All About Restaurant Dining Rooms

The restaurant dining room, whether it is formal or casual, is the most important area in the front of the house. Its design plays a large part in the overall ambience of your restaurant. A restaurant dining room design is more than just table and chairs. It includes spaces for a wait station, storage and a POS system—all of which need to be hidden from customers. Read on for everything you need to know about planning your restaurant dining room.

Restaurant Seating
First things first. You need to consider the space allotted for your restaurant dining room when thinking about restaurant seating. This will dictate the type of restaurant seating you choose. Compact restaurant booths (my favorite type of restaurant seating) save on space, but are hard to maneuver, unlike traditional tables and chairs. For more information on planning restaurant, check out this video from Tavern on the Green.

Restaurant Design
The design of a restaurant should be a balance between a welcoming ambience and maximum seating capacity. In other words you want to pack in enough customers to keep busy and turn a profit, while at the same time making them feel comfortable. Some types of restaurants focus on seating capacity rather than interior design. Diners, for example, have more seating capacity while fine dining restaurants tend to focus more on ambience.

Restaurant Wait Stations
A crucial part of any well-planned restaurant dining room is the placement of the wait station. A good wait station should be accessible to staff, but invisible to patrons. Wait stations should be stocked with coffee, glassware, silverware and napkins, and condiments. Read on for a complete breakdown of what goes in a wait station, including the POS System.

Hostess Station
The host station may be part of the restaurant dining room or adjacent to it. Because the host station is usually the first area a customers sees, it should be neat and free of clutter. The actual host station itself can be as simple as a tall counter or podium or something with a little more character, such as a roll top desk. The host station is also a good spot to put a POS system, if the host is in charge of taking to-go orders or putting in drink orders. Read on for a complete checklist of hostess station equipment.

Restaurant Bar
Another area that may be in the dining room itself or right next to it is the restaurant bar. No matter if it is a service bar or full—sit—down bar, it should be fully stocked, based on your liquor selections. Read more about how to set up a restaurant bar.