Restaurant Website Checklist: What Every Restaurant Site Needs in 2026

A hungry customer gives your restaurant website about as long as it takes a light to turn green. They want to know 4 things: what you serve, what it costs, whether you’re open, and how to order or book. If your site makes them pinch-zoom a PDF menu or hunt for your phone number, they go back to the map and tap the next pin.

This checklist covers what every restaurant website needs, in the order that matters. It’s written for independent restaurants, cafes, bars and small groups, and it works whether you build the site yourself, use your POS provider’s site builder or hire a designer.

The 4 questions your homepage must answer

Before fonts, photos or a brand story, make sure a first-time visitor on a phone can answer these without scrolling far:

1. What kind of food is this? A one-line description: “Neapolitan pizza and natural wine in East Austin” beats “Welcome to our family.”
2. Are you open right now? Today’s hours near the top, with holiday hours when they apply.
3. Where are you? Address, a map link and parking or transit notes.
4. How do I order or book? 1 or 2 big buttons: “Order online”, “Reserve a table”, “Call us”.

Everything else on this checklist supports those 4 answers.

Key takeaway: Your website’s job is to turn a curious search into an order, a booking or a visit. Put the menu, hours, location and action buttons first, and treat everything else as supporting detail.

Menu checklist

The menu is the most visited page on almost every restaurant site. Get it right.

• [ ] Publish the menu as web text, not only a PDF or image. HTML text reads well on phones, works with screen readers and can be read by search engines. Keep a PDF as an optional download for catering or printing.
• [ ] Include prices. Leaving them off frustrates customers and sends them to delivery apps, where prices may be marked up.
• [ ] Mark dietary and allergen info such as vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, plus a note to tell staff about allergies.
• [ ] Keep one source of truth. If your POS or online ordering system can publish the menu to your site, use that so prices don’t drift between channels.
• [ ] Show service charges and fees clearly. In California, SB 478 generally requires advertised prices to include mandatory fees, but SB 1524 (effective June 29, 2024) lets restaurants and bars list a mandatory fee separately if it is clearly and conspicuously shown on the menu with its purpose explained. Other states and cities may have their own rules, so check with your local regulator. This is not legal advice.
• [ ] Check calorie rules if you’re a chain. The FDA’s menu labeling rule covers restaurants in chains of 20 or more locations with the same name and substantially the same items. If customers can order from your online menu, it must show calories next to each standard item, just like a printed menu.

Online ordering and delivery checklist

You have 3 broad ways to take online orders, and many restaurants use more than one.

Checklist:

• [ ] Add a direct “Order online” button on every page, especially the menu.
• [ ] Set your preferred ordering link in Google Business Profile. Google lets you add your own ordering link, choose a preferred provider and remove third-party providers you don’t want shown. An order link must let the customer actually complete an order.
• [ ] Show pickup and delivery details: hours, delivery radius, minimums and estimated times.
• [ ] Test the full order flow on a phone at least monthly, including payment and the confirmation email or text.

For a broader look at POS, kitchen display and ordering systems, see how technology is changing restaurants.

Reservations and events checklist

• [ ] Add a “Reserve a table” button if you take bookings, linked to your reservation system or a booking page.
• [ ] Connect reservations to Google. Google Business Profile supports booking through Reserve with Google partners, or you can add your own booking link. Waitlists through Google require a supported provider.
• [ ] List your party, private dining and catering options with capacity, minimums and an inquiry form.
• [ ] Publish your reservation policy: deposits, cancellation windows and large-party rules.
• [ ] Keep an events page current for trivia, live music, tasting menus and holiday hours. Remove past events promptly.

If you’re also exploring AI phone answering or smart waitlists, our guide on how restaurants use AI covers what’s practical today.

Local SEO checklist for restaurants

Most restaurant searches are local and mobile: “tacos near me”, “brunch downtown”, “open now”. To show up:

• [ ] Match your name, address and phone exactly across your site, Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Yelp and delivery apps.
• [ ] Complete your Google Business Profile. Categories, hours, menu link, photos, attributes such as outdoor seating, and the website link. Our Google Business Profile optimization guide goes field by field.
• [ ] Add restaurant schema markup. Schema.org’s Restaurant type supports properties such as servesCuisine, hasMenu, acceptsReservations and openingHoursSpecification, which help search engines read your details. See our guide to schema markup for small businesses.
• [ ] Create a page per location if you have more than one, each with its own hours, menu differences, photos and directions.
• [ ] Ask for reviews and reply to them. Our guide to getting more Google reviews has timing and wording tips.
• [ ] Write a short “about” and neighborhood page that names your area, nearby landmarks and what makes the place worth the trip.

For the full local playbook, work through our local SEO checklist.

Design, speed and accessibility checklist

• [ ] Design for phones first. Many people will see your site on a small screen, often outdoors and in a hurry.
• [ ] Use real photos of your dishes, room and team. Compress them so pages load quickly.
• [ ] Make phone numbers and addresses tappable for click-to-call and directions.
• [ ] Avoid autoplay video with sound, pop-ups over the menu and heavy animations.
• [ ] Build in accessibility. The Department of Justice’s March 2022 guidance says the ADA applies to the goods and services businesses open to the public offer on the web, and it lists food and drink establishments among those businesses. Use text menus, alt text on images, good color contrast and forms that work with a keyboard. Our guide to ADA website accessibility explains the basics. This is not legal advice.
• [ ] Use HTTPS and make sure your certificate renews automatically.

Trust and conversion extras

These aren’t required, but they help a visitor choose you:

• [ ] A short story about the owners or chef, with a photo.
• [ ] Press mentions or awards you can link to.
• [ ] Gift cards and merchandise, if your POS supports them.
• [ ] An email or text signup with a clear reason to join, such as specials or event notices.
• [ ] Job openings, which also show you’re a real, active business.
• [ ] A clear privacy policy if you collect emails, run analytics or take orders.

Where to start: fix these 5 things first

If your current site is out of date, work through this in one afternoon:

1. Check hours and address on your site and Google Business Profile. Make them identical.
2. Replace the PDF-only menu with an HTML text menu with prices.
3. Add “Order online” and “Reserve” buttons to the header of every page.
4. Set your preferred ordering and booking links in Google Business Profile.
5. Test everything on your own phone: menu, order flow, booking, call button and map link.

After that, set a monthly reminder to review menu prices, events and hours. Our website maintenance checklist has a full weekly, monthly and yearly routine.

Conclusion

A restaurant website doesn’t need to win design awards. It needs to answer what you serve, what it costs, when you’re open and how to order, faster than a delivery app does. Get the menu, actions and local listings right, keep them in sync, and your site becomes the cheapest sales channel you have. For inspiration from other local businesses, browse our top lists.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Manage online ordering options — preferred ordering links and providers
• Google Business Profile Help: Set up bookings through a provider — Reserve with Google and booking links
• FDA: Menu Labeling Requirements — chains of 20 or more locations and online menus
• California Attorney General: SB 478 Hidden Fees — restaurant fee disclosure exemption
• California Legislative Information: SB 1524 — text and effective date of the restaurant exemption
• ADA.gov: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA — web accessibility for businesses open to the public