What a restaurant website needs

None of this is about technology. It is about what a hungry person with a phone in one hand is trying to do.

01
The menu as a page, not a PDF
A PDF means downloading a heavy file and pinching to zoom, and it does not show up when someone searches for the restaurant's name plus “menu”. As a normal page, the menu reads well on a phone, can have search and categories, and search engines can read it too.
02
The number that gets answered comes first
A takeaway's site exists so people can call and order. The first button has to dial the number that is actually picked up, and the opening hours have to be the real ones, closing day and lunch-only days included.
03
Pre-orders with a pickup time
The customer picks what to take, the day and the time, and pays at the counter. Whoever orders at lunchtime is not stuck on an engaged phone line, and the kitchen gets its orders in sequence, each with a time on it.
04
A menu in two languages where there are tourists
In an area with visitors, an English menu is not a luxury. Dish names that do not translate stay as they are, and the codes and prices are the same in both versions.
05
Only prices you can stand behind
A wrong price on the website ends as a complaint at the counter. I only publish prices the restaurant confirms; when there is no reliable list, the site says prices are confirmed at the restaurant.
06
Beyond the website: table ordering and kiosks
When the bottleneck is service on the floor rather than the shop window, the job is a different one: QR code ordering at the table, a self-service kiosk, a kitchen display and a pickup screen. Both systems are below as working demos on sample data.

Restaurant demos05

Three website demos and two systems. They are demos built from each restaurant's own copy and menu, not the restaurants' official websites. The order page is a simulation and the two systems run on sample data.

/sites/altto-sushi-lisboa
Demo
ALTTO Sushi Lisboa (opens in a new tab)
All you can eat sushi restaurant in Arroios, Lisbon. Landing page plus a full searchable menu page with every dish, in Portuguese and English.
/sites/churrasqueira-dos-arneiros-torres-vedras
Demo
Churrasqueira dos Arneiro’s (opens in a new tab)
Take-away grill house in Torres Vedras. Charcoal roast chicken, menu and pre-orders.
/sites/pizzaria-passione-altura
Demo
Pizzaria Passione (opens in a new tab)
Wood-fired pizzeria in Altura, Algarve. Menu and contacts.
/sites/pedidos-mesa-qr-code
System
Pedidos à Mesa por QR (opens in a new tab)
QR code table ordering for restaurants and all-you-can-eat rodízios, in European Portuguese and English: the customer's phone with the menu, rounds with a per-person limit, waiter call and bill request, a kitchen display and a floor map for the staff, all synced live on one page.
/sites/totem-pedidos-self-service
System
Totem de Pedidos (opens in a new tab)
Self-service ordering kiosk for restaurants, in European Portuguese and English: the kiosk with menu upsell, tax number and MB WAY, a kitchen display and a pickup screen, all synced live on one page with sample orders.