What Makes a Great Sit Down Restaurant Experience?

A great restaurant is about so much more than great food. 

As a restaurant owner or operator, your goal is to not only serve amazing meals but to provide an unmatched dining experience for everyone who visits your restaurant. Each part of your restaurant plays an important role in building an unforgettable experience – your ambiance, decor, service, and overall vibe can make or break a visit. 

If you’re looking for how to improve your dining experience, keep reading. 

What Is a Sit Down Restaurant?

On-premise dining, as opposed to takeout or delivery, encompasses all sit-down, or eat-in restaurants. This could be a casual bakery with a small dining room, or a large fine-dining restaurant with tablecloths, five courses, and a wine pairing option. Eating on-premise turns a meal into a full restaurant experience, adding in the excitement a special occasion or new adventure. 

A “sit down restaurant” is a broad category – typically referring to any full-service restaurant with a server. Sit-down restaurants can be formal or casual, and don’t have any specifications around concept or cuisine. 

Here are a few ways to create a great dining experience for your guests at a sit down restaurant. 

How to Create a Great Dining Experience

Ambiance 

The decor, lighting, seating, music, and cleanliness in a space all play an important role here. You want your guests to feel comfortable and settled in a space, while also staying true to your concept and brand. Be intentional with your decisions, and use decor, lighting, and music to your advantage. For example, if your concept is a small fine-dining restaurant, you might want to have dim, warm lighting with quiet jazz music playing in the background. 

Seating is also important for building a good dining experience. Make sure your dining room flows well, with many different types of seating to accommodate different groups and individual preferences. Learn more about restaurant seating here. 

Attentive Service    

What is most important part of what makes a great restaurant experience? The people. 

An attentive server will make all the difference in creating an unforgettable guest experience at a sit down restaurant. Anticipating guests' needs is key here: asking questions and taking orders at the right time, refilling drinks and waters before they’re empty, and checking in consistently are all essential. 

Learn more about training staff to be the best of the best here and here. 

A Streamlined POS System 

The right POS technology should only help a guest experience. You want technology to help take away some of the difficulties of serving, to help your staff focus on building and nurturing those guest relationships – not on running back and forth between tables and the POS. Things like order and pay at the table technology and handhelds can help streamline the guest experience, making things easier for everyone. With both of these forms of technology, the amount of time a guest must wait to pay is sharply reduced, ensuring that as soon as they’re ready to go, they can be out the door quickly and on their way to their couch — and their table is free for the next guest.

And beyond the dining experience, streamlined technology throughout your whole restaurant provides a more cohesive, straightforward experience. Everything from easy reservations to consistent follow-ups can help turn one-time diners into dependable regulars. 

Learn more about how to use technology to delight your restaurant guests here.