Websites for restaurants: ordering, reservations and menus

A restaurant website has three jobs: show the menu as a readable page, send people to order or book in one tap, and answer the practical questions (hours, address, parking, phone) before anyone has to call. For ordering and reservations you do not build anything yourself. You link to the system you already use, such as Toast, Square or Clover for orders and OpenTable, Resy or Tock for tables, and make those links impossible to miss. Here is how to set it up so diners do what they came to do.

What diners want in the first few seconds

Most people arrive on a restaurant site on a phone, often hungry and in a hurry, with one of a few questions:

Is it open now?
What is on the menu, and roughly what does it cost?
Can I order for pickup or delivery?
Can I book a table for tonight?
Where is it, and where do I park?

The top of your home page should answer most of those without scrolling: your name and the kind of food in a line ("Family Italian kitchen in downtown Bend"), today's hours, and two or three big buttons: Order online, Book a table, See the menu. Put the phone number beside them as a tappable link, because plenty of diners still prefer to call.

A PDF menu is easy to upload and painful to read on a phone: the text is tiny, it opens in a separate viewer, and it is often months out of date. A menu typed into the page itself reads properly, can be searched by Google, and is far easier to update.

A good online menu:

Is split into sections like Starters, Pizzas, Mains, Desserts, Drinks, with headings people can jump to.
Shows prices. Diners use them to decide before they come. If prices change often, at least keep them close to right.
Describes dishes plainly: what is in it, not just a name. "Braised short rib, polenta, gremolata" tells people more than "The Sunday".
Marks dietary options consistently, such as vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free, with a short key at the top.
Includes an allergy note, for example "Tell your server about allergies; our kitchen handles nuts and gluten."
Has separate pages or sections for lunch, dinner, brunch, drinks and catering if they differ.
Uses a few real photos of signature dishes, not a stock photo for every item.

If your ordering system already holds your menu, it can be tempting to send people there to see it. Keep a menu on your own site anyway; not everyone who reads a menu wants to start an order.

Online ordering: link the system you use

For pickup and delivery, your website is the front door, not the kitchen. The order itself happens in an ordering system:

Your point-of-sale's own ordering. Toast, Square, Clover and similar systems offer online ordering that sends tickets straight to your kitchen with your menu, modifiers and prices. Ordering this way usually costs less per order than the delivery apps, and you keep the customer's details.
Dedicated ordering services such as ChowNow, which work with many POS systems.
Delivery marketplaces such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. They bring new customers and drivers, at a commission on each order that is usually much higher than your own ordering.

Many restaurants offer both: their own ordering link first on the website, and the delivery apps for people who already use them. If you do that, make your own link the big button and the apps smaller links below.

To put it on the site:

Copy the ordering page link from your ordering system's dashboard.
Add a large Order online button at the top of the home page and on the menu page.
Test it on your phone: tap, add an item, check that the pickup times and menu are right, then cancel.

Reservations: one tap to a table

Reservation systems work the same way:

OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Yelp Guest Manager and others each give you a booking page link or a small widget.
A Book a table button that opens the booking page is usually more reliable on phones than an embedded widget.
Say what the system cannot: "Parties of eight or more, please call us" or "We keep the bar for walk-ins."

If you do not take reservations, say so clearly near the top: "Walk-ins only. Join the waitlist on arrival." It saves a lot of phone calls. If you use a waitlist app that lets people join remotely, link it the same way.

Connect Google to the same links

Many diners never visit your website; they act straight from your listing on Google. In your Google Business Profile you can add links for your menu, ordering and reservations, and Google may also show "Order online" or "Reserve a table" buttons through partner services. Make sure those point to the same systems as your website, so diners get the same experience either way. Google Business Profile and your website explains how the two work together.

The practical details that save phone calls

Add a short "Visit us" section, on the home page or a page of its own:

Address with a map link that opens directions on a phone.
Hours for each day, including kitchen closing time if it differs, and holiday hours as they approach. Keeping your hours right covers a routine for this.
Parking: where to park, whether there is a lot, street rules.
Accessibility: step-free entrance, accessible restroom.
Kids and groups: high chairs, a kids' menu, private room.
Phone number, tappable.

Extras worth adding

Gift cards: most POS systems sell digital gift cards online. A "Gift cards" link in the menu earns quietly all year and especially in December.
Catering and private events: a page describing options, with a short form asking date, guest count and budget.
Specials: if you change specials weekly, only list them if you will keep them current.
Jobs: a short "We are hiring" page brings in applicants without a job board.

What to do this week

Open your site on your phone and time how long it takes to find the menu, the order button and today's hours.
Replace a PDF menu with a typed menu page, section by section.
Put Order online, Book a table and Menu buttons at the top of the home page.
Check those links match your Google Business Profile.
Add parking and accessibility details.
Place a test order and cancel it.

If your current site makes the menu hard to read or the order button hard to find, you can see your site rebuilt first with your menu on the page and your own ordering and booking links up top.