entrance. The bar was long enough that the patrons seated nearest to them were three stools away. Wayne appreciated the fact that the pla...

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“ALL THE THINGS YOU DON'T SAY” by Isabelle Faraci

Submitted to Contest #162

Did I want pepperoni or supreme? Or there’s always chicken bacon ranch. I always like that one, but I had it last time. And last time I said I would try something new, something different. Or at least just in a different rotation amongst the ones I know I like.“$2 bucks a slice or $11.50 a pie” read the sign hanging above the register.Was this menu sign always so worn down and pale? The checkered floor so scuffed and stained? The fluorescent lights so bright? This place used to feel so familiar.Taking a deep inhale, the aromas of the battere...

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“Paranoia on a Platter” by Falynn Almeda

Submitted to Contest #162

The moment was here; to choose from a menu. Maybe for some people this is a mundane non-issue, but for me, it felt like a rest-of-my-life, domino-effect choice. Everything rested on this decision. I could only hope I was only sweating bullets in my head and that everyone else couldn’t see my anxiety was at max. I liked going out to eat for the most part. I enjoyed the atmosphere, I liked not having to do dishes, I enjoyed the company and conversation of my friends. But I hated, despised, loathed, and feared being handed th...

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“Taco Tuesday” by Jaclyn Ferrer

Submitted to Contest #162

"Your waiter will be with you in just a bit!" Announced the tall brunette hostess just before she sauntered back toward the front of the restaurant, her high ponytail swishing back and forth as she walked. Claire didn't know why she even bothered with looking at the menu. She came here at least once every other week and always got the same thing. If Claire was anything, she was a creature of habit. She did the same chores on the same day every week, and followed the same daily schedule. She woke up at 7:00 in the morning and we...

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“Dinner for Miles ” by Scott Dutkus

Submitted to Contest #162

Miles turned the menu over and rubbed the edges twice with his gnarled hands, trying to see if he could find more options or if additional pages were stuck together. Then he looked around the table to see if he missed a part, or if a family member took a page, and finally around the room for a Specials Board. Unfortunately, the menu consisted of a front page with appetizers, soups, and main entrees followed by a back page with desserts and drinks and no Specials Board appeared, no matter how much he willed it. Nothing on the m...

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Start your story with someone looking at a restaurant menu.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 80 stories

“Meatballs and Peppers” by Avery Crescent

“The grave mi-steak” by Martha Brown

“The Goldfinch” by Juliette Lambert

“Suddenly, I See” by Kayla Eichelberger

“A Sentimental Menu” by Uma Nambiar

“Cooking with Love” by Mary Delaney

“Alla Two” by M.E. Kirby

“The Lunch Menu” by Kevin Quin

“Forgetful” by Katherine Marley

“Honey Glaze” by Lauren Montgomery

“A Night at the Grasshopper Spot” by Zach Martz

“ALL THE THINGS YOU DON'T SAY” by Isabelle Faraci

“Paranoia on a Platter” by Falynn Almeda

“Taco Tuesday” by Jaclyn Ferrer

“Dinner for Miles ” by Scott Dutkus

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character whose love language is making food for others.

Write a story where a character’s life completely changes over the course of a meal.

Write a story in which too many cooks spoil the broth — literally or metaphorically.

Start your story with one character trying to convince another that they make the best grilled cheese in the world.

Contest #162

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

234

Contest entries

97

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: