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There are various types of restaurants. Restaurants fall into several industry classification based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing. Additionally, how the food is served to the customer helps to determine the classification.
Historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one sat down to eat the meal, typically served by wait-staff. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a retronym for the older "standard" restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Most commonly, "sit-down restaurant" refers to a casual dining restaurant with table service rather than a fast-food restaurant where one orders food at a counter. Sit-down restaurants are often further categorized as "family-style" or "formal".
In British English, the term restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table service, so the "sit-down" qualification is not usually necessary. Fast food and takeaway (takeout) outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants.
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Major categories
Fast-food restaurants
Fast-food restaurants emphasize speed of service and low cost over all other considerations. A common feature of newer fast-food restaurants that distinguishes them from traditional cafeteria is a lack of cutlery or crockery; the customer is expected to eat the food directly from the disposable container it was served in.
In the United States, fast-food restaurants have become so widespread that the traditional standard type is now sometimes referred to as a sit-down restaurant (a retronym). Despite this terminology, most fast-food restaurants offer some form of seating for diners to eat on-site, albeit in a utilitarian atmosphere.
Most fast-food restaurants offer take-out: ready-to-eat hot food in disposable packaging for the customer to eat off-site.
Fast casual-dining restaurants
A fast casual restaurant is similar to a fast-food restaurant in that it does not offer full table service, but promises a somewhat higher quality of food and atmosphere. Average prices charged are higher than fast-food prices and non-disposable plates and cutlery are sometimes offered. This category is a growing concept that fills the space between fast food and casual dining.
Counter service accompanied by handmade food (often visible via an open kitchen) is typical. The menu is usually limited to an extended over-counter display, and options in the way the food is prepared are emphasized. Many fast casual-dining restaurants are marketed as health-conscious: healthful items may have a larger than normal portion of the menu and high-quality ingredients such as free-range chicken and freshly made salsas may be advertised. Overall, the quality of the food is presented as much higher than conventional factory-made fast food. An obvious ethnic theme may or may not be present in the menu.
The moderate volume music and nontraditional decor pioneered by Starbucks are fully embraced by fast casual restaurants with details such as couches and a fire place in some Panera Bread locations.
Family style
Family style restaurants are restaurants that have a fixed menu and fixed price, usually with diners seated at a communal table such as on bench seats. More common in the 19th and early 20th century, they can still be found in rural communities, or as theme restaurants, or in vacation lodges. There is no menu to choose from, rather food is brought out in courses, usually with communal serving dishes, like at a family meal. Typical examples can include crabhouses, German-style beer halls, BBQ restaurants, hunting lodges. Some normal restaurants will mix elements of family style, such as a table salad or bread bowl that is included as part of the meal.
Family-style restaurant is often used to describe chains such as US-based Denny's and IHOP that serve mild breakfast-style foods around the clock. A diner is a specific casual-dining restaurant in the United States that emphasize traditional food such as hamburgers and sandwiches.
A more modern execution of this is big plates of food being delivered to the table and as above everyone helps themselves to as much or as little as they want. This is common with Chinese food.
Family style restaurants often have a limited bar, serving a few brands of beer and several types of generic types of wine.
Casual dining
- See also: List of casual dining restaurant chains
A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately-priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide table service. Casual dining comprises a market segment between fast food establishments and fine dining restaurants (see also Fast casual restaurant).
Casual dining restaurants usually have a full bar with separate bar staff, a larger beer menu and a limited wine menu.
Fine dining
Fine dining restaurants are full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Décor of such restaurants feature higher quality materials with an eye towards the "atmosphere" desired by the restaurateur. The wait staff is usually highly trained and often wears more formal attire, while kitchen staff are more formally trained, usually with a more traditional hierarchical staffing structure. The menu generally features higher quality ingredients with more elaborate preparation. Orders are individually prepared with attention to detail and presented on the plate with artistry.
Fine dining restaurants usually have a full bar with separate bar staff. Many fine dining establishments will have a full wine list created and chosen by dedicated sommelier.
Others
Most of these establishments can be considered subtypes of fast casual-dining restaurants or casual-dining restaurants.
Café
Cafés and coffee shops are informal restaurants offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. Cafés offer table service. Many cafés are open for breakfast and serve full hot breakfasts. In some areas cafés offer outdoor seating.
Cafeterias
A cafeteria is a restaurant serving mostly ready-cooked food arranged behind a food-serving counter. There is little or no table service. Typically, a patron takes a tray and pushes it along a track in front of the counter. Depending on the establishment, servings may be ordered from attendants, selected as ready-made portions already on plates, or self-serve their own portions. In some establishments a few items, such as steaks, may be ordered specially prepared from the attendants. The patron waits for those items to be prepared or is given a number and they are brought to the table. Beverages may be filled from self-service dispensers or ordered from the attendants. At the end of the line a cashier rings up the purchases. At some self-service cafeterias, purchases are priced by weight, rather than by individual item.
The trays are taken to a table to eat. Institutional cafeterias may have common tables, but upscale cafeterias provide individual tables as in sit-down restaurants. Upscale cafeterias have traditional cutlery and crockery, and some have servers to carry the trays from the line to the patrons' tables, and/or bus the empty trays and used dishes.
A cafeteria differs from a "fast food" restaurant in that it will have a wider variety of prepared foods. For example, it may have a variety of roasts (beef, ham, turkey) ready for carving by a server, as well as other cooked entrées, rather than simply an offering of hamburgers or fried chicken.
Coffeehouse
Coffeehouses are casual restaurants without table service that emphasize coffee and other beverages; typically a limited selection of cold foods such as pastries and perhaps sandwiches are offered as well. Their distinguishing feature is that they allow patrons to relax and socialize on their premises for long periods of time without pressure to leave promptly after eating.
Pub
Mainly in the UK and other countries influenced by British culture, a pub (short for public house) is a bar that serves simple food fare. Traditionally, pubs were primarily drinking establishments with food in a decidedly secondary position, whereas the modern pub business relies on food as well, to the point where gastropubs are known for their high-quality pub food. A typical pub has a large selection of beers and ales on tap.
Bistros and brasserie
In France, a brasserie is a café doubling as a restaurant and serving single dishes and other meals in a relaxed setting. A bistro is a familiar name for a café serving moderately priced simple meals in an unpretentious setting, especially in Paris; bistros have become increasingly popular with tourists. When used in English, the term bistro usually indicates either a fast casual-dining restaurant with a European-influenced menu or a cafés with a larger menu of food.
Destination restaurants
A destination restaurant is one that has a strong enough appeal to draw customers from beyond its community.[1] [2]
Expensive restaurants
See Michelin guide, Gault Millau and restaurant rating
See also
- Automat
- Café
- Cafeteria
- Chain restaurants
- Drive-thru
- Diner
- Dining car
- fast casual restaurant
- fast food restaurant
- Greasy spoon
- Private kitchen
- Smoke-Free restaurants
- Take-out
- Truck stop
References
