From browsing online I've scoured the good and the bad from quite a few big names. Some are quite surprising in their quality (or lack of) and some seem to try too hard and miss the point of a restaurant website.
La Tasca
Looks wise, I think this is a bit poor. It seems a bit haphazard and basic in the flow and general niceness of the textures used. OK they could have been seeking the mexican look, but when there are sites like this, which seem a little more upclass, La Tasca's just doesn't seem as qualititative.
One of the most important parts of a restaurant is it's menu, after all that will no doubt be one of the two main reasons people visit the site. What seems to be quite a trend is to make them available in PDF, so you are required to download them. I can understand the workings behind this - those PDFs may well be used for the actual physical menus, but I feel it is a cheap shortcut that shouldn't be accepted online.
Needless to say, La Tasca sent me on a goose chase to find their menu, clicking through where I would be eating etc, to then be told I could download the menu in PDF! No thank you.
Elsewhere on the site, I found it to be jumbled in terms of type consistency. As far as I'm aware, it's good practice to use only 3 fonts throughout a site. I can count perhaps 5, all used in different sizes, capitalisation, bold. This doesn't bode well on the eye.
Of all the sites, this one I was most disappointed with. What's important is that the quality of the site often can infer the quality of the product. Perhaps they are just continuing the tradition of Mexican appearing to be a bit crumbled around the corners, but the food stands out as excellent?
Zizzi
This simple Flash based site I thought hit the nail on the head for displaying a menu.
They display it in the exact same way you would expect to view it in reality.
The only thing that I could consider lacking is photos near the menu. Pictures tend to sell the food, or at least wet your appetite. OK, there is a Flash motion piece on the homepage which showcases their restaurants, the atmosphere and some of the food.
The navigation bar worked fine, however the little back and forward buttons weren't immediately obvious. This is another important point. Most web users (or at least the category tending to view such websites) will no doubt be keen users of the back button. Flash doesn't work with the back button, so by inserting their own, it does counteract the breakdown that would occur from the browser back button. However, place it in the right place and it would have been even more successful.
Gourmet Burger
This site, in terms of the background is quite interesting. It has a sort of modern feel what with the coloured boxes creating variation. Perhaps the colour scheme used is a little questionable though. However, the long list that has been attached to the homepage I don't rate.
I would like to credit the blackboard look though. This has potential to be exploited. What with me liking large background websites, I think the blackboard look could be put to good use.
The links are easy to find, but here on after comes the complication. On clicking, for example, Location, the white space which changes and so you presume to hold the new information you requested, doesn't in fact hold what you want. You have to click on links to the left hand side, which aren't that noticeable at first.
Unfortunately Gourmet Burger too don't appease me in terms of menu. They provide theirs in the form of a PDF that opens a new tab to view.
Bistrot Pierre
This classy site I had good expectations for. Immediately the tone is set with the sophisticated browns and fancy swirls. The navigation is easy to locate being a traditional top nav bar, however, I found it a little different to give all the restaurants they own a seperate link on the left hand side. This left hand bar for extra information is used again, for example to section different types of menus. I do think that this option could go a miss for the not so hawk like viewers amongst us.
Unfortunately their menus too are presented in PDF form. They list the prices for set meals which shouldn't really come as any surprise, but no, not the actual food.
I like the use of images down the right hand side of the site to showcase their food. In fact, they even incorporate images from their restaurants, which adds to sense of information being imparted from the site. A website can be a very easy way to disguise the true state of a venue. However, putting pictures on gives a good visual signifier. This seems to be something that is overlooked quite a lot for restaurant websites. Unless that is, they don't want people nicking their images/ideas!
The header image of the site is normally a corner shot of one of their restaurants. However this sometimes changes depending upon the section you click. Menus gets a tomato, Work with Us gets a picture of a team. This sort of seems a little odd that only a couple get a different image. Most people might not notice the inconsistency too much, however I think there could be a more consistent approach that could be used. Keep the banner img the same but then sink one below and change it depending on the section of the site.
Rhodes W1
Another Flash site, I chose to opt for the green side, Rhodes Brasserie. Immediately, as the site opens you can tell it is fancy. The animation is very aesthetically pleasing, plus I like the two sided effect they have gone for. Splatters, all be it flower splatters in this case, seem to be quite popular on the web nowadays.
The opening for the site is by no means a one off. Once inside, the swish animations continue. The slideshow with faded/moving bars is a popular look used widely on the web, but here, it fits in perfectly.
The angled photos that appear throughout the site, remain in a consistent place (right hand side) and change to suit the section of the site.
For the menus, I like how they have gone for stacked options, so if you want the breakfast menu, you click on the edge of the paper, from the stack. One concern I do have is that the food items may not appear easily legible. It did require a bit of squinting. However, on the flip side, with the information being encased within a scroll down box, the ability to use the scroll wheel in Flash (which rarely gets done) was nice.
The use of the food pictures are quite sparing in the menu, which I feel should be taken advantage of more. Perhaps it's just me. I like pictures, OK?!
