The problem I had to solve (not a mood board)

I was hired to relaunch a neighborhood bistro’s website after a string of no-shows, mixed reviews about online menus being “out of date,” and a checkout flow that confused people who just wanted to book a table. The owner wanted three concrete outcomes: (1) mobile visitors should find today’s menu and reserve in under 20 seconds; (2) menu items must be editable without breaking the layout; (3) promo slots for seasonal tasting menus should be easy to swap weekly. I chose the Restan WordPress Theme because its demo already thinks like a restaurant: a calm hero with a reservation path, phone-first menu sections, hours and location visible without hunting, event/offer blocks, and a gallery that flatters food without crushing Core Web Vitals. It’s GPL-licensed, which fits how I run multi-client stacks with child themes and predictable updates.

Installation & first-run setup (my repeatable recipe)

1. Clean base + staging. Fresh WordPress on a staging subdomain; basic hardening; defer page caching until layout locks.
2. Theme & child theme. Install Restan; immediately create a child theme for typography tokens, spacing, and a few template overrides (menu cards, reservations strip).
3. Minimal demo import. Pull in homepage, menu hub, single menu section, reservations page, events/offers, about/chef, gallery, contact. Skip sliders, video heroes, and anything that could wobble on budget Android devices.
4. Permalinks & routes. Reserve /menu/, /reserve/, /events/, /about/, /gallery/, /contact/. This mirrors guest intent: eat → book → confirm logistics.
5. Global styles. Content width ~1200–1280px; base font 17–18px; line height ~1.6; a restrained palette (ink, warm gray, one accent that pairs with brand). Restan’s spacing scale stays steady when sections reorder for specials.
6. Header decisions. Keep it ruthless: Menu, Reserve, Hours. On mobile, the Reserve button becomes a pill and remains visible. No animated nav experiments.
7. Footer essentials. Hours, address with neighborhood landmarks, parking note, service fee/disclaimer line, and compact newsletter for announcements. No social icon parade.

First impressions after import (what worked out of the box)

Restan’s hero allows a static image with an overlaid reservation call-to-action; the typography is calm enough that a one-sentence promise (“Seasonal cooking, wood-grilled fish, and a pastry program worth skipping dessert elsewhere”) reads confidently without fighting the art direction. The built-in menu cards support item names, short descriptions, optional badges (vegan, spicy, signature), and prices that don’t jump on line wrap. The gallery defaults avoid parallax and autoplay; tap-to-zoom is polite. The reservations strip has obvious affordances on small screens, which matters when your dining room exists on Friday nights at 6:30pm and everything else is a rumor.

My content model (sections that match a real service)

I split the menu into Lunch, Dinner, Bar, and Weekend Brunch, then carved subsections: Starters, Raw, Wood Grill, Pasta, Sides, Dessert, Zero-Proof, Cocktails, Wines by the Glass. Each subsection is its own block so the GM can reorder quickly (e.g., if the fishermen bring in sablefish, “Wood Grill” floats up). I use short descriptions that sound human, not florid: “charred leeks, almond romesco,” “hand-cut pappardelle, braised lamb, mint.” Prices align to the right; long names wrap nicely without crowding.

Menu card discipline

• Item name (max ~40 chars), then a short, comma-separated description that reads like a mise-en-place list.
• Optional badge for dietary notes or house specials. I keep badges minimal to avoid emoji walls.
• If market price fluctuates, I write “MP” and clarify on the server’s script.

Daily updates

I train the GM to edit menu sections at 3pm from a single dashboard screen. Restan’s block editor makes this safer than a custom post type in a modal no one remembers.

Reservations: flow that stops no-shows (and keeps the phone ringing only when it should)

I tested two patterns: a built-in form that emails the host stand and a one-click hand-off to a third-party booking widget. For this bistro, we shipped a two-step native form with a human fallback:

• Step 1: party size (2–8), date picker (shows closed days), time windows (early/prime/late).
• Step 2: contact info, seating preference (bar/patio/dining room), occasion notes, and a consent checkbox (“We’ll hold your table for 15 minutes”).

A success page shows the reservation details, a “change/cancel” link, and a reminder that same-day changes are by phone. If you prefer an external booking service, Restan’s CTA slots are obvious; the key is copy: “Reserve now” beats “Check availability,” and a line like “Patio first-come in poor weather” prevents friction.

Homepage strategy: one screen to earn the second

I keep the hero static with a decisive sentence, one action (Reserve), and hours. Below, I run:

• Tonight’s highlights. Three small cards (e.g., “Copper River salmon,” “wild nettle risotto,” “strawberry shortcake”).
• Chef’s note. Two sentences, no manifesto.
• Event/offer band. A tasting menu week or winemaker dinner with a “Reserve for this event” button.
• Gallery strip. Four images (warm light, real tableware; no stock hands).
• Newsletter. A single field; promise only what you’ll actually send.
• Map note. “Street parking free after 6pm; garage across from the theater.” (I keep the map static or link to the phone’s maps—no heavy embeds.)

