By Mehdi HassanWhat should a restaurant website include?
A restaurant website should include the menu in real text, opening hours, the address with a map link, a reserve or order button, a handful of good photos, contact details, and information on private dining, events or gift cards if you offer them. That's the whole list for most restaurants. Everything else is decoration, and decoration slows phones down.
Most visits to a restaurant site happen on a phone, often minutes before a decision: on the way out, on the street outside, or in a group chat. The guest wants an answer, not an experience. Our hub on local business website design explains the broader playbook for service businesses; this guide covers what's specific to restaurants, cafes and bars.
Guest question | What answers it | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
What's on the menu? | An HTML menu with prices and dietary notes | Main navigation, linked from the homepage |
Are you open now? | Today's hours, plus a full weekly table | Header or first screen, footer |
Where are you? | Address, map link, parking or transit notes | First screen, footer, contact page |
Can I book or order? | One reserve button and one order button | Header, repeated on menu pages |
Is it right for my occasion? | Photos, a short description, private dining info | Homepage, dedicated events page |
Why does restaurant website design need to be mobile-first?
Restaurant website design needs to be mobile-first because the people deciding where to eat are almost always holding a phone, and they leave the moment the page is slow or the menu won't open. Designing for the small screen first forces the right priorities.
In practice, that means a sticky header on mobile with Reserve, Order and Call buttons, today's hours shown without tapping anything, and an address that opens the phone's map app. It means large tap targets, readable type without zooming, and no pop-ups for newsletters or offers covering the menu on first load. A full-screen video hero might look good on a designer's laptop. On a phone with a weak signal, it's a blank screen.
How should a restaurant menu be built on a website?
A restaurant menu should be built as real HTML text, organized by section, with prices, short descriptions and dietary or allergen labels. A text menu loads instantly, reads well on any screen, works with screen readers, and can be found by search engines when people search for a dish.
PDF menus are the most common restaurant website mistake. They're slow to open on mobile, force pinching and zooming, are hard for visually impaired guests to use, and are usually out of date because updating them means redesigning a file. Build the menu in the CMS instead, so the chef or manager can change a dish or a price in a minute.
- Sections that match how guests order: starters, mains, sides, desserts, drinks.
- Prices on every item; leaving them off makes guests assume the worst.
- Dietary labels such as vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free, with a short key.
- Allergen note explaining how to ask about allergies, and what the kitchen can and can't guarantee.
- Separate menus for lunch, dinner, brunch or drinks, each as its own page or tab, with the times they're served.
- A printable version if you like, offered as a secondary link, never as the only menu.
How should reservations and online ordering work on a restaurant website?
Reservations and online ordering should each have one clear route from the website, usually through a booking platform and an ordering service you already use. The website's job is to send guests there in one tap, not to rebuild those systems.
Option | How it works | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
Embedded booking widget | The reservation form appears on your page | Smoother, but adds a script that can slow the page |
Link to booking platform | A Reserve button opens the platform's page | Fastest site, one extra step for the guest |
Your own ordering page | Ordering via a system you control | Keeps the customer relationship; more setup and fees vary |
Third-party delivery apps | Order buttons link to delivery platforms | Easy reach, but commissions and less control over the customer |
Phone only | Call to book or order | Simple, but loses guests outside opening hours |
Whichever you choose, keep the number of options low. Five delivery logos side by side create a decision the guest didn't want to make. Pick the route you prefer guests to use and make it the main button, with alternatives as smaller links. If you take walk-ins only, say so plainly so nobody searches for a booking button that doesn't exist.
How do you keep hours and details right across the web?
Keep hours and details right by treating your website and Google Business Profile as one record and updating both at the same time, including holiday hours and temporary closures. Wrong hours are among the fastest ways to lose a guest's trust, and conflicting details across sites confuse search engines too.
Show today's hours prominently and a full weekly table on the contact page. Use the same restaurant name, address and phone number everywhere. Mark up the details with structured data so search engines can read them, and answer common practical questions (parking, accessibility, dress code, kids, dogs, large groups) in a short FAQ. Our guide to FAQ sections that earn citations explains how to write answers that both guests and AI search tools can use.
Hypothetical example: a neighborhood bistro's homepage on a phone
For example, suppose a 40-cover bistro rebuilds its homepage. On a phone, the first screen shows the name, a one-line description of the food, "Open today until 10pm", and two buttons: Reserve and View menu. A small call icon sits in the header. Scrolling down, guests see three photos of dishes and the room, a short paragraph about the chef, private dining details with an enquiry form, the address with a map link, and the weekly hours. The menu page is HTML with prices and dietary labels, edited in the CMS by the manager. This is an illustration of the structure, not a real project.
How should a restaurant website handle photos and speed?
A restaurant website should use a small number of excellent photos, compressed and sized correctly, rather than dozens of large images or a video background. Food photography sells, but only when it loads before the guest gives up.
Choose five to ten images that show signature dishes, the room and the atmosphere at the time guests usually visit. Serve them in modern formats at the size they're displayed, and load images further down the page only as the guest scrolls. Avoid image carousels at the top: guests rarely wait for the second slide. Keep third-party scripts to a minimum, because each booking widget, chat bubble and tracking tag competes with your photos for the same slow connection.
Do multi-location restaurants need a different website?
Multi-location restaurants need one location page per site, each with its own hours, address, menu differences, booking link and photos, built from a single CMS template. That way each location can rank and answer questions on its own, while the brand stays consistent.
Add a simple location finder on the homepage and make sure every location page can be reached in one tap. If menus differ by site, attach the right menu to each location rather than maintaining one master menu with exceptions. Our guide to location pages that rank covers the template and the unique content each page needs, and our roundup of local business website examples shows how restaurant brands handle ordering and location pages.
What does a restaurant website cost, and is a template enough?
A single restaurant can usually get a good website from a well-chosen template, as long as the menu is in text, the hours are right and the booking button is obvious. A custom build makes sense for restaurant groups, multi-location brands and concepts where the website carries real weight in bookings, events and private dining.
Our honest view: if you run one restaurant and your bookings come mostly from regulars and booking platforms, spend on photography and keep the site simple. If you run several sites, sell private events or have your own ordering system, a custom site pays for itself in clarity and control. Our guide to small business website cost compares templates, freelancers and studios in detail. After launch, someone has to keep the menus and hours current; our comparison of care plans and retainers explains the options.
