A restaurant, or, in more formal terms, an eat-in restaurant, is a privately owned business which prepares and serves food and beverages to guests on the premises. Generally, most restaurants serve all of the main meals, including lunch, dinner, and breakfast (e.g., chain restaurants, small diners, airport restaurants, fast food chain restaurants, etc. ).
However, restaurant etiquette varies greatly depending on the type of establishment (i.e., expensive establishments may have a specific dress code whereas fast food restaurants may be looser); the region (some places are better known for good tasting food whereas others are known for cheap food); and personal preferences of the dining guest. Some people enjoy eating out with their friends whereas others prefer to dine in. Some even reserve a specific room in the restaurant for intimate dinners. There are also certain restaurants that are frequented by tourists from different countries. Such restaurants are referred to as “specialty restaurants”.
Most of the restaurants offer a wide array of dishes. They usually offer a variety of meals ranging from starters, main courses, side dishes, desserts, and drinks. While some restaurants cater only specific types of dishes such as American, Chinese, Japanese, or Italian dishes, most establishments have a wide selection of dishes that are meant to be eaten together with one another.
The service provided at a restaurant has a strong influence on whether the restaurant will be considered a fine dining, casual dining, or fast food restaurant. The service timings are critical factors in deciding what kind of restaurant one will choose. For fine dining establishments, the staff timings are almost as important as the quality of the food because in order to provide the highest quality food; the wait staff needs to be on duty all of the time. In this type of establishment, the chefs are hired. Most of the time, the chefs hired are trained chefs who can make the food as per the customer’s instructions. This is very different from fast food restaurants where the food is prepared by the workers without any supervision.
The ambience of the dining establishment is also important. This is because one would like to feel relaxed while dining. In most cases, people enjoy eating in restaurants that have a friendly ambience. Fine dining establishments often serve champagne and other non-alcoholic drinks. Many of these establishments have separate areas for children to eat.
One of the most important of the restaurant category classification factors is the price of the food being offered. Different people have different budgets. It is for this reason that some establishments tend to offer foods that are inexpensive but satisfying; whereas other ones tend to offer expensive yet satisfying foods. The price of the food being served should match the income of the customer.
There are several factors like cleanliness, ambience and age which should be taken into consideration while choosing a restaurant. The cleanliness of the restaurant should be such that it should leave a positive impression on the customer. In this regard, a restaurant with dirty linen and a lot of dust will surely leave a bad impression on the customer. A restaurant with a pleasant ambience will be preferred over one with a dirty atmosphere. The age factor is important because in this context one would like to differentiate between an old and expensive restaurants.
A restaurant can be classified as good, mediocre or bad according to its quality of service, ambience and other such relevant factors. Therefore, one has to choose a restaurant based on its quality of service and the atmosphere whether it is old casual or modern. The price of the food being served should also be taken into consideration when classifying the restaurant. Hence, Paris hotels and other chain restaurants are some of the important criteria used to differentiate between fine dining restaurants and fast casual restaurants.