11 October 2026 · 1 min read
Four things a restaurant website must have
A visitor to a restaurant site has four questions: what is there, how much, where, and is there a table. The rest is decoration.
Someone visiting a restaurant's site is in a hurry. They are usually on a phone, perhaps on the way, and want to know four things: what there is to eat, what it costs, where it is and whether it is open now. If the site cannot answer those on the first screen, being beautiful changes nothing.
Menu: a page, not a PDF
Posting the menu as a PDF is the most common mistake. It cannot be read on a phone, a search engine cannot see inside it, and when prices change the old file keeps circulating. The menu should be a page of the site, and the business should be able to change prices itself. On the site we built for Zhen Sushi the menu is a page organised by category; prices and items are updated from an admin panel.
Hours and location
Opening hours and address should be visible on every page, and the address should link to the map. Showing 'open now' live on the site is a small detail, but it stops a customer turning up at a closed door.
Reservations
A separate reservation system is not required. A form that asks for party size, day and time and hands it to WhatsApp as a ready message is enough for most restaurants, and it uses the channel the business already works in.
Ordering links
If delivery runs through other platforms, the site should link to them clearly. Making the visitor search means losing the order.
Being found
Having this information on the site as plain text pays off in maps and AI assistants too. A system answering 'sushi in Konyaaltı' recommends the site whose menu and address it can read.