Long paragraph: the week after launch (what guests actually did)

The first Friday, mobile traffic hit like a tide. People did not play with galleries; they tapped “Reserve,” picked “7:15,” and moved on. The second most-tapped element was the Menu link (not the hero image, not the chef portrait). Guests wanted prices and portions in plain English; four photos did more work than twenty. The surprise: brunch outperformed dinner on search because the “Waffles & Eggs” H2 was too clever; I replaced it with “Brunch Favorites” and internal links from Dinner to Brunch bumped cross-session discovery. A tiny copy change—“Hold 15 minutes”—cut late arrivals and the passive-aggressive texts that follow. When rain hit on Saturday, the “Patio first-come in poor weather” note prevented three long phone calls. None of this required a plugin chase; Restan’s blocks were quiet enough that clarity did the heavy lifting.

Performance tuning (six changes that mattered)

1. Static hero (~1600px, ≤200KB). Food looks better in stillness; sliders murder LCP and appetite.
2. Explicit width/height on every image (logos, menu illustrations, gallery) to squash CLS.
3. Fonts: preload one WOFF2 display; body falls back to system UI for fast first render.
4. Native lazy-loading for gallery and below-the-fold images.
5. No scroll animations on mobile. Hungry people don’t want parallax parsley.
6. Cache policy: full-page cache for public routes; exclude /reserve/ submissions and preview endpoints.

On a throttled 4G device, the site felt immediate; the CTA never jumped, and the menu didn’t shimmy when images loaded. Guests stopped blaming their phones.

Accessibility & mobile hygiene (signals that win trust)

• Tap targets ≥44px for Reserve, phone, and menu filters.
• AA contrast on action color; text over photos with real overlays, not wishful thinking.
• Labels over placeholders; error states plain and polite.
• Keyboard navigation works across nav, accordions, and forms; skip-links included.
• Alt text describes the plate and preparation (“seared scallops with charred lemon and pea shoots”).
• Motion respect: honor “prefers-reduced-motion”; no bounce-in menus.

SEO & information architecture (findable without keyword soup)

• One H1 per page (“Dinner Menu,” “Brunch Menu,” not “Menu Magic”).
• H2s per section (Starters, Wood Grill, Pasta, Dessert).
• Intro copy (50–90 words) on menu pages explaining sourcing (e.g., “fish arrives daily from…”) and seasonal rotation.
• Internal links between Dinner ↔ Brunch ↔ Events to catch multi-intent visitors.
• Schema: Organization + simple Menu/Restaurant markup inside templates (lightweight).
• Image alt that names dish, cooking method, and garnish; never “IMG_423.”
• FAQ page with the questions guests actually ask: reservations window, corkage, dietary accommodations, parking, patio policy, large parties.

When I want to sanity-check hero density and fold composition across ready-to-customize options, I skim patterns on Best WordPress Themes to keep my first screen honest and my CTA unmistakable.

Feature-by-feature review (what mattered most)

Menu blocks. Restan’s menu cards are the heart of the build. The type hierarchy holds under long dish names, and the price alignment doesn’t jitter when a description wraps. I added a micro badge style for “signature” and kept diet notes textual (“v,” “gf”) with a legend at the top.

Reservations strip. The CTA weight is just right; on mobile, the button lives where thumbs live. I swapped “Book a Table” to “Reserve” after analytics showed faster taps for the shorter verb.

Event/offer band. One card per week wins; three cards read like clearance. I used it for a winemaker dinner and a chef’s counter night.

Gallery. Four images above the fold; more on the Gallery page. The grid respects stillness and doesn’t hijack scroll.

Hours & location. The hours block is readable at a glance; I added “Kitchen closes at 9:30pm” beneath Friday/Saturday to end the “are you still serving?” calls.

Operations details that reduced chaos

• Cutoff logic. The reservations form rejects last-minute requests inside a 30-minute window and directs to a phone call; host stand breathes again.
• Waitlist language. “If your preferred time isn’t available, we can text you if a table opens.” This is honest and reduces angry DMs.
• Large parties. A small note: “For parties of 7+, please email the events team”—and a short form. This takes group traffic out of the main flow.
• Menu rotation ritual. Daily at 3pm: delete retired items, hide seasonal sections, add two specials. A predictable rhythm keeps the site truer than Instagram.

Photography & media (food without the filter wars)

I standardized hero at 1600px and body images at 1200px. We lit dishes with softboxes and avoided blue plates that murder greens. For raw bar items, I used tight, neutral compositions; for wood grill, a bit of smoke and char—not a film of fake warmth. Restan’s gallery respects consistent aspect ratios, which helps the grid feel premium rather than marketplace-random.

Pricing transparency (menus are promises, not mysteries)

I keep prices visible everywhere, including brunch and bar. If we run MP items, a footnote—“market sets price; ask your server”—lives above the section. Guests stopped screenshotting old PDFs and DMing us “is this current?”

