TYPES OF DISHES

My cats like to eat off of regular plates, but the food slides all over the place.

Are there any type of dishes that have a roughness to them so the food will stay still while they lick it or grab it with their mouth?

Maybe something along the lines of what that skidproof bottoms look like on the outside of the water bowls.

Any ideas what I can create for them??

You probably want more of a wide, shallow bowl which would contain the food.  The thing that always springs to mind is the shallow DuraPet bowls like this:   but I'm not sure if you can find an equivalent that is more like a regular dish.

It depends upon why you want a regular dish.  If it's for appearance, you'll have to keep looking.  If it's just because the cats haven't eaten out of pet bowls before, this is often because they don't want their whiskers to touch the sides, and the flattened out bowl resolves that issue by having very low sides.  Although I suppose if your cats have some of the flatter faced genes those bowls still might not be low enough.

I use plates also for my cats but plates that are slightly beveled around the edge, vs flat plates. This allows plenty of room for their whiskers (so they don't get "whisker stress" from eating).

This article has a link for food bowls that are shallow yet wide enough so as not to cause whisker stress but also to minimize the food scattering about:

http://consciouscat.net/2014/10/20/dr-catsby-food-bowl-provides-relief-from-whisker-stress/

@AndieG, are you feeding your cats wet or dry food on the plates? If it's dry, I might just suggest using a large bowl, like a pasta bowl!

Our cats have a couple of the small Van Ness EcoWare cat dishes: they're like plastic but made from plant-based materials and have a slightly rough surface. The cats do sometimes manage to push their (wet) food up the sides and onto their place mats but these are not their messiest dishes.

I have 3 black cats so I have 3 of these dishes. They are super cute and all cats eat out of them with no issues.