Responsive review
Every menu in Fenómenus is read on a phone, at a table, in that room's lighting. This is the review that decides whether the design works — and it cannot be done on a desktop.
Set up the test properly
- Use a real phone, not a desktop browser's device preview.
- Use a private browser window, so you are signed out and no previous filter or favorites list distorts what you see.
- Use the restaurant's own network and then mobile data, so you see both.
- Stand or sit where guests sit, in the room's real lighting.
- Test on both a small and a large phone if you can.
The reading test
Open the menu and behave like a guest:
- [ ] The menu opens quickly enough that you would not put the phone down.
- [ ] You can read dish names and prices without zooming.
- [ ] You can find a specific dish in under fifteen seconds.
- [ ] You can compare two prices without losing your place.
- [ ] You can reach every section from the category navigation.
- [ ] You can reach another menu from the contact dock.
- [ ] You can get back to where you were.
Any "no" is a design problem, not a guest problem.
Layout-specific checks
| Layout | Look for |
|---|---|
| Vertical | Text legible over every image; price visible without scrolling further |
| Price list | Price column not colliding with long names; multi-format prices distinguishable |
| Horizontal carousel | Rows not so long that their end is unreachable; cards stop cleanly |
| Masonry | Card heights reasonably even; no placeholder images |
| Swipe | A specific dish still findable in a reasonable number of swipes |
| Menu design 1 / 2 | The whole menu readable in one scroll; blocks clearly separated |
Controls and interaction
- [ ] The contact dock does not cover the bottom of the content.
- [ ] The dock is reachable one-handed.
- [ ] The category navigation scrolls smoothly when there are many sections.
- [ ] The allergen filter opens, applies and can be cleared.
- [ ] Favorites can be saved and reviewed, if enabled.
- [ ] The language switcher reaches every language and returns, if enabled.
- [ ] Nothing important sits under the phone's own browser bars.
Legibility
- [ ] Contrast is sufficient in the room's real lighting, not in an office.
- [ ] Allergen icons are decodable at their real size.
- [ ] Price icons are distinguishable from each other.
- [ ] The featured mark is visible without being loud.
- [ ] Long dish names wrap sensibly instead of truncating into ambiguity.
Performance
- [ ] The first screen appears quickly on mobile data.
- [ ] Images do not arrive one by one after the text.
- [ ] Scrolling is smooth through a long section.
- [ ] Videos do not autoplay with sound.
Languages
Repeat the core checks in each published language. Translated text is a different length, and German or Russian dish names will break a layout that only ever saw Spanish ones.
Then check the desktop
Guests occasionally read the menu on a laptop before booking. A quick pass is enough:
- [ ] Content is not stretched into an unreadable line length.
- [ ] Images are not scaled beyond their quality.
- [ ] The navigation and dock still make sense with a mouse.
When to run this review
- Before launch, on every menu type.
- After changing a layout, a palette or a set of icons.
- After adding a language.
- After any bulk import, which can change section lengths substantially.
- Periodically, because menus grow and a layout that worked at twenty items may not at eighty.