The second piece of advice there is still wrong though. They still want all icons or no icons for visual consistency, just on a smaller scale.

Visual consistency like this is bad because it removes distinct features (like the presence or lack of an icon) that make it easier to find things.

Google's icons are visually consistent: https://www.reddit.com/r/google/comments/jie6b7/for_opening_...

Outsourcing their UX design to the internet badly...