What actually happens
Reservations for twelve, one of them wrong
Tyler Ledford, a wealthy food obsessive, takes his date Margot Mills to Hawthorn, a very exclusive restaurant on a private island run by celebrity chef Julian Slowik. The other diners include a food critic named Lillian Bloom and her editor Ted, a couple of rich regulars named Richard and Anne, a washed-up movie star with his assistant, three business partners who work for the restaurant's investor, and Slowik's own mother, Linda. The maître d'hôtel, Elsa, gives everyone a tour and mentions that Margot is not the guest Tyler originally booked.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Course four contains a staff member
The courses get stranger. The third one has embarrassing facts about each guest etched into tortillas by laser. At the start of the fourth course, the sous-chef, Jeremy, kills himself. When Richard stands to leave, the staff cut off one of his fingers as a warning to everyone else. That is the scene to brace for, and it comes early in the dinner. Slowik then has the investor, Verrick, drowned because he was unhappy with Verrick's interference. During the fifth course he lets Katherine, an employee he harassed, stab him. The male guests are told they can run for it and are all caught, and the last one caught gets an egg dish as a prize.
Everyone was invited for a reason
Slowik announces that the guests are there because each of them ruined his love of cooking or took advantage of people who do what he does. He also says every guest will be dead by the end of the night. Margot was not part of the plan, so he privately offers her a choice between dying with the staff and dying with the guests. She hesitates, so he picks the staff for her. Margot then admits she is an escort named Erin and that Richard had hired her to play his daughter. Slowik reveals that Tyler knew the guests would die. Tyler only hired Margot because the restaurant does not seat anyone alone, and he needed someone to replace his ex-girlfriend. Slowik makes Tyler cook, and the dish is bad. Slowik whispers something that crushes him.
The customer would like a cheeseburger
Slowik sends Margot to the smokehouse for a barrel he needs for dessert, and she finds that Tyler has hanged himself. In Slowik's quarters, Elsa attacks Margot, afraid of being replaced, and Margot stabs her to death in the struggle. Margot spots a framed employee-of-the-month photo of a young, happy Slowik flipping burgers, and uses a radio to call for help. Back at the restaurant, a man claiming to be the Coast Guard arrives, but he is one of Slowik's cooks in costume. Margot improvises a plan. She tells Slowik he cooks out of obsession and not love, that she did not enjoy the last course, and that she is still hungry. She asks for a plain cheeseburger and fries. Slowik cooks it himself and enjoys it. After one bite, she asks for it to go, and he lets her leave with a gift bag.
The ending, explained
The dessert course is a s'mores theme. The staff cover the dining room in sauces and graham cracker crumbs and put marshmallow stoles and chocolate hats on the guests. Slowik then sets the whole restaurant on fire and detonates the barrel Margot carried in. He, his staff and all of the guests die in the blaze, including Lillian, Ted, Richard and Anne. Margot watches from the Coast Guard boat as she escapes, eats the cheeseburger, then uses a copy of the menu as a napkin. Tyler and Elsa were already dead. She is the only guest who gets out.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: There is no dog in this one.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Menu scary?
Somewhat. The Menu is a 4 out of 10 with medium dread. It is a tense dark comedy with a few loud startles, a few gory moments and a lot of unease about what the next course holds.
How does The Menu end?
Margot gets a cheeseburger to go and leaves the island by boat. Slowik then burns the restaurant down with himself, his staff and every other guest inside.
Does the dog die in The Menu?
No. There is no dog in The Menu. A character does describe watching the chef plate a scallop that was still alive.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Menu?
No. The Menu has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why does Chef Slowik want everyone dead in The Menu?
Slowik says the guests either made him lose his passion for cooking or exploited food artisans like him. Margot was not on his list, and he lets her walk away after she gets him to cook one last meal he actually enjoys.
