Guide 2 of 5 · 8 min read

Restaurant website builder: menu, hours and bookings

By the ContentMetric team · Checked on 17 October 2026

People look up a restaurant for four things: what is on the menu, whether it is open, where it is, and how to get a table. If your website answers those four in a few seconds on a phone, it has done its job. This guide shows the pages, the prompts, and the Google listing that goes with them.

One limit, said plainly: ContentMetric is not an online ordering system. There is no cart, no pay-at-checkout for meals, and no delivery or takeaway ordering built for restaurants. What it does well is the menu, hours, location, photos, and a form where guests ask for a table or an event. If online ordering is your main need, see the comparison below.

The five pages a restaurant needs

1. Home

One strong photo of your food or your room, the type of cuisine and the area in one sentence ("Sichuan home cooking in [area]"), today's opening hours, and two buttons: See the menu and Ask for a table. Add your address and phone number in the first screen.

2. Menu

Write the menu as real text on the page, with sections, dish names, short descriptions and prices. Do not upload only a photo or PDF of the menu. Text loads fast on a phone, can be read by search engines and AI assistants, and is easy to change when a dish sells out. Mark vegetarian, vegan and common allergens clearly. If your menu changes by season, put the date on it.

3. Hours and location

Opening hours for each day, last order time, public-holiday hours, the full address, how to get there, parking or nearest station, and whether the place is step-free. Keep it identical to your Google listing.

4. Book a table or private event

A form with name, phone, date, time, number of guests and a note for allergies or occasions. Be honest about what it is: a request, not a live table system. Say "We confirm by phone or message within [time]". Add a second form for groups and private events if you take them.

5. About and contact

Who cooks, where the food comes from, a few real photos, and every way to reach you: phone, WhatsApp, email, social links.

Build it with Claude on ContentMetric

Type these into the AI assistant in the ContentMetric editor, or into Claude if you have connected it to your site (Pro and above). Edits go to your draft, and nothing is public until you press Publish. Replace anything in square brackets.

First build:

Menu:

Table requests:

Hours and search:

Day-to-day edits are one line: "Remove the sea bass and add a pumpkin curry, [price]", "We are closed Monday 27 October for a private event". Check the draft, then publish.

What the booking form does and does not do

A plain contact form sends each message to an email address you choose. On Pro and above, the Forms & Bookings app adds ready-made forms (including a Contact and an Order enquiry template), a Bookings inbox where you confirm or cancel each request, a confirmation email to the guest, and a WhatsApp button you can place in the emails. You can also set weekly hours and limit the places per slot.

It does not show a live floor plan, stop two people booking the same table, or send reminders by text. Treat it as a tidy way to receive requests that you answer yourself. A busy restaurant may want a reservation provider on top. Google lets you add a reservation link to your profile.

Guests who speak another language? ContentMetric can hold a second language for the site, with its own folder of pages, such as an English and a Chinese menu. The assistant can translate a page and you check it before it goes live.

Google Business Profile tips for restaurants

For a restaurant, the Google listing is often the real front door. Set it up before you polish the website. More in how to get your business on Google.

• Use the menu editor. Google lets food and drink businesses list menu items with sections, descriptions and prices. Changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show. Keep it matching your website menu.
• Add your menu link. You can add one link to your menu on your profile. Point it at your Menu page.
• Set extra hours. Google lets you set separate hours for delivery, takeaway or pickup, and special hours for holidays. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a guest.
• Add reservation and ordering links. You can add up to 10 links in a category, and set a preferred link. If you take bookings on your site, add your Book a Table page as a reservation link. If you take orders elsewhere, add that link under food ordering.
• Add photos of the room, the food and the outside. Google asks for photos of your interior, exterior and dining experience that represent reality, without heavy filters.
• Fill in the details. Details such as parking or Wi-Fi help people choose. Reply to reviews, and read Google's restaurant set-up guide for the full list.

ContentMetric, Wix and Squarespace for restaurants

Our view: if guests must order and pay for meals on your own site, use Wix, which says it has commission-free ordering, or a dedicated ordering service, and link to it from your Google profile. If you mainly need a fast, clean site with a menu you can change by typing, hours that are always right, and a way to ask for a table, ContentMetric does that, and on Pro a specialist can build and update it for you. See also our AI website builder comparison and the Wix alternative page.

A first week

• Day 1: type out your menu and hours, and collect eight good photos.
• Day 2: build the draft with the prompts above and check every price against your printed menu.
• Day 3: test the table request form from your phone, then publish.
• Day 4: match your Google listing to the site: hours, menu, links and photos.

Other trades: salons and gyms and trainers. If you are wondering about safety, read is it safe to let AI edit your website.

Common questions