diff --git a/e2e/open-menu.ts b/e2e/open-menu.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5fe70144b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/open-menu.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import { expect, type Locator, type Page } from "@playwright/test";
+
+/**
+ * Click a menu trigger and confirm the menu actually opened.
+ *
+ * A bare `trigger.click()` is a coin flip on a server-rendered page. Playwright
+ * clicks as soon as the element is visible, stable and enabled — all three of
+ * which are true of markup React has not attached a handler to yet. The click
+ * lands, nothing happens, and the next line waits thirty seconds for a menu
+ * item that will never appear, because the one click the test had was spent
+ * before hydration.
+ *
+ * `networkidle` does not close that window either: the trigger is in the first
+ * HTML, so it is present long before the client bundle finishes. The gate has
+ * to be the element's own state, not the network's.
+ *
+ * This is the failure that took two branches to read: the quick-add trigger on
+ * the dashboard, clicked, no menu in the failure snapshot, and no defect in the
+ * component. It surfaces when the machine is loaded — a heavier suite is enough
+ * to push hydration past the click — so it reads as a branch-specific
+ * regression when it is a race the spec always had.
+ *
+ * The signal is the trigger's own open state. Radix stamps `data-state="open"`;
+ * a hand-rolled trigger carries `aria-expanded="true"` off React state. Either
+ * one only appears once a handler ran, which is exactly the thing being waited
+ * for. Retry the click rather than raising a timeout: the problem is a lost
+ * event, and waiting longer for a click that was already swallowed does
+ * nothing.
+ */
+export async function openMenu(page: Page, trigger: Locator): Promise<void> {
+  await expect(trigger).toBeVisible();
+
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 5; attempt++) {
+    await trigger.click();
+    if (await isOpen(trigger)) return;
+    // Swallowed by a not-yet-hydrated trigger. Give the bundle a moment and
+    // spend another click.
+    await page.waitForTimeout(250);
+  }
+
+  // Out of attempts. Fail naming the state the trigger was actually in, rather
+  // than letting the caller time out on a menu item that was never going to
+  // appear.
+  const state = await trigger.getAttribute("data-state");
+  const expanded = await trigger.getAttribute("aria-expanded");
+  throw new Error(
+    `openMenu: the trigger never opened after 5 clicks (data-state=${state}, aria-expanded=${expanded}). ` +
+      "The page is most likely still hydrating; the trigger is in the server HTML and takes clicks before React attaches.",
+  );
+}
+
+async function isOpen(trigger: Locator): Promise<boolean> {
+  for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+    const [state, expanded] = await Promise.all([
+      trigger.getAttribute("data-state"),
+      trigger.getAttribute("aria-expanded"),
+    ]);
+    if (state === "open" || expanded === "true") return true;
+    await trigger.page().waitForTimeout(100);
+  }
+  return false;
+}
diff --git a/e2e/water-capture.spec.ts b/e2e/water-capture.spec.ts
index 7c9e99bf4..d16fa8eb9 100644
--- a/e2e/water-capture.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/water-capture.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { expect, test } from "./setup/test";
 
 import { STORAGE_STATE_PATH } from "./setup/global-setup";
+import { openMenu } from "./open-menu";
 import {
   mockDashboardSnapshot,
   WEIGHT_ONLY_SUMMARIES,
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ test.describe("water capture", () => {
         if (toastMayOverlap) {
           await capture.dispatchEvent("click");
         } else {
-          await capture.click();
+          await openMenu(page, capture);
         }
         const option = page.getByTestId("capture-picker-water");
         await expect(option).toBeVisible();
@@ -78,7 +79,10 @@ test.describe("water capture", () => {
           await option.click();
         }
       } else {
-        await page.locator('[data-tour-id="dashboard-quick-add"]').click();
+        await openMenu(
+          page,
+          page.locator('[data-tour-id="dashboard-quick-add"]'),
+        );
         await page.getByRole("menuitem", { name: "Log water" }).click();
       }
       await expect(