10 Restaurant Website Must-Haves and What Most Sites Get Wrong

A restaurant website has one job: to answer a hungry stranger's questions before they lose patience. When is it open, where is it, what is on the menu, is there a table, and is it for them. If your restaurant website answers those five on a phone in a few seconds, it is already ahead of many.

The test is easy to picture. Someone is standing on a pavement in the rain, one bar of signal, deciding between your place and the one next door. They will not read your story. They will look for the hours.

Why does a restaurant website still matter?

It is the one place where your facts are yours. Social platforms change their rules, search engines summarise you, and booking apps list you in their own format. A website is what all of them read.

A survey of 1,101 US adults by Modern Marketing for Restaurants, reported on the MGH site, described diners who visit a restaurant's website before ordering or dining in. The page lists hard-to-read menus, difficult navigation and sites that look outdated as turn-offs, and notes that a site that was not mobile-friendly has put some people off ordering. The published page omits the percentages and the survey year, so treat it as a list of what to check, not as a measure of how many diners behave this way.

What are the ten must-haves?

Here is the list, in the order a visitor needs things. Each item has a reason and something concrete to do.

1. Opening hours that are right today

Put hours at the top of the home page as text, with holiday and seasonal changes marked. A wrong closing time costs a guest a wasted trip and a bad memory.

What to do: add a line for exceptions ("Closed Monday 1 January, back Tuesday") and delete it when it passes. Make your website, Google profile and social bios say the same thing.

2. An address, a map and a way to arrive

Give the street address as text, a map link, nearest transport and parking or step-free access notes. Do not make people zoom into an image of a map.

What to do: write one sentence on how to find the door if it is not obvious. "Green door beside the bookshop, ring the bell" saves a phone call.

3. A menu people can read on a phone

Publish the menu as text on a page, not only as a PDF or a photograph. Text loads faster, resizes, can be read aloud by assistive tools and is read by search engines.

What to do: show prices (or clearly say prices vary), mark vegetarian, vegan and common allergens, and put a date on the page. Where there is a tasting menu, say what it includes and how long it takes.

4. One obvious way to book or order

There should be one clear button, not four. Whether it is a booking widget, a phone number or a message form, it must work on a phone and say what happens next.

What to do: state your rules plainly: group size, deposit, cancellation, how long the table is held. If you take walk-ins only, say so and give a rough sense of busy times.

5. A phone number and an email that someone answers

People still call, especially for last-minute tables, access questions and large groups. Put the number on every page as tap-to-call text, not as an image.

What to do: test it. Ring the number during service and see who answers, and how long it takes.

6. Photographs that look like your restaurant

Show the room, the plates as served and the people, in natural light. Stock images and heavy filters set expectations you cannot meet.

What to do: shoot ten plain, current photographs once a year, compress them so pages load quickly, and write a short description for each (see the next item).

7. Speed and mobile layout

A site that is slow or clumsy on a phone is a site many guests will leave. Open yours on an older phone over mobile data, not on office wifi.

What to do: limit autoplay video and oversized images, keep fonts simple, and check that buttons are large enough to tap without zooming.

8. Basic accessibility

Accessibility is a practical matter of letting more guests use the site. The W3C notes that it helps people with disabilities and also people on small screens, older adults, people in bright sunlight and people on slow connections. It also says images should include text alternatives and that web accessibility is required by law in many situations. Check your local rules with a qualified adviser.

What to do: add a short description to every image, keep text and background contrast strong, make sure the booking button can be reached with a keyboard, and say clearly in words what step-free access and dietary adjustments you offer.

9. Structured data so search engines understand you

Structured data is a hidden block of code that labels your hours, address and menu so search engines can read them. Google's guidance on local business markup lists name and address as required, and recommends opening hours, a menu link, cuisine and phone number. Google says it does not guarantee rich results will appear, so see this as housekeeping, not a growth trick.

What to do: ask your web builder to add it, then check it with Google's Rich Results Test. Our guide to local SEO for restaurants and hotels and a piece on AI search and hospitality discovery explain why clean facts matter more as search changes.

10. A living page for news and changes

A small page or banner for news keeps the site current: new dishes, events, closures, a private hire option, a change of chef. It also gives you something to link to from social media.

What to do: pick one person to update it and put a monthly reminder in the calendar. If nobody will maintain it, do not build it; use a simple banner at the top of the home page instead.

What do most restaurant websites get wrong?

Most sites get the basics wrong, not the design. The same few faults appear again and again, and each has a quick fix.

A website is a front door; the worst thing it can be is locked.

What should the first screen show?

The first screen, before anyone scrolls, should carry your name, what kind of place you are, today's hours, the booking button and one real photograph. Everything else can wait.

Take a made-up neighbourhood wine bar with a short food menu. Its first screen reads: the name, "Natural wine and small plates, Tuesday to Sunday", a line saying "Open today 5 pm to midnight", a button marked "Book a table" and a photograph of the bar at dusk. Below that sit the menu, the address and the story. A visitor has everything needed to decide in the time it takes to scroll once.

A useful rule: the first screen should survive being read for three seconds, on a phone held at arm's length, by someone who is also looking for the right door. Whatever cannot be read in that time belongs lower down.

Compare that with a splash screen, a slow video and a menu hidden under three clicks. The second site may look grander on a laptop. The first one gets the table booked.

How should you handle third-party platforms?

Use booking and delivery platforms as doors into your restaurant, but keep your own website as the place where the facts live. Platforms list you in their own format, and the details can drift out of date.

Practical habits:

• Link your own booking page where you can, and keep your rules (deposit, group size, cancellation) identical everywhere.
• Review each platform listing when you change hours or menus. Put it on the same checklist as your website.
• Say clearly on your site which route is best for what, for example "Large groups: please call."
• Keep your own contact details visible even if a platform handles most bookings.

If you rely on a platform for ordering, check what it charges and what customer details you receive, so that you know what you own and what you rent.

What does maintenance really involve?

Maintenance is a monthly habit of about half an hour, not a project. Most stale websites are stale because the update depended on one person who left.

A monthly list that holds up:

1. Compare hours on the website, Google profile and social bios.
2. Read the live menu against the kitchen's current one.
3. Click every button and link, including the booking route.
4. Look at one page on a phone and one on a desktop.
5. Check that photographs still look like the room.
6. Write down what changed and the date, in a shared note.

Keep logins in a shared password manager and make sure two people can edit the site. Then a holiday or a resignation does not freeze your menu in time.

How do you check your own site in an hour?

Run a simple test with a stranger. It tells you more than any design review.

1. Ask someone who has never visited to find your opening hours, the menu and how to book, using their own phone.
2. Time each task and watch where they hesitate. Do not help.
3. Open the site on mobile data, not wifi, and note how long the page takes to become usable.
4. Search your venue name and compare the hours shown on Google, social profiles and your site.
5. Ring your own number during a busy hour.
6. Write down three fixes and do them this week.

Repeat the test every quarter and after any redesign. Once the site is working, consider capturing contact details for returning guests, which our guide to loyalty and email covers.

Key takeaways

• A restaurant website should answer hours, location, menu, booking and fit in seconds on a phone.
• Publish the menu as text, dated, with dietary information, rather than as a PDF alone.
• Keep one clear booking route and a phone number that is answered.
• Accessibility and structured data are housekeeping that help real guests and search engines.
• Make one person responsible for keeping the facts current.
• Test with a stranger on a phone before and after any change.