What a restaurant website is really for
A hungry person looking for somewhere to eat tonight does a few specific things: checks the menu, looks at photos, confirms you're open, finds out where you are, and books a table or places an order. Great restaurant website design makes all of that effortless. Everything else, the history of the head chef, the philosophy of the brand, is secondary.
Too many hospitality sites get this backwards. They open with a slow, full-screen video and a moody splash page, then hide the menu three clicks deep and the booking link somewhere obscure. Meanwhile the diner, often standing on a pavement on their phone, gives up and books the restaurant next door instead.
The job of your website is to turn a hungry searcher into a booked table or a placed order with as little friction as possible. Get the essentials right and a simple, fast site will out-earn a beautiful but frustrating one every single time.
The menu: easiest thing to get wrong
The menu is the single most-visited page on almost every restaurant website, so it's astonishing how often it's done badly. The cardinal sin is putting the menu up as a PDF or a photograph. On a phone, a PDF means pinching, zooming and scrolling around, and it's invisible to Google, so you lose both diners and search traffic.
Your menu should be real text on a proper web page: readable instantly on mobile, easy to scan, and searchable. Group dishes clearly, show prices, and flag dietary information like vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, which a growing number of diners actively filter for.
Keep it current, too. Nothing annoys a customer more than arriving for a dish that's no longer served, or seeing last year's prices. An easily editable menu page you can update yourself in minutes beats a beautiful PDF you have to email a designer to change.
Make booking a table take seconds
If someone wants to eat at your restaurant, don't make them work for it. A prominent "Book a Table" button should be visible the moment the page loads and follow them as they scroll on mobile. Whether you use an integrated booking system or a simple form, the path from decision to reservation should be short and obvious.
Online booking tools like OpenTable, ResDiary or SevenRooms let customers see real-time availability and reserve instantly, even at midnight when no one's answering the phone. That convenience captures bookings you'd otherwise lose, and it cuts down on the phone interruptions during your busy service.
Always keep a clear phone number as well, plenty of diners, especially for larger groups or special occasions, still prefer to talk to a human. The point isn't to force one method; it's to make whichever method the customer prefers immediate and frictionless.
Photos that make people hungry, not frustrated
People eat with their eyes, and on a restaurant website, food photography does much of the selling. Warm, well-lit photos of your actual dishes and your real dining room create desire and set accurate expectations. Generic stock images of food you don't serve do the opposite, they read as fake and erode trust.
The tension is that big, beautiful images are also heavy, and heavy images make pages slow. The fix is proper optimisation: compress photos, use modern formats, and lazy-load images further down the page so the top loads fast. You can have stunning visuals and a quick site, but only if the images are handled carefully.
Invest in one decent photo session of your signature dishes, your interior and your team. It pays back across your website, social media and Google Business Profile for years. Authentic, appetising photos of the real experience are among the highest-return things a restaurant can spend on.
Speed and mobile: where most diners actually are
The overwhelming majority of restaurant searches happen on phones, frequently while people are out and deciding on the spot. If your site is slow or fiddly on mobile, you lose them in the moments that matter most. A site that takes several seconds to load on a phone bleeds bookings before the menu even appears.
Mobile-first design means the small screen is the priority, not an afterthought. Large tap targets, readable text without zooming, a booking button that's always reachable, and quick load times. The full-screen autoplay video that looks impressive on a designer's monitor is often the very thing crushing your mobile speed.
Test your own site on a phone, ideally on mobile data rather than fast home WiFi, and time how long it takes to do the four key things: see the menu, see photos, find your address, and book. If any of those is slow or awkward, that's where you're losing customers.
The practical details diners look for
Beyond menu, booking and photos, there's a checklist of information every diner expects to find quickly, and gets quietly annoyed when they can't. These are unglamorous but they directly affect whether someone chooses you, so they should be obvious, not buried.
Make sure these are easy to find on any device:
- check_circleOpening hours, kept accurate including bank holidays and seasonal changes
- check_circleFull address with a tappable map link and nearby parking notes
- check_circlePhone number that dials with one tap on mobile
- check_circleWhether you take walk-ins or bookings only
- check_circleTakeaway, collection or delivery options, with a clear order link
- check_circleDietary, allergen and accessibility information
Capturing takeaway and delivery orders
Many restaurants now earn a serious share of revenue from takeaway and delivery. If that's you, your website should make ordering as easy as booking a table. The big platforms like Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats bring volume, but they also take a hefty commission on every order, often 25-35%.
That's why it's worth offering direct ordering through your own site for collection or delivery where you can. A direct order keeps the full margin and the customer relationship in your hands, rather than handing both to a platform. Linking to the aggregators is fine, but giving diners a direct option too protects your profits.
Whatever you choose, make the order route unmistakable. A diner who's decided they want your food shouldn't have to hunt for how to actually buy it. One clear, prominent "Order Online" button removes the friction at the exact moment of intent.
Helping Google send hungry locals your way
A restaurant website only works if people can find it, and for restaurants, local search is everything. Most discovery happens through Google searches like "Italian restaurant near me" or "best brunch in Coventry", and through Google Maps. Your website and your Google Business Profile work together to win those searches.
On the website side, real-text menus, your location and area mentioned naturally in the copy, fast mobile pages, and proper structured data all help Google understand and rank you. Off-site, a fully completed Google Business Profile with current hours, photos and a steady stream of genuine reviews is arguably even more important for a restaurant.
Encourage happy diners to leave honest reviews, never buy fake ones, and keep your information identical everywhere it appears. The restaurants that show up first in local searches aren't necessarily the best cooks; they're the ones whose online presence is complete, current, consistent and easy for both diners and Google to use.
Frequently asked questions
Should my restaurant menu be a PDF or a web page?expand_more
A proper web page, every time. PDFs are awkward on mobile, requiring pinching and zooming, and they're effectively invisible to Google, so you lose both customer convenience and search traffic. A text-based menu page loads instantly, reads well on phones, can be searched, and is easy to update when dishes or prices change. Keep PDFs only as an optional download, never as your main menu.
Do I need an online booking system on my restaurant website?expand_more
If you take reservations, an online booking system is well worth it. It captures bookings around the clock, including when no one can answer the phone, shows real-time availability, and reduces interruptions during service. Tools like OpenTable, ResDiary or SevenRooms integrate cleanly. Always keep a tappable phone number too, as some diners, especially larger groups, still prefer to call.
How important are food photos on a restaurant website?expand_more
Very. People eat with their eyes, and appetising photos of your actual dishes and dining room do a huge amount of the selling. Avoid generic stock images, as diners can tell and it undermines trust. Invest in one good photo session of your signature dishes, interior and team, then make sure the images are properly compressed so they look stunning without slowing your site down.
Should I take orders through my own site or use Deliveroo and Just Eat?expand_more
Ideally both, but lean towards your own site where you can. Delivery platforms bring volume but charge heavy commissions, often 25-35% per order, and own the customer relationship. Direct ordering through your own website for collection or delivery keeps the full margin and the customer's details with you. Many restaurants list on the platforms for reach while steering regulars towards direct ordering to protect profit.
How do I get my restaurant to show up on Google?expand_more
Start with a fully completed, verified Google Business Profile, accurate hours, address, photos, menu link and a steady flow of genuine reviews, as this is the biggest factor for restaurants. On your website, use real-text menus, mention your location naturally, keep pages fast on mobile, and ensure your details match exactly everywhere they appear. Consistency, freshness and real reviews are what win local food searches.