How Chef-Designed Plating Shapes Consumer Evaluations of a Dish in a Real Restaurant Setting

Visual cues strongly influence consumer evaluations of food, but sauce presentation may also affect how diners interact with a dish during consumption. In a naturalistic restaurant field study, 57 participants completed a counterbalanced within-participant comparison of minimal and drizzle sauce presentations, with evaluations collected before and after tasting. An integrated 2 (presentation) × 2 (phase) × 2 (presentation order) repeated-measures analysis showed that, before tasting, minimal presentation was rated as healthier than drizzle presentation after adjustment for order (adjusted mean difference = 0.60, 95% CI [0.19, 1.00], p = 0.005; Holm- and FDR-adjusted p = 0.032). After tasting, minimal presentation received higher unadjusted ratings of intention to eat more and overall liking, but neither difference survived multiplicity correction. No presentation × phase interaction was significant. Because sauce placement also changed diners' opportunity to regulate sauce use, post-consumption findings are interpreted as effects of presentation-and-consumption format rather than visual presentation alone. Thus, the clearest finding concerns pre-consumption healthiness inference, whereas the post-consumption results are smaller and exploratory.