Restaurant website checklist: 25 checks, and the mistakes that cost you orders
Updated October 20, 2026
A restaurant website should let a hungry person on a phone see your menu, your hours and where you are, and order or book, within a few seconds, from a page that Google can read and everyone can use. Use the 25 checks below in five groups (basics, menu, ordering, Google and search, speed and accessibility); most take a minute each on your own phone. The most expensive mistakes are a PDF-only menu, hours that don't match Google, an Order button that sends people to a delivery app, and a page that is slow on mobile data.
In short
- Basics: name, cuisine, neighborhood, address, phone and today's hours visible on the first screen.
- Menu: every dish as text with a price, dietary marks and a date you last checked it.
- Ordering: one clear Order online button to your own ordering page, on every page.
- Google: the same name, address, phone and hours as your Business Profile.
- Speed and access: main content in 2.5 seconds, readable contrast, alt text, keyboard-friendly forms.
- Shortcut: the free restaurant health check scores your listing and website out of 100.
The restaurant website checklist
Basics
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name, cuisine and neighborhood on the first screen | People decide in seconds | Open the site on your phone: can you tell what and where without scrolling? |
| 2 | Address in text, with a map link | Text can be copied and read by search engines | Try selecting the address with your finger |
| 3 | Tap-to-call phone number | Most calls come from phones | Tap it on your phone |
| 4 | Today's hours, plus holiday hours | Wrong hours lose a visit and earn a bad review | Compare with your Business Profile |
| 5 | Your own domain, renewing automatically | An expired domain takes the site and email down | Check the renewal date at your registrar (what happens if it lapses) |
| 6 | HTTPS (the padlock) | Browsers warn on pages without it, and checkout needs it | Look for https:// in the address bar (does it need HTTPS?) |
Menu
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | The full menu as text, not only a PDF or photo | Readable on phones, by Google and by screen readers | Try searching the page for a dish name |
| 8 | Every dish has a price | Missing prices stop orders | Scroll the menu once |
| 9 | Dietary and allergen marks | Guests filter by them; see allergens online | Check vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free marks |
| 10 | The menu matches what you serve today | Old prices cause disputes | Compare with today's printed menu |
| 11 | Chains with 20+ locations: calories and the daily-calorie statement on menus, including online | A US federal rule | See FDA menu labeling requirements |
Ordering and booking
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | One Order online button on every page | A hungry visitor shouldn't hunt | Look at the top of three pages |
| 13 | The button goes to your own ordering page | A delivery-app link costs its commission on your own customers | Tap it and look at the address |
| 14 | Pickup and delivery options and times are clear | Fewer calls and wrong expectations | Place a test order |
| 15 | Checkout works with a card and a phone wallet | Failed checkouts are lost orders | Pay a small test order and refund it |
| 16 | A Reserve button if you take bookings | Bookings are orders too | Make a test booking |
Google and search
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Same name, address, phone and hours as your Business Profile | Mismatches confuse guests and Google | Open both side by side (GBP guide) |
| 18 | Your website and ordering link on your Business Profile | Google's Order online button should go to you | Check Food ordering in your profile |
| 19 | A page title with your name, cuisine and area | It's the blue link people see in search | Look at the browser tab, or search your name |
| 20 | Photos have alt text | Google and screen readers use it | Right-click a photo and inspect it, or ask your builder |
| 21 | No pop-up covering the menu on mobile | It blocks the first thing people came for | Open the menu page on your phone |
Speed, accessibility and trust
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Main content appears within 2.5 seconds on a phone | Google's "good" Largest Contentful Paint | Run Google's PageSpeed Insights on the mobile tab |
| 23 | Text contrast of at least 4.5:1 | WCAG 2.2's minimum for normal text; light gray on photos fails | Use any contrast checker on your text and background |
| 24 | Menus, buttons and forms work with a keyboard | The DOJ lists mouse-only navigation as a barrier | Press Tab through the page: can you reach and press everything? |
| 25 | A privacy policy and, if you take orders, refund terms | Payment providers and guests expect them | Find them in the footer (cookie banners) |
12 restaurant website mistakes, and the fix
| Mistake | What it costs | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Menu only as a PDF | Hard to read on phones; dishes don't show up in search | Put the menu on the page as text; keep the PDF as a printable extra |
| Hours different from Google | Guests turn up to a closed door | Change hours in one place and copy them to the other the same day |
| Order button goes to a delivery app | Commission on your own regulars | Link your own ordering page; keep apps for their own customers |
| Giant hero video | Slow first load on mobile data | A compressed photo; video further down, without autoplay |
| Text over busy photos | Unreadable, and fails contrast | A solid panel behind text, or text beside the photo |
| "Click here" buttons and links | Screen-reader users and Google can't tell where they go | Say where it goes: "See the dinner menu" |
| Phone number in an image | Can't be tapped or found | Text, with a tap-to-call link |
| No prices | Visitors leave to find a menu that has them | Every dish priced |
| Pop-up before the menu | Blocks the first thing people want | Show offers inside the page, not over it |
| Stock photos | Looks like every other restaurant | Your own room, team and best-selling dishes |
| Outdated specials and events | Looks closed | Date every special; remove it when it ends |
| Domain in a former employee's name | You can lose the domain | Put it in the business's name and turn on auto-renew |
Worked example: scoring a site
Score one point per check you pass. Here is a sample audit of a fictional pizzeria site, to show how to use the list:
| Group | Checks | Passed | Failed checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basics | 6 | 5 | #4 (no holiday hours) |
| Menu | 5 (4 if not a chain) | 2 of 4 | #7 (PDF only), #9 (no dietary marks) |
| Ordering and booking | 5 (4 without bookings) | 3 of 4 | #13 (button goes to a delivery app) |
| Google and search | 5 | 3 | #17 (Sunday hours differ), #20 (no alt text) |
| Speed, accessibility, trust | 4 | 2 | #22 (main photo loads in about 4 seconds), #24 (menu tabs don't work with a keyboard) |
| Total | 23 that apply | 15 / 23 (65%) | 8 fixes |
The fixes in order of orders saved: point the button to the restaurant's own ordering page (#13), put the menu on the page as text (#7), match Sunday hours to Google (#17), then the rest. Three of the eight take under ten minutes.
