Restaurant website design: what it must include
What a good restaurant website needs: a text menu, timings, location, ordering links, photos, Google Business Profile and reviews.
ToBrand team · 5 min read
Good restaurant website design is simple. A hungry person on a phone wants to know three things: what do you serve, when are you open, and how do I get there. If your site makes them hunt for those answers, they will go to the next restaurant on the map. This guide lists what a restaurant, cafe, cloud kitchen or bakery site must include, and the common mistakes to avoid.
Put the menu in as text, not as a PDF
This is the most common mistake. Many restaurants upload a scanned menu or a PDF. On a phone, a PDF is slow to open, hard to read without zooming, and search engines cannot read it properly. A photo of a menu has the same problems.
Write the menu as normal text on a web page instead.
- Group dishes into clear sections: starters, mains, breads, desserts, drinks.
- Show the name, a short description and the price.
- Mark vegetarian and non-vegetarian items clearly.
- Mention common allergens if you can do so accurately.
- Update prices and dishes as soon as they change.
Text loads fast, reads well on any screen, and lets Google match your dishes to what people search for. If you want to offer a downloadable menu too, keep it as an extra, not the main version.
Timings, location and contact
Show your opening hours on the homepage as text. Include lunch and dinner breaks if you have them, weekly off days, and any festival closures. Wrong timings send customers to a closed door and lead to bad reviews.
Add the full address, a map and a note on parking or landmarks. Put a call button and a WhatsApp button where they are easy to tap. Our notes on WhatsApp for business leads explain how to handle messages without losing track of them.
Table booking and ordering links
Decide how you want customers to reach you and make it obvious.
- Dine-in: a call or WhatsApp button for table booking, or a simple booking form.
- Delivery or takeaway: links to the apps or ordering channels you actually use, or your own ordering page.
- Parties and catering: a short enquiry form with date, number of guests and phone number.
Only list ways to order that you can really serve. If someone clicks a button and nobody answers, you lose them. If you want to sell food or merchandise directly from your site, see our ecommerce service.
Photos that show the real place
Food is visual, so photography matters. Use clear photos of your actual dishes, your dining area and your team. Avoid stock images, because customers can tell, and the food that arrives will not match.
- Shoot in natural light where possible.
- Show a few of your best dishes rather than every item.
- Resize and compress images so the page loads quickly on mobile data.
- Add short descriptions to images so they are readable by screen readers and search engines.
Slow pages lose visitors quickly. Our guide to website speed and Core Web Vitals explains why image size matters.
Google Business Profile comes first
For restaurants, many customers will find you on Google Maps before they ever see your website. Your Google Business Profile should have the right category, accurate timings, phone number, menu link, photos and a link to your website. Keep every detail matching across Google, your site and any delivery apps.
Our guide to getting found on Google Maps goes through the steps in order.
Reviews: ask, read and reply
Reviews influence where people eat. Ask happy diners to leave an honest review, make it easy with a direct link, and reply to every review politely, including the critical ones. Never buy reviews or write fake ones. Our article on how to get more Google reviews covers the right way to ask.
If you want to show reviews on your site, quote real ones with the reviewer's permission, and do not edit them.
Restaurant website design: a simple page structure
- Home: what you serve, timings, location and action buttons.
- Menu: full text menu with prices.
- About: your story, kitchen and team in a few honest lines.
- Gallery: real photos of food and space.
- Contact: address, map, phone, WhatsApp and booking or catering form.
That is a five-page site, which is plenty to start. For more on structuring the first page, read what to put on your homepage.
Mistakes to avoid
- A PDF or image-only menu.
- Autoplay music or video that blocks the page.
- Heavy animations that make the site slow.
- Old timings or a closed phone number.
- Hiding the address in a footer.
- Broken ordering links.
What it costs with ToBrand
A restaurant site often fits our Launch package, which starts at ₹24,999 plus GST for up to 5 pages. Growth is ₹59,999 plus GST for up to 12 pages and a blog, and online stores start from ₹59,999 plus GST. Every project has one fixed quote. See the website design service and our past work.
Want to know how your restaurant appears on Google right now? Run the free SEO check, or book a free 30-minute call and tell us what you need.
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