The Four Most Annoying Restaurant Website Design Flaws

Published on Monday, May 17, 2010, by Roxanne Webber / Edit Post

I have to make a plea for simplicity. Please, restaurant owners, I won't judge your restaurant's website for not having an intro page with an idyllic farm on it or arty photos of carrots. I just want to see what's on your menu. Judging from the humorous Chowhound discussions on this subject, I'm not alone in my desire for restaurant websites to get back to basics.

Here are some things that should be banned from restaurant websites:

1. Flash animated intro pages. Please, I just want to check out your menu or get your phone number. I don't need to see the logo assemble itself letter by letter, or have each element of the navigation bar move into place before I can click it. Nor do I need to be greeted with a soft-focus slideshow of dishes cycling painfully slowly, with misty transitions. This is especially annoying when the site does not provide a "skip" option.

2. Not listing prices. I realize, particularly in the world of seasonal and local, the menu will change often and prices will, too. But at least provide a sample menu with sample prices so people can gauge what they're getting into when going to eat at your place.

3. Automatically playing schmaltzy piano music. Or trance. Or jazz. Or any music, ever, that auto-plays. Please, don't do it. It's cheesy, annoying, and busts people at work when they want to fantasize about where they're going to eat later. It's really, really egregious when the controls to stop the music are impossible to find. Same goes for any soundtrack of background ambiance: a crowd partying, clinking glassware, and so on.

4. Listing basic info under cryptic, "clever" navigation headings. Make it easy to find your address and phone number without making people guess what to click.

What is your biggest restaurant website peeve?

Already voted? See results.


Image source: Flickr member Mess of Pottage under Creative Commons

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POST A COMMENT |23 Comments

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  • I agree with groovythings. There's nothing more annoying than looking at information from 2007!

  • All of these things are right on, but I'd also add: WHEN ARE YOU OPEN?? Many restaurants are closed on Sundays or Mondays, some even on Tuesdays, but GOSH it would be nice to figure out which right away! On the homepage, I'd like to see...

    THE ADDRESS (and a link to Google maps would be nice)
    THE PHONE NUMBER
    THE DAYS/HOURS

    Would that be so hard??

  • I'm surprised by sites that actually neglect to include crucial info like operating hours! And of course that's usually compounded by not-intuitive navigation design such that address and phone number are time-consuming to locate, too.

  • Sites that are outdated. If you bother to have a web site for your business, KEEP IT UPDATED!!!

  • I truly like having the option of a PDF menu. Sometimes at work we'll want to group order and it's a whole lot easier reading a PDF than a silly scrolling menu with an elaborate background. I do like to see them both, though.

    Please, please PLEASE do away with the Flash intro- it annoys everybody but your webmaster, apparently, and for God's sake why on earth would you have crappy music eating...+READ

    I truly like having the option of a PDF menu. Sometimes at work we'll want to group order and it's a whole lot easier reading a PDF than a silly scrolling menu with an elaborate background. I do like to see them both, though.

    Please, please PLEASE do away with the Flash intro- it annoys everybody but your webmaster, apparently, and for God's sake why on earth would you have crappy music eating up bandwidth that nobody wants to hear anyway?

    I know I'm echoing others' sentiments, but if word gets out maybe some day we can see an online menu without having to hear an interpretation of it, wait for a long boring Flash intro, be able to easily access the menu AND the address and phone number, and hey- maybe even a price list!-COLLAPSE

  • Pages that take forever to load, even with a high speed connection.

    Sites with flawed navigation design: once you dive down into the site, there is no way to get back to the home page or the preceding page.

    Restaurant websites designed by teenage "web designers" who have no interest in trying to design a website that respects the needs of a restaurant, but just want to show off their skills...+READ

    Pages that take forever to load, even with a high speed connection.

    Sites with flawed navigation design: once you dive down into the site, there is no way to get back to the home page or the preceding page.

    Restaurant websites designed by teenage "web designers" who have no interest in trying to design a website that respects the needs of a restaurant, but just want to show off their skills in HTML programming and Flash Animation and other special effects.

    The fact that these problems infect hotel and B & B websites as well.-COLLAPSE

  • i like the PDF menus bc i like to print them out, plus it's nice to have everything in one place rather than having to click on apps/entrees/desserts/etc. but i agree with someone that it should just be an option. i hate menus that won't open on my iphone bc i just get that blue square with the questionmark. bocadillo's website is an example of one that could use a PDF. at least let me copy from...+READ

    i like the PDF menus bc i like to print them out, plus it's nice to have everything in one place rather than having to click on apps/entrees/desserts/etc. but i agree with someone that it should just be an option. i hate menus that won't open on my iphone bc i just get that blue square with the questionmark. bocadillo's website is an example of one that could use a PDF. at least let me copy from it so i can gchat to my boyfriend what i want for dinner :)

    some websites don't have hours at all, & that's ridiculous. or, for example, "closed sundays" would be nice to know.

    and no music!!-COLLAPSE

  • All of the above annoy me. When I'm looking at a restaurants website all I want is their phone number, address and menu. It is so frustrating watching pictures of grape vines, or whatever irrelevant pictures of choice the restaurant has, when all I want to do is quickly phone them to make a booking.

