The short answer A restaurant site has about ten seconds to answer four questions: can I eat here or order, are you open now, where are you, and how do I call. On a phone, those answers need to sit on the first screen. Keep the menu readable without zooming, use real food photos, load quickly, and make sure your Google Business Profile says the same thing as your site. Then run the 20-second phone test yourself.
Most people searching for a restaurant are hungry, or deciding between two places in the next few minutes. They open the site on their phone and skim. If the answer to their question isn’t visible straight away, they go back to the map and try the next result.
This checklist covers what a restaurant site needs to show on that first screen. Pizzeria Madre, a walk-in pizzeria in London, Ontario, is the worked example throughout.
The four questions visitors ask
Everything else on the site comes second. Menus, photos and your story matter, but they don’t answer those four questions.
The checklist
Say how people can eat with you
Name each option that applies: dine-in, walk-in, takeout, delivery or bookings. If you don’t take reservations, say so on the homepage. Silence makes people phone to ask, or give up.
Pizzeria Madre’s welcome message says it is walk-in dining and takeout only. A visitor knows what to expect before they set out.
Show today’s opening hours
A weekly table is useful, but the question most people ask is “open now?”. Put the hours near the top of the homepage and update them for holidays and special closures. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose someone who has already made the trip.
Quick checkOn your phone, can you find today’s opening time in under five seconds?
On Pizzeria Madre, the hours sit on the homepage rather than a contact page. The team updates them in Squarespace themselves.
Give your address and a map link
Write the full street address as text, not only inside an image or a map embed. Add a link that opens the location in the visitor’s own map app. Use exactly the same address as your Google Business Profile.
Pizzeria Madre shows its location on the homepage, next to the hours.
Put a call button in the header
On a phone, a number is only useful if one tap dials it. Use a tap-to-call link, keep it in the header so it appears on every page, and make sure the number is one your staff answer during opening hours.
On desktop, Pizzeria Madre shows Dine-in, Takeout and Call in the header on every page. On phones, like most Squarespace sites, those links move into the menu, so a visitor taps twice. A call button that stays visible on phones is the simplest upgrade for a busy restaurant.
Make the menu readable without zooming
A menu saved as a PDF is hard to read on a phone. The text shrinks, zooming is awkward, and it’s easy for the file to fall out of date. Use a web page with normal text that wraps to the screen width. If you also want a PDF, offer it as a download, not as the only option.
AvoidA menu shared only as an image, which people can’t search, copy or resize.
Use real photos of your food
Stock photos and empty dining rooms don’t make anyone hungry. Take a few well-lit photos of your best dishes and your room, and show them large. Replace them when the menu changes.
Pizzeria Madre’s site uses large photography, so the food is the first thing a visitor sees.
Make it load fast on mobile data
Most people visit on a phone, often on a weak signal. Compress photos before you upload them, avoid background video on the first screen, and keep the number of plugins and widgets low. Test on mobile data, not only on the office Wi-Fi.
Good to knowGoogle’s free PageSpeed Insights report gives a rough speed check for any address. Use it as a guide, not a score to chase.
Link ordering clearly, and know who owns it
If you take orders online, link to them from the header. Be clear whether the order goes to your own system or to a third-party app. Third-party apps are easy to find, but they usually take a commission and keep the customer relationship. Your own ordering keeps the margin and the customer details, but takes more setup. Choose on purpose, and remove old links when you switch.
Match your Google Business Profile
Your name, address, phone number and hours should be identical on your website and your Google Business Profile. Mismatches make people wonder which one is right, and they confuse map results. Keep the profile’s hours and menu link up to date too. For more on this, read how AI answers choose which businesses to name.
Cover the accessibility basics
Use text large enough to read without zooming, with enough contrast against the background. Give every photo a short description for screen readers. Check that the call and order buttons work with a keyboard. These help everyone, including people using a phone in bright sun or with one hand.
The 20-second phone test
You can do this yourself in a few minutes. Use your own phone, on mobile data, and open the site as a customer would, by searching for your restaurant name.
- Start a 20-second timer.
- Without scrolling far, can you tell whether you can eat in, order or book?
- Can you tell whether the restaurant is open now?
- Can you find the address?
- Can you tap once to call?
- Tap the menu. Can you read a dish without zooming?
- Tap the address. Does it open the right place in your map app?
Count the misses. Each one is a fix. Ask two friends to do the same, and note where they hesitate. If you fail any of the first four questions, fix those before anything else.
How Pizzeria Madre applies this
Pizzeria Madre is a walk-in pizzeria in London, Ontario. Its site puts dine-in, takeout and call in the header on every page (in the menu on phones), says on the welcome message that it is walk-in dining and takeout only, and shows hours and location on the homepage. A banner points lunch and catering enquiries to the sister spot, Madre Mercato, so visitors looking for that service aren’t stuck. Large photography keeps the focus on the food. The team edits hours and menus in Squarespace themselves, which keeps the details current without a developer each time.
The full project is on our Pizzeria Madre case study.
Where the Care Plan fits
Hours change, menus change and seasonal dishes come and go. A restaurant site that is right in spring can be wrong by summer. Our Website Care Plan covers those updates every month. If you are still choosing a platform, our guide to Shopify or Squarespace explains how to decide.
Questions owners ask
Do I still need a website if I have Instagram or a delivery app?
Probably yes. Social profiles and delivery apps are useful, but you don’t control them, and they may show your hours and address differently. A simple site you own is the one place where your details can be complete and correct.
Who should update the hours and menu?
Pick a platform the team can edit without help, and agree who updates what and how quickly. Out-of-date hours cost more than no hours at all, because they send people to a closed door.
How do I know the site is working?
Run the phone test once a month. Watch for calls and direction requests, if your analytics or Google Business Profile shows them. The number that matters most is how many people contact you or come in.
Want us to run the phone test on your site? Send us the link and we will walk through what a first-time visitor sees, and what to fix first.