Of all the sites I looked at, this has to be one of the best. It appears modern, has a fresh visual appearance and there is a consistency with the typefaces, good typefaces at that too. The animations are fluid, and on the Gallery they use a funky scramble effect. (It may become a little jarring however after three pages of viewing - I wouldn't know how to make such an effect yet so kudos to the creators.) Actually, in consideration, they have a picture (or two) for each section so I feel they have catered in this respect. - You get a good feel of what the restaurant is like, the ambience etc.
Strada
This site, I instantly liked. It uses a nice colour scheme that bodes well on the eye (plus links well with the Italian aspect of the restaurant. Furthermore, the first thing your eye recognises along with the colours is the large image of various foods. Not just a static image, changing foods, again another bonus point from me. OK, the marquee scrolling text is quite dated now, but I don't mind it too much, it serves a point by letting us know what all the critics have to say in Strada's favour.
On clicking a link, About Us for example, I like the consistency in layout that remains. The top Strada header didn't even leave my screen, it remained smack bang in the same place.
The Menu is also very well laid out, using a tight grid like structure. On reading up on Typography, I have learnt this to be highly useful and important. The bold red headings neatly and efficiently section the types of food too. The only downside I could point out is that the menu list does scroll down quite a bit.
I find, on the whole, the Strada site to be just enough of everything. It isn't too over the top with it's Flash photo slides, yet then it isn't too simplisitic on the flip side because it has adopted the Flash photo slides. I would probably agree that the site just needs a little something, perhaps using a different fancy typeface to pep it up a little, but otherwise, this gets my tip for being a basic but effective html site. I know if I'd made it I would be proud.
Fifteen
This site, famed by Jamie Oliver definitely heads off in the modern, funky, youthful approach. The colours are bright and bold, the typeface cool, as well as the large background image.
Initially I found it all a little confusing. I managed to find this site after going through Jamie Oliver's so already it seemed like too much effort on my part. Google 'Fifteen restaurant' and you actually get more of a hub for all the restaurants, which displays news etc. However, this shouldn't mean it gets let off. Strada, for example, has several restaurants around the country but that doesn't mean it requires you to click on the individual location to be able to view the food etc. When you do for fifteen, each restaurant has it's own look, and navigation style. Perhaps I shouldn't be associating fifteen as a chain.
However, the restaurant selector is at the top, whilst typical navigation options such as contact are on the left. You can only find out about the opening hours, menus, pricing, booking once you've found the restaurant link. Oversight, perhaps?
I considered the London site, which I found to be a little too website like and not enough restaurant/menu like. The content area seemed too narrow in width for my liking. The pink column I think could be done away with and the space used more effectively. Needless to say, on clicking the menu, it opens a new window (not PDF) and displays the menu, sometimes along with pictures of the restaurant. Again though, all was not well.
When I came across a menu that didn't use a picture, as pictured above (Dinner), it seemed quite bland and uninspiring - mainly due to the lack of colour, and the miniscule font used.
On the whole, I think I would ascribe this site as lacking food based images. The arty look of brash pink with black and then grayscale photographs is nice, but it seems to completely overlook the need for food based visual stimulus.
-- I have definitely got a lot to take away from these restaurant websites. I am surprised that the calibre of restaurant they represent isn't always apparent. My main gripe is the incorporation of food, or unfortunately, the lack of. When you visit a gallery online, you expect to see pictures. I may be wrong, but visiting a restaurant, along with the opening hours, I expect to see some instances of food!
I have a few ideas in terms of the look I want to go for now. I'm tempted to do a site for a greasy kebab shop, but don't know if it'll be useful in the future? Do I really think it wise to be showcasing that, different yes, but attractive?
I like the Standard for it's moving navigation bar, depending on what you click on it swoops up or down the frame. It gives more individuality to the site, making the areas seem non repetitive but still remaining a consistency in terms of the styling that shouldn't put a user off or confuse. Furthermore, it nicely sections images from textual content.
I like the Red Square for it's semantic representation. It's called Red Square so it has red squares!! Furthermore, when scrolling over a particular navigation link, I like how they have individual icons which alters depending on what is being hovered. The colour scheme of red and black with bits of white is a proven scheme that works well, especially how they have used a opacity filter for the reds to incorporate images behind. This site might be for a younger generation though as I'm sure the styling deeper into the site, particularly the flashes wouldn't be to everybodys taste (it does get irritating!)
Lastly, the Urban Kitchen uses a very funky green background, I like the rounded iconography they use in the background and then their logo too. As a Flash site, sometimes it is better to do something a little more understated, and I think this doesn't try too hard and succeeds with it. It is simple, the links are all easily viewable, you get nice animations to show transitions between the images and on the whole, I like it's fresh feel. However, the much loved by restaurants PDF menu means it is let down somewhat, when they could easily have included the lists in their ample sized information box.
What is grinding is that all these sites tend to have varying tunes or songs blaring at your from the get go. I couldn't find the mute button quickly enough.
@
