The Bright Hours
Restaurants and cafes

Restaurant and cafe website examples: what the best ones do

Two of our designs, a wood-fired restaurant and a neighbourhood cafe, and the few decisions that make them work.

By Jackson Mills, co-founder · 6 November 2026 · 7 min read

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Restaurant website for Hearth and Hollow on laptop and phone

1. Lead with the room

Hearth & Hollow opens on the dining room with the name set huge across it. One line underneath, a Book a table button in the corner, and a stamp that says "wood-fired, Northern Quarter". You know what it is and where it is in two seconds.

Full-length restaurant website with a huge serif name over the dining room, three dish tiles and a book-a-table section
The full Hearth & Hollow design. Designed by The Bright Hours.

2. Sell three dishes, not thirty

Three big photo tiles do more than a full menu on the home page. Put the full menu on its own page, as real text with prices and dietary tags, never a PDF. Google and AI assistants can read it, and it loads fast on a phone.

3. End with one ask

"Pull up a chair by the fire" and a single booking button. No newsletter pop-up, no five competing links.

The cafe version: Little Ritual

Cafe website Little Ritual on laptop, iPad and phone with giant slow mornings type and a round photo
Little Ritual, a coffee house in Heaton Moor. Designed by The Bright Hours.

Cafes sell a mood. "slow. mornings" in giant type, the room in a soft round frame, a dog-friendly stamp and an Open now button. A scrolling strip says what you do: coffee, brunch, cakes to order. That is the whole pitch.

Full-length cafe website
The full Little Ritual design. Designed by The Bright Hours.

Checklist: steal these for your restaurant website

  • Book and menu buttons visible without scrolling, on a phone
  • Menu as text, with prices and dietary tags
  • Allergen information that is easy to find and easy to update
  • Hours, address and phone matching your Google Business Profile
  • Real photos of your room and food, compressed so they load fast
  • A private dining or events enquiry form
  • Gift cards, and links to delivery partners or your own ordering
  • Restaurant schema markup so Google understands your cuisine, hours and menu

Want this for your place? See our restaurant website design service, or read what a website costs first.

Questions people ask us

What should a restaurant website include?

At minimum: a text menu with prices and dietary information, opening hours, address and map, a booking or ordering button visible on a phone, real photos and allergen information. Private dining, gift cards and events pages are worth adding if they apply.

Should my restaurant menu be a PDF?

Ideally not. A text menu loads faster on phones, is easier to update, and can be read by Google and AI assistants. You can still offer a PDF download as well.

How much does a restaurant website cost?

A simple restaurant site of up to three pages costs £250 to £1,000 with us (launch prices). Larger sites with online ordering, events and private dining start from £2,500. Every price is a fixed fee agreed up front.