And the rest of the good websites
Good lord, it turns out that my wanting -- as threshold criteria -- a restaurant to have its phone number, address, and hours of operation on a (mostly) static home page turned out to be category killer. I agree about not liking menus in PDF form but I barely got to scratch the surface of anything beyond the home page, including other bugbears like outdated information (Winter Restaurant Week is OVER!), confusing navigation, and the absence of the kind of useful information consumers want.
(Never mind the sluggish pace of establishing mobile versions.)
Samos does have basic information on its home page (but please take down the message about the August vacation.)
Below are links to some other websites that you or I admired but which flout at least one of my threshold rules.
I am going to get some dinner now. If you think of any other good sites, post here (or yell at me if I've ignored the suggestion you've already made). I think I have a favorite among the ones I've posted today. What are your top three?
x
I do like Clementine's site but the intro page feels self-indulgent. I could live with it, though, if it had address, phone number, and hours.
Salt has a good looking site, easy to navigate. But I really do need to see the hours of operation on the home page.
I agree with Mary Roby that Langermann's and especially City Cafe's sites are attractive. Again, please put the hours of operation on the home page. I agree with her comment about the Wine Market's otherwise useful, too -- having to mouse over images to discover the site's navigation is tedious.
Comments
I can live without the hours being on the main page as long as there's a "contact" or "directions" link (or even an "hours" link) that I can get to with one click.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | October 19, 2010 7:47 PM
Kavkaz Kebab has an excellent restaurant site that meets all of the above criteria, including the hours and location on EVERY page and no PDF menu.
http://www.kavkazkebab.com/index.html
indeed. good one!
Posted by: Mitch | October 19, 2010 8:17 PM
Azerbaijani food...I've never had Azerbaijani food. I feel a road trip coming on!
(See, decent web design pays off!)
Posted by: Lissa | October 20, 2010 8:26 AM
I'm not at all affiliated with them, but I LOVE Kavkaz Kebab! They have such amazing, simple food- the most delicious chicken kebabs, rice and bread that I have ever tasted. I would kill for something like that in the city.
p.s. Anybody know of anything close within city limits?
Posted by: Sarah | October 20, 2010 8:54 AM
samos is good and simple. great food also.
i saw this one http://www.thebeefbrothers.com
on an ealrier post, checked it out. very simple, hysterical. very clever.
check out their gallerys.
Posted by: Scott | October 20, 2010 10:10 AM
Umm, Our website DOES have our address, phone number and hours. I don't understand what you're saying.
Cristin of Clementine
Posted by: Cristin | October 21, 2010 10:49 PM
Cristin of Clementine, the main page does not have the address, phone number, and hours. One has to click through to the restaurant page to find that info.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | October 21, 2010 11:10 PM
I do like Clementine's site but the intro page feels self-indulgent.
Precious, indeed.
It could be worse. Rampant Flash abuse persists among the hospitality industry, despite the fact that the proportion of page views are coming smartphones, which potentially don't even support Flash.
Caveat eat-tor.
Posted by: El Generalissimo | October 22, 2010 2:38 AM
@Cristin, the address, hours, and phone should be on the front page so you don't have to open a link at all to find them.
(PS I LOVE Clementine!)
Posted by: lisah | October 22, 2010 11:32 AM
Aah, I see what you're saying. We'll keep it the way it is but thanks for clarifying.
Posted by: Cristin | October 23, 2010 10:15 PM