Restaurant facts for kids

A restaurant is a place where you can buy cooked food and sit down to eat it. It's also a place where people go to enjoy their time and share a meal with others.

Some restaurants are part of a chain. This means many restaurants have the same name and serve the same kind of food. Think of places like McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut. These are famous chain restaurants found all over the world.

Fast Food and Drive-Throughs

These chain restaurants often serve fast food. Fast food is usually inexpensive and prepared very quickly. At some fast food places, you don't even need to get out of your car to eat! You can order, pay, and pick up your food from a window. These are called drive-throughs.

Fast Casual Restaurants

There are also chain restaurants that serve food that is a bit more expensive than fast food. These are known as fast casual restaurants. Places like Applebee's and Perkins are good examples of this type of restaurant. They offer a relaxed dining experience without being too fancy.

Fine Dining and Michelin Stars

Haute cuisine or fine dining means eating at very fancy restaurants. These places offer the highest quality food and service. You can often find them listed in special guides, like the Michelin Guide. This is the most famous restaurant guide in the world.

The Michelin Guide gives out special "stars" to restaurants. A restaurant with three stars has the very best cooking and service. Interestingly, cities like Tokyo and Kyoto have more three-star restaurants than Paris, London, and New York combined! In the past, the best fine dining restaurants were often found inside top hotels, like the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Today, most Michelin-starred restaurants are separate places.

Restaurants in Ancient Times

A Roman thermopolium in Pompeii

Did you know that restaurants existed a long time ago? In Ancient Greece and Rome, there were small places that offered food and drinks. They were called thermopolia (say: ther-moh-POH-lee-uh).

Many homes back then didn't have kitchens. So, eating out was a very important part of daily life and a way for people to socialize. In the ancient city of Pompeii, archaeologists have found 158 thermopolia with counters where food was served. They were located along the main roads and near public areas.

Related pages

• Menu
• Fast food
• Fast casual restaurant
• Buffet

Images for kids

• 

  Restaurant in Paris

• 

  The Palm Court at the Ritz Hotel, London

• 

  Typical hotel restaurant

• 

  Via Sophia in Washington, D.C., United States

• 

  Kuappi, the smallest restaurant in the world, located in Iisalmi, Finland

• 