Successful Restaurant Websites

In the Restaurant category, the winner was Me and My Bod, a social, promotional site funded by Wagamama.  Bod is a paper doll downloadable from the website.   It’s a sweet but well-worn idea of encouraging site visitors to submit photographs of themselves and their new “friend” Bod, who is featured in Wagamama’s promotions.   Apart from some strategically placed links, there was little relationship between Me and My Bod and Wagamama, except for its fun, positive and youthful tone.  

The People’s Choice award went to Wagamama’s main site, which dedicates almost as much web page real estate to games as it does food.   For a global franchise that is child-friendly, Wagamama has a modern, informative site that is also intuitive.

It’s rare enough to find a simple, effective restaurant website.   Rarer still do we find this in a chain restaurant.  However, the New England chain Bickford’s Grille packs a lot of good information into a consistent package.  It can be a bit text-heavy, but they have made revenue generating features such as Gift Card purchase and catering easy to find.   They have nicely incorporated imagery into the site.  Integrating customer quotes into the Comments page was also a nice touch.

Bickford’s Grille

Using a clean, playful Flash interface, Croma has a simple, responsive layout.

Croma

Le Pigeon is essentially a one page website with some lovely food photography.  While I’m not a big fan of the pdfs-as-website-content approach to design, their site has charming simplicity and captures the information essentials on their homepage.

Le Pigeon

Morandi has a nice, simple website with personality.

Morandi

Quince gets pretty much everything right – manageable amounts of information, clear navigation and elegance without being flashy (or Flash-y).

Quince

Freshness. Taste. Aroma. Comfort. Drama. Prestige. Relaxation.   Your website’s photography directly contributes to the perception and appeal of your brand, which can lead to more business.  Strong, high-quality photography can elevate a website from mediocre to great.  It’s not necessarily expensive, nor is it reserved for fine dining establishments.   Whether creating a photo gallery, or providing rotating image details of dishes throughout the site, check out how some of these websites use photography to enhance their brand, while providing customers with useful information about the dining experience.

Bread and Roses

Bristol

Clio

Cottonwood Grille

Elizabeth on 37th

Fifteen Cornwall

Layang Layang Restaurant

Oasis Cafe

Roy’s

‘wichcraft

The Ivy Awards are the gold standard for outstanding food service operations.  I thought I’d take a peek at the websites of this year’s restaurant winners: Alinea (Chicago), Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare (Las Vegas), Hotel Healdsburg (California) and Per Se (New York).  The two other recipients, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, Texas were less suitable for the comparison.   So, in alphabetical order:

Alinea

A long download time (for what?) built up my expectations, but the website gave me little.   The site is uncluttered and a tad sexy, but there’s no sense that actual human beings work there or that those humans prepare and serve food.  

I suppose they prefer I learn more about them from online reviews.   I’m a seasoned fine diner, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to get an idea of the types of dishes they serve.  Nice of them to drop their address on the bottom of each page, though I nearly missed it.

Bartolotta

As far as I can tell, Wynn Las Vegas aggregates their many fine restaurants on their hotel website, so each restaurant in the empire displays in its own section, while the chef-heads behind the other establishments scroll quietly below.   While a few of Bartolotta’s details are overlooked in this somewhat cluttered presentation, the imagery – of the chef, the food, the stunning setting – gives the website visitor a nice sense of the place.

 Hotel Healdsburg

A classy presentation, again complicated by the fact that this restaurant is part of a hotel and spa.  Nevertheless, both the Hotel Healdsburg site and brand have a warm elegance that helps provide a feel for the place.   All of the restaurant information is there, and it’s obvious a visit to the Hotel Healdsburg is far more than just going out to eat.

Per Se 

There is no denying that this is a lovely entry screen, yet why does my first interaction with Per Se have to relate to the Flash player version in my web browser?    (I have Flash 9, thank you).

Anyway, I expect from the caliber and reputation of this restaurant that their website would be cool and controlled.   The concept of the site appears to be of a visitor peeking through a door, as if walking by the restaurant kitchen door when it was just closing.  Kind of a romantic sentiment.  However, I find the navigation functionally overwrought and the overall feel is dark, heavy and a bit of a turnoff.    Very little of their soul is coming through.

For all my rants, I am developing a Best Restaurant Website List.  Got a nomination?  Feel free to share it with me at: sara@successfulrestaurantwebsites.com.

…..for doing such a bangup job in presenting needed information on your homepage.  Not only does it put the location and hours front and center, but the navigation elements – “The Chef and Cuisine,” “The Menu,” – are clear.  We may not need them on both the top and bottom of the page but we still like its direct approach.

Greens Restaurant