Restaurant Web Sites!!!

We are currently reconstructing our restaurant web site, and I was thinking what do you look for in a website and what are some of your favorite sites that you have seen? Also when you are on vacation or traveling, how do you look for restaurants in the city you are visiting? My favorite site is alinea-restaurant.com, and when I am on vacation I will use the Mobil guide or Zagat, but most of the time I will go online and search through open table or Yelp.com.

I guess a fundamental question that you need to answer is this: The "typical" person who arrives at my web site.....was that a random event or was it planned. Different users, different needs. When I head to a restaurant web site, it is usually planned. I am looking for specific information. Don't feed me marketing hype,I'm not fond of the taste.

I want a restaurant web site to have the current menu online with prices. I understand if daily specials are not shown but their presence would be a plus. I want to see an up-to-date wine list with prices so that I can judge if the owners are trying to rape me with their markups. And if the prices are not listed on the web, I automatically assume they are gougers....and will not dine there.

Glitzy photos and marketing B.S. are useless to me. Don't get me wrong, the site should look nice.....freshly washed and cleaned, yes, but lipstick and mascara aren't needed. Give me the name of the dish and a brief, accurate description. And whatever menu is posted, it better be legible....I have seen some where they just scanned the hard copy and uploaded without bothering to check if it could be read in a different medium. Details that are discernible in a dining room can get lost when scanned, uploaded, and viewed over the 'net.

Pages and menus should load FAST. Don't slow it down with background music, or useless videos or slide shows. I'll get frustrated and leave, never to be seen in your establishment.

AND KEEP THE DAMN THING CURRENT!!!! If you can't, or won't do that, just put an ad in the phone book. It's cheaper. You won't attract as many customers, maybe....but you also won't drive any away either. You will really tick me off it is obvious that you haven't been maintaining the site. And if I visit your restaurant and find out that a bunch of the items listed in the online menu were removed from the real menu months ago, I will never return.

To me, the two most important features of a restaurant website are up-to-date menus and wine lists. A few good photos of the interior are also helpful in judging what the atmosphere will be like. Directions of how to get there by car or public transportation are also helpful. As for how I decide where to dine, these days I rely on advice from some well-traveled friends. If I can't get enough from those sources, I will look at Chowhound, Yelp, Zagat and here.

Mark Lipton

I think Mike and Mark have it covered as far as I'm concerned. UP TO DATE menus and winelists is the primary need.

Hours that you serve.

Contact page, with an OpenTable link, or phone reservation number (with hours). Directions/parking suggestions are nice. If jacket required, should be prominently mentioned.

After that, a few photos are nice. As Mike says, no glitzy flash that slows things down.

I agree with all the previous posts about up to date menu and wine listings.
I'd also like to see a corkage fee if applicable and be told about parking, valet or lot or whatever.
If you have a full bar, that's good info along with a bar to sit at, happy hour prices etc.
Also, simple is lots better than elaborate on the website.

[Jenise]

I agree with all the previous posts about up to date menu and wine listings.
I'd also like to see a corkage fee if applicable and be told about parking, valet or lot or whatever.
If you have a full bar, that's good info along with a bar to sit at, happy hour prices etc.
Also, simple is lots better than elaborate on the website.

Okay, what Shel said, plus: a shot of the exterior so we can recognize it from the street if we're new in town or have never been there before, and a shot of the interior that accurately depicts the overall mood of the dining room. No shots of the type of couple who obviously only dine out on their anniversary staring at a lit flambe cart, though, please--unless you want to discourage serious diners, that is.

I'm looking at restaurants in Hawaii right now, and one of the restaurants that was at the top of our list got seriously demoted because of all the photographs showing the lawn in front of the restaurant set up for weddings, complete with a hokey little arch for the bride and groom to stand under. Somehow the emphasis on that, and not the food, takes a lot away from my confidence in their ability to provide the kind of food I'm hoping for (and was told they do).

I agree with all of the above. When I look at a restaurant website, it's first to check the menus (including wine/cocktail lists) and second to get an idea of the feel of the place. Menus can be attached pdf's if that's the easiest way to do it. I will want a map rather than directions (it just works better for me that way) and if there's a link to a reservation service, then I will want that. This should all be done with no more than a couple of screens, no animation, and a nice overall design.

I'm looking at restaurants in Hawaii right now

Alan Wong's Nuf Said

I will want a map rather than directions (it just works better for me that way)

Mike,

You are a man, right? You should not need a map! We just, you know, find what we are looking for without the aid of maps or directions.


Chef,

I agree with most of the advice given thus far. The only thing I might suggest is, for lack of a better term, a mission statement. For example, if you are passionate about using locally sourced ingredients; mention that and briefly explain why you feel that way. If your seafood is flown in daily because you will only serve the freshest seafood, you could state that as well. If the hallmark of your restaurant is serving only grade prime beef, make that known. If there is something you are obsessive about that makes your restaurant different from any other restaurant in the Lake Geneva area, let it be known so people may differentiate your restaurant from the others.

Those are just some examples. Good luck with the new site design.

Thanks for all the info. it is always wise to get a different perspective from the guest's point of view, and I appreciate all of the valuable advise!

No music. Ever. Not never.

As for loading fast, please have a web page with the menu--not a pdf file. Hate that. I'm clicking through fast and do not like to wait for a pdf to load.

Absolutely directions, and again, not a redirect to mqapquest. In simple terms, say how to arrive from north south east and west...

I do like links to press.