Why Restaurant Websites Matter
Ninety percent of guests research a restaurant online before visiting. They're looking at your menu, checking your hours, reading reviews, and getting a feel for the vibe. If your website is slow, outdated, or impossible to read on a phone, they'll simply go somewhere else.
Your website needs to answer three questions within seconds: What's the atmosphere like? What's on the menu? How do I get a table?
Get those right, and your website becomes a reservation machine. Get them wrong, and potential guests bounce to your competitor across the street.
Step 1: Setting the Mood
Restaurants are experiences, and your website should telegraph what that experience will feel like. Before any prompts, decide: what's the vibe?
Are you a dark, romantic speakeasy with exposed brick and jazz? A bright, fast-casual brunch spot with white walls and natural light? An upscale tasting menu restaurant with minimalist precision?
Your website's colors, typography, and imagery should reflect that atmosphere. When someone lands on your homepage, they should immediately understand what walking through your door will feel like.
Prompt:"Create a restaurant website for an upscale Italian venue called 'Bella Notte'. Use a dark, elegant aesthetic with warm gold typography (#D4AF37) on a deep charcoal background. The homepage should feature a full-screen hero image of the dining room lit by candlelight, with a clear 'Book a Table' button overlaid. The overall feel should be romantic and sophisticated."
Step 2: The Menu Page
PDF menus are a mistake. They're hard to read on mobile phones—and remember, most people looking up your restaurant are on their phones. PDFs also can't be indexed by search engines, so you miss out on people searching for "pasta near me" or "best tiramisu in [city]."
Build a real menu page that's part of your website.
Prompt:"Create a dedicated menu page with distinct sections for Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, and Dolci. Each dish should have a name in Italian, a brief English description that makes the reader's mouth water, and the price. Include allergen icons (GF for gluten-free, V for vegetarian) next to applicable dishes. Use a sophisticated two-column layout on desktop that stacks vertically on mobile for easy thumb-scrolling."
The descriptions matter. "Spaghetti with meat sauce" is forgettable. "Hand-rolled spaghetti with slow-braised short rib ragĂą, fresh basil, aged Parmigiano-Reggiano" tells a story.
Step 3: Reservations
The entire point of your website is to fill seats. Don't bury the reservation option three clicks deep—it should be visible from the moment someone lands on your homepage.
Prompt:"Add a prominent reservation widget that stays fixed in the corner as visitors scroll. It should allow guests to select party size, date, and preferred time. When they submit, show a confirmation page that thanks them, confirms the details, and offers to add the reservation to their calendar. Include a note about the cancellation policy."
The sticky widget matters because people often browse your entire site—looking at the menu, reading about the chef—before deciding to book. The reservation option should be available whenever they're ready, not requiring them to scroll back to the top.
Local SEO: Getting Found
When someone in your city searches "Italian restaurant near me," you want to appear. Your website is one piece of this puzzle, but it needs to work together with your other online presence.
Step 4: Your Story
People like knowing who's feeding them. A good restaurant website introduces the humans behind the food.
Prompt:"Create an 'Our Story' section that introduces the head chef and the owners. Include a portrait photo of the chef in the kitchen, a short bio about their culinary journey—trained in Naples, worked at three-star restaurants in New York—and a paragraph about the restaurant's mission to bring authentic Italian countryside cooking to the city using locally sourced ingredients."
This section humanizes your restaurant. It's not just a place to eat; it's a place with people who care about what they're making.
Step 5: Practical Information
Never make a hungry person hunt for your address or hours. This information should be immediately visible, not buried in a footer.
Prompt:"Design a comprehensive footer section that includes: the full street address with an embedded Google Map, a click-to-call phone number, hours of operation clearly listed for each day of the week including any holiday variations, and links to Instagram and Facebook. Make sure the map shows parking options nearby."
Consider what information people actually need. Where are you? When are you open? Is there parking? Can I call to ask about allergens? All of this should be findable in seconds.
Tips for Restaurant Websites
Mobile-First Matters Most
Roughly 80% of restaurant searches happen on phones. People are walking around looking for dinner, not sitting at desktops planning a week ahead. Your site must work perfectly on a vertical, thumb-controlled screen.
Invest in Photography
Food photography is hard to do well, but it's worth the investment. Blurry photos of sad salads do more harm than no photos at all. If you can't afford a professional shoot, even carefully-lit iPhone photos in good natural light are better than flash photos on a busy night.
Keep Information Current
Nothing damages trust like outdated information. If your website lists a Happy Hour that ended six months ago, or seasonal specials from last year, visitors wonder what else is wrong. Build a workflow for keeping your site current.
Build Your Restaurant Website
Your website is an extension of your hospitality. The same care you put into service and food should show online. A beautiful, functional website that makes booking easy is a competitive advantage.
BYOB removes the technical barriers so you can focus on what you know: great food and great experiences.
Build your restaurant site