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A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. The term covers a multiplicity of venues and a diversity of styles of cuisine.
Restaurants are sometimes also a feature of a larger complex, typically a hotel, where the dining amenities are provided for the convenience of the residents and for the hotel to maximize their potential revenue. Such restaurants are often also open to non-residents.
A restaurant operator is called a restaurateur; both words derive from the French verb restaurer.
There are various types of restaurants. Restaurants can be classified by whether they provide places to sit, whether they are served by wait-staff and the quality of the service, the formality of the atmosphere, and the price range.
Historically, restaurant referred only to places which provide tables where one sits 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.
Fast food restaurants
In the U.S., fast-food restaurants and take-outs have become so widespread that the traditional standard type is now sometimes referred to as a sit-down restaurant (a retronym). A common feature of fast food restaurants is a lack of cutlery or crockery, the customer is expected to eat the food directly from the disposable container it was served in using their hands.
There are various types of fast-food restaurant:
a. one collects food from a counter and pays, then sits down and starts eating (self-service restaurant); sub-varieties:
b. one collects ready portions
c. one serves oneself from containers
d. one is served at the counter
e. a special procedure is that one first pays at the cash desk, collects a ticket and then goes to the food counter, where one gets the food in exchange for the ticket
one orders at the counter; after preparation the food is brought to one's table; paying may be on ordering or after eating.
Family style
"Family style", or sometimes called table d'hôte ("host's table") in France, 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.
Casual dining
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). In the United States, the bill per diner at a casual dining restaurant usually averages $10 - $30 for an evening meal and slightly less for lunch, as of 2004.
Fine Dining
Fine dining is a phrase used to describe restaurants that create a serious dining experience. The experience can start with the location and the view. The interior of such restaurants is often purported to be quite elegant and designed in accordance with the restaurant's concept. Service attempts to be impeccable, with chefs and service crew typically hailing from the best culinary schools.
Restaurants fitting the fine dining label are normally highly rated; in the four star range and will provide more nuanced service and more expensive food than a standard sit-down restaurant.
Brasserie, bistro, pub
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. Mainly in the UK and other countries influenced by British culture, the pub (short for public house) today serves a similar dual menu, offering beer and other alcohol along with basic food fare. Traditionally, pubs were primarily drinking establishments, whereas the modern pub business relies on food as well, to the point where gastropubs are known for their high-quality "pub food".
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A typical day might find guest services workers in hotels tracking down tickets to a hot concert in town, making reservations at a hip new restaurant, picking up dry cleaning, carrying luggage, welcoming guests, opening doors, or booking reservations. But whatever their exact duties or job titles, guest services representatives have the basic task of making hotel guests feel welcome, relaxed, and even pampered.
As front desk people, guest services representatives are the "public face" of a hospitality enterprise. Guests often get a good or bad feeling about where they are staying within the first few minutes of their stay, and this opinion is often based on the helpfulness and friendliness--or the unhelpfulness and unfriendliness--of the up-front people. When a concierge goes out of the way to get information for a guest, or when a reservation agent is especially courteous and helpful, it can ensure that a first-time guest becomes a regular.
While hotel and resort guests love excellent service, providing it is not always easy. Guest representatives must remain courteous, tactful, calm, and helpful, even when hotel guests are rude and demanding. If a concierge or desk clerk blows his cool, the hotel's reputation--and the concierge's or desk clerk's job--may suffer. Even after a horrendously long day, guest representatives must be as friendly and helpful to the last guest they encounter as they were to the first one.
"How may I assist you?" is a phrase practically stamped on these workers foreheads. And even if a hotel is teeming with guests on the busiest weekend of the year while five staff members are out sick with the flu, guest representatives must remain as unflustered, serene, and peaceful as Zen monks. Needless to say, these jobs require a certain type of personality for success.
Specific tasks vary by specialization, but all guest services representatives do the following:
1. Greeting guests, offering assistance, and recommending hotel and area services
2. Keeping an eye out for problems, from unsatisfied customers to untidy restrooms, and making sure they're reported to those who can fix them
3. Reporting and documenting safety hazards, conditions, or unsafe practices
4. Providing service with a smile.
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