You're at a restaurant. The menu looks great — but your stomach tightens. Not from hunger. From fear. Because the last time you ordered the wrong thing, you ended up in the ER at 3 AM, doubled over, convinced you were dying.
If you've had a kidney stone, you know this anxiety. Every meal out becomes a risk assessment. Every unfamiliar dish is a potential trip to the hospital.
That's exactly why we built Menu Check.
How It Works (3 Steps, 30 Seconds)
Step 1: Snap a Photo of the Menu
Open OxalateGuard, tap the SCAN button, and choose "Check Menu." Point your camera at the menu and take a photo. That's it — no typing, no searching, no guessing.
Our AI vision system (powered by Claude) reads the entire menu page in the photo, extracting dish names, descriptions, and any listed ingredients.
Step 2: AI Analyzes Every Dish
Within seconds, our system:
- Identifies each dish on the page
- Infers likely ingredients using culinary knowledge (a "Pasta Primavera" means pasta, mixed vegetables, olive oil, garlic)
- Cross-references our database of 2,400+ foods with oxalate values from 15 peer-reviewed sources
- Calculates estimated oxalate ranges for each dish (not point estimates — honest ranges that reflect ingredient uncertainty)
Step 3: Get Your Verdict
Each dish gets a clear verdict:
- Likely Safe (green) — estimated under 25 mg oxalate. Order with confidence.
- Check Sides (amber) — moderate risk, usually from a specific side dish or sauce. Ask your server about substitutions.
- High Risk (red) — contains known high-oxalate ingredients like spinach, beets, or whole wheat pasta.
- Choose Another (dark red) — multiple high-oxalate components. Skip this one.
What Makes It Different
It's Not Just a Database Lookup
Other apps make you search for individual ingredients. Menu Check understands dishes — complete preparations with inferred ingredients, cooking methods, and typical portions.
Other apps make you search for individual ingredients.
When you photograph "Chicken Marsala," it knows that means chicken breast, Marsala wine sauce (low oxalate), mushrooms (low-moderate), and likely comes with a starch side. It calculates the full picture, not just one ingredient.
Honest Uncertainty
We show ranges, not false precision. A dish estimated at "25-45 mg" tells you more than a single "35 mg" number that implies certainty we don't have. Dashed borders on results signal that these are estimates, not laboratory measurements.
"Ask Your Server" Prompts
When a dish could go either way — like pasta that might be whole wheat or white — Menu Check flags it with a specific question to ask your server. Not vague "ask about ingredients" — but targeted: "Ask if the pasta can be swapped for white rice."
The Psychology: Why This Matters More Than You Think
Kidney stone PTSD is real. Studies show that the fear of recurrence significantly impacts quality of life, sometimes more than the stone itself. People avoid restaurants, cancel dinner plans, eat the same "safe" three meals on rotation.
Menu Check doesn't just check oxalate levels. It gives you back the confidence to eat out. To say yes to dinner with friends. To try a new restaurant without spiraling into anxiety about what's safe.
One user told us: "I haven't eaten at a restaurant in 8 months. Menu Check got me back out there."
Try It Right Now
Menu Check is available for free — 3 scans per day, no credit card required. Premium users get unlimited scans plus instant results from our cached restaurant database of 50+ restaurants and 1,600+ dishes.
Menu Check is available for free — 3 scans per day, no credit card required.
- Sign up for OxalateGuard (takes 30 seconds)
- Tap the SCAN button
- Choose "Check Menu"
- Point and shoot
The next time you're at a restaurant, you won't have to guess. You'll know.
Already Analyzed Restaurants
We've already analyzed menus from popular chains including Olive Garden, Applebee's, Chili's, Outback Steakhouse, The Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, and more. Browse them anytime at /restaurants — no photo needed.
Your next dinner out doesn't have to be stressful. Let Menu Check handle the oxalate math so you can focus on enjoying the meal.