How to audit your restaurant website in 15 minutes
- Open it on your phone, on mobile data: time how long until the main photo and heading show.
- Read the first screen: name, cuisine, neighborhood, today's hours and an Order button, without scrolling.
- Search the menu for a dish: if the browser can't find the word, the menu is an image or a PDF.
- Place and refund a test order: from the Order button to the confirmation.
- Compare with Google: name, address, phone and hours against your Business Profile.
- Tab through the page: press Tab and Enter to reach the menu, the Order button and any form.
- Run the health check: the free restaurant health check scores your listing and website, with what each gap costs.
- Fix the top three: the ones that block an order first.
How Menuthere helps
A Menuthere ordering page covers several checks by default:
- Menu as text (#7, #8, #9): every dish with its price and dietary marks (14 allergens, kcal and halal on every plan); search engines get a plain version with every visible dish and price.
- Your own ordering link (#12–#15) with 0% commission, pickup and delivery options; card payments through Stripe on your own account from Lite ($17 a month).
- Legal pages (#25): six information pages (About, Contact, Terms, Privacy, Refunds, Shipping and Delivery) written from your store details, on every plan.
- Your own domain on Lite, and a landing page with themes for the rest of your site.
What it doesn't do for you: keep your Google hours in sync with the site, write alt text for photos you upload elsewhere, or certify a site for accessibility. See the free restaurant website builder and restaurant website examples, or follow the full build in how to build a restaurant website. For getting found, read the restaurant SEO guide.
Pass the menu and ordering checks today, with 0% commission.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a restaurant website?
Your name, cuisine and neighborhood, the full menu as text with prices, an Order online button to your own ordering page, a Reserve button if you take bookings, your address, phone and hours, real photos, and a privacy policy. Everything important should be visible on a phone without hunting.
What are the most common restaurant website mistakes?
A PDF-only menu, hours that differ from Google, an Order button that goes to a delivery app, a slow hero video, text over busy photos, missing prices and pop-ups that cover the menu. Each of these loses orders, and most take minutes to fix.
How do I check if my restaurant website is fast enough?
Open it on your phone on mobile data and run Google's PageSpeed Insights on the mobile tab. Google's targets are the main content within 2.5 seconds, a response to taps in under 200 milliseconds and a layout shift score under 0.1.
Does my restaurant website need to be accessible?
The Department of Justice says the ADA applies to the goods and services businesses offer on the web, while it has no regulation with detailed technical standards for them, and it points to WCAG as helpful guidance. Fix the common barriers: contrast, alt text, captions, forms and keyboard use.
How often should I check my restaurant website?
Check the menu and hours whenever they change and before every holiday, and run the full checklist every few months. Test the Order button and checkout once a month with a small order you refund.
Is there a free tool to check my restaurant website?
Yes. The Menuthere restaurant health check is free and scores your restaurant's online presence out of 100 from your Google listing and website, including phone speed, online ordering, menu, rating, reviews, hours and photos, with what each gap costs.
Sources (6)
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA", 18 March 2022: https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/ (read 20 Oct 2026): ADA applies to businesses' offerings on the web; no regulation with detailed standards; WCAG as helpful guidance; barriers incl. poor contrast, no alt text, no captions, inaccessible forms, mouse-only navigation.
- W3C, WCAG 2.2 (W3C Recommendation, 12 Dec 2024): https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ (read 20 Oct 2026): 1.4.3 contrast at least 4.5:1.
- Google Search Central, "Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results" (updated 10 Dec 2025): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals (read 20 Oct 2026): LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms, CLS 0.1.
- Google Business Profile Help, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google": https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177 (read 20 Oct 2026): website represents the location; hours rules.
- FDA menu labeling (20+ locations): live page
/en/fda-menu-labeling-requirements. - Menuthere: tool catalog
restaurant-health-check("Your restaurant's online score out of 100 from your Google listing and website…") and docsrestaurant-health-check; help docslegal-pages-for-your-store(Free, six pages),how-google-sees-your-store(Free),use-your-own-domain(Lite),build-your-landing-page(Lite); HANDOFF §3 (allergens and nutrition on every plan).