Comments on: Why are restaurant websites so awful?

By: What can writers learn from menus? | Articulate

What can writers learn from menus? | Articulate — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:09:27 +0000

[...] are among the worst when it comes to clear communication. For example, I wrote an article ‘Why are restaurant websites so awful?’ a while ago. (The glorious exception is Monmouth [...]

By: Tiny epic usability fail - Bad Language

Tiny epic usability fail - Bad Language — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:23:48 +0000

[...] It’s rare that people make really epic usability mistakes these days, either in games, applications or websites. (Although Flash intros and unmutable music on websites come close. See: Why are restaurant websites so awful?) [...]

By: On Being Authentic | Wendy Cholbi

On Being Authentic | Wendy Cholbi — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:32:18 +0000

[...] Matthew Stibbe posted on the awfulness of restaurant websites. He’s talking about top-rated one-of-a-kind restaurants, not Joe’s Crab Shack, but I [...]

By: The sordid love affair between restaurant websites and flash: would you two kids knock it off, already? « Bits of Kelly

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:54:40 +0000

[...] I’m just frustrated with their websites: Almond, Tao,Paris Commune, Singe Vert. Here are some more examples from Matthew Stibbe, who shares my [...]

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:31:35 +0000

Great reviews. Seems like some of the best eateries have some of the worst websites.

We’ve recently launched a startup in San Diego called MassPublisher.com (http://www.masspublisher.com) that enables restaurants to build their own SEO-optimized menus, wine lists, Google maps and directions, news, events, jobs and more. We’re still in Beta, but we have sites up now like Panera Bread Aliso Viejo (http://www.panera-alisoviejo.com), which runs entirely on our platform.

Thats said, I like Goro’s Let’s Eat application too — good to have alternatives out there to Flash.

Thanks again for the great reviews.

By: Flash4All

Flash4All — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:39:34 +0000

Flash is taking over the restaurant website industry. I have a hard time finding any high profile restaurant now days that doesn’t use flash. Its easy to create a user friendly, deep linked site now that is search engine friendly.

By: Goro

Goro — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:16:50 +0000

Personally, I like Flash, but I agree that it has its time and place, and for restaurants, can easily lead to an unmaintainable, seo-killing disaster.
While this isn’t necessarily the answer to these problems, I thought you’d find my new web application to be an interesting solution (at least for smaller restaurants): http://www.LetsEat.at
It’s a simple CMS for restaurants that allows them to create an SEO-friendly website just by filling in some text fields, a la WordPress or Blogger. I was originally going to use it as a backend for local restaurant sites here in Portland, Oregon, but decided to just make it free and open it to the public. It’s currently beta testing, so may still be a little buggy.

By: Edwin Arneson

Edwin Arneson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:57:01 +0000

I’m not a fan of Flash sites. I actually like the brief music associated with the top menu items on the Guy Savoy web site. The vertical text on the bottom menu wasn’t obvious, but in the end, the site was interesting enough to poke around on for a few minutes.

There’s a restaurant around here that has an ad in the paper and they say “go to our web site,” but they don’t list the URL. Unbelievably, if you happen to find their web site and look at the source code for the only page (it’s a Flash site), you won’t find the restaurant’s name. Hence, even though Google has indexed it, you can’t find the restaurant’s web site using the restaurant’s name!

By: Andrew Denny

Andrew Denny — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:13:09 +0000

Never mind restaurants; what about architects?

I’ve yet to find *any* decent website for an architectural website. They are all flash-based and almost all use animation, which is ironic for a discipline based around an art set in stone.

By: Marketing Snark » On Being Authentic

Marketing Snark » On Being Authentic — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:56:38 +0000

[...] Matthew Stibbe posted on the awfulness of restaurant websites. He’s talking about top-rated one-of-a-kind restaurants, not Joe’s Crab Shack, but I [...]