Alternatives I considered (and why I passed)

• Multipurpose giants: I’d prune sliders and parallax for days, then fight typography that was designed for portfolio sites, not menus.
• Ultra-minimal starters: Ultimate control, slow time-to-value; I’d rebuild menu furniture, reservations strips, and hours blocks from scratch.
• Restan: Restaurant-native blocks, sober type, and just enough knobs to personalize without accruing layout debt.

Where Restan fits—and where it doesn’t

Restan shines for chef-driven bistros, casual fine dining, wine bars with snacks, and brunch spots that live or die on Saturdays. If your day-one brief includes multi-location inventory, complex POS menus, or delivery marketplaces with deep integrations, you’ll add specialized tools. Restan is presentation + reservations + events; it is not a logistics system.

Analytics I actually watch (beyond vanity)

• Menu page entrance rate from home and search. If low, your home CTA hierarchy is wrong.
• Tap-to-reserve CTR on hero vs. mid-page strips.
• Menu section scroll completion (Starters → Dessert); if people stall at Pasta, rename or re-order.
• Reservation form abandonment by step; if Step 2 tanks, your fields are too nosy.
• Phone taps by hour; if 5–7pm spikes, your site isn’t answering “open seats tonight?” clearly enough.

A/B tests that stuck

• “Reserve” beat “Book a Table.”
• Static hero beat motion across all devices.
• Three menu photos beat eight; fewer, better, faster.
• A tiny “Kitchen closes at…” note reduced 9:45pm arrivals by a lot.
• “Brunch Favorites” beat clever headings for search intent.

Common pitfalls I dodged (steal these guardrails)

• Carousels on the homepage = LCP pain + cognitive fog. One image, one promise.
• PDF menus as the only source of truth = outdated screenshots forever. Use live menu blocks; add a “print-friendly” style for in-house.
• Map embeds that drag. Use a static image and rely on the phone’s map app.
• Badge gardens (“chef’s kiss,” “OMG spicy”). Keep it grown-up; let servers tell stories.
• Unknown hours during holidays. I schedule a topbar that activates for special closures with one line of text; no need for a new page.

Staff workflow (the non-glamorous part that keeps it sane)

• Daily 3pm ritual: menu edit, specials on/off, events check.
• Weekly photo discipline: shoot three items (two mains, one dessert) with the same light and angle; retire inconsistent shots.
• Monthly copy pass: rewrite long dish descriptions; drop adjectives; add ingredients people search for.
• Quarterly accessibility check: contrast, tap targets, alt text audit.
• Backups: nightly DB, weekly full; updates rehearsed on staging; child theme holds overrides.

“One long paragraph” on service-night reality (warts and wins)

On a rainy Thursday, a couple walked in holding their phone open to the menu; they had picked two plates and a dessert before they sat down, and the host didn’t have to explain patio closures because the top note already did. A group of four slid a table over and asked if they could add one more—our reservations page already warned that the room is small and we’ll try but can’t promise; no irritation, just reality. A pescatarian asked about “anchovy in the caesar” and the description already said “no anchovy in dressing,” so the server smiled and moved on. When the kitchen 86’d the pork chop, the GM removed it from the Dinner section in under a minute; no crossed-out specials boards, no Instagram mea culpas. The site wasn’t fancy; it was specific and fast. Restan didn’t make the food better, but it stopped the site from getting in the way of people eating it. That’s the job.

Practical build checklist (copy & adapt)

• Homepage: static hero, Reserve CTA, hours; Tonight’s Highlights (3 cards); Chef’s note; Event/offer band; Gallery strip (4 images); Newsletter; Map note.
• Menu: sections as blocks; short, human descriptions; prices aligned; badges sparingly; daily 3pm edit ritual.
• Reservations: two-step form; clear hold window; rain/patio note; large-party redirect.
• Events/Offers: one spotlight per week; “Reserve for this event” CTA.
• Gallery: consistent ratio; four images above fold; lazy-load the rest.
• Speed: single WOFF2 preload; explicit image sizes; no mobile scroll FX; lean cache rules.
• SEO: sensible headings; intro copy; schema light; alt text that describes prep/garnish.
• A11y: contrast, focus, 44px taps, labels, skip-links.
• Governance: weekly photo set; monthly copy pass; quarterly accessibility check.

Selection advice (when Restan is the right call)

Choose Restan if your restaurant needs a phone-first site where menus stay accurate, reservations are obvious, and the first screen reads like a promise you can keep. Don’t choose it if your day-one requirement is multi-location POS sync and marketplace delivery orchestration—pair those with your ops stack and keep Restan focused on presentation, clarity, and booking tables. Keep the hero honest, the menu human, the gallery disciplined, and the reservation path boring—in the best, most profitable sense.

Where I compare baselines before locking the first screen

Before I commit to hero composition and card rhythm, I benchmark fold height and CTA clarity against production-ready patterns on Best WordPress Themes so the first screen works on the smallest phones and the busiest nights. For a consistent, update-friendly stack across client restaurants, I source from gplpal—predictable updates, clean licenses, and child-theme safety.