  • flash pages don't bother me much. I'd rather have prices on the menu.

  • anything flash. annoying when you want to check anything on the iphone. agree on PDF menus and everything else in the article.

  • Menus in a one-inch window with a scroll bar. I'd like to be able to see more than three items at once.

  • The UWS is hands down the ugliest virtual resto ghetto. To wit, I submit:

    'Cesca: http://www.cescanyc.com/
    Gabriel's: http://www.gabrielsbarandrest.com/index2.htm
    Mermaid Inn: http://www.themermaidnyc.com/uws/

    Uggh.

  • Forcing me to click to reveal the phone number and hours, what the f? Is it a secret?
    Offering things like "order online for pickup" and then it NOT WORKING!

  • Most of the things above aren't that big of a deal. The only thing that's frustrating is not listing the hours and location. Isn't that what 90% of people go to the website for?

  • I actually don't mind PDF menus—often easier to read—but I like it best when they have both HTML and separate documents.

    Flash intro pages: yes. I came across one yesterday that took fully a minute to get through the song & dance and then load. (At least it felt like a minute.)

    Music: yes, and there are still a few sites that don't even have the option to turn it off!

    Agreed w/ Danna...+READ

    I actually don't mind PDF menus—often easier to read—but I like it best when they have both HTML and separate documents.

    Flash intro pages: yes. I came across one yesterday that took fully a minute to get through the song & dance and then load. (At least it felt like a minute.)

    Music: yes, and there are still a few sites that don't even have the option to turn it off!

    Agreed w/ Danna about lack of hours of operation.-COLLAPSE

  • Recently looking online to check out some new restaurants in Miami, so I knew it might be a gamble on the food, but how bout some decent photos of your dinning room. Let some of your favorite patrons know ahead of time and take some shots of guests enjoying your establishment? I know it may sound petty but I was looking for some ambiance. Just my opinion. And yes, less cheesy opening music. More...+READ

    Recently looking online to check out some new restaurants in Miami, so I knew it might be a gamble on the food, but how bout some decent photos of your dinning room. Let some of your favorite patrons know ahead of time and take some shots of guests enjoying your establishment? I know it may sound petty but I was looking for some ambiance. Just my opinion. And yes, less cheesy opening music. More than likely you wouldn't play that at the store.-COLLAPSE

  • Failure to list the hours of operation. Drives. Me. Crazy.

  • Yesss! Restaurant owners, please stop it with all of these! why do you make it so hard to get basic information about your restaurant? I voted for the music but it was hard to choose. I would also add PDF menus, no matter how much I love your restaurant I really, truly, seriously, do not want to download your menu.
    When I go to a restaurant's website all I want is the hours, address, and a menu-...+READ

    Yesss! Restaurant owners, please stop it with all of these! why do you make it so hard to get basic information about your restaurant? I voted for the music but it was hard to choose. I would also add PDF menus, no matter how much I love your restaurant I really, truly, seriously, do not want to download your menu.
    When I go to a restaurant's website all I want is the hours, address, and a menu- with prices, and the actual, current menu- if you can make a flashy intro page with a video of grass growing, and sounds of acid jazz/background murmur/glasses clinking/that lady laughing (you know the one) you can figure out how to update your website to reflect your current menu..
    Really, I looove restaurants, I work in them, it's my life and I'll have our back in every other argument, but guys- the websites suuuuck, what's the deal? So much of my time is spent in restaurants and on the web that restaurant websites would logically be something I enjoy, but 99% of the time they're a freakin' flash/PDF nightmare that doesn't have any current or useful info but does have a ton about "the philosophy"- this says "bullshit" in huge shining letters to me.
    When a website is a flash based pain in the ass to visit with no substance, I'm inclined to believe that the restaurant will be the same.-COLLAPSE

  • All of the above plus unable to copy and paste from the site.

  • Yes you missed the most critical mistakes:

    - PDF Menus (as mentioned)
    - Uncopy/pastable text
    - Flash based websites with a single URL so that I can't copy/paste a URL to go to a direct page. If I am trying to convince a friend to go to your restaurant and I can't get a direct link to the menu, that is a big problem!

  • Am I the only one who gets annoyed by PDF menus? I just want to look at the options, not download the whole thing.

  • I want to vote for all of them.

  • I hate all of those things and more about restaurant websites. My personal pet peeve, though, is info that's not in a format that can be cut and pasted. I'm sure your flash site pretty, but if I can't dump the address and phone number into the email I'm about to send to my friends inviting them to join me for dinner, I get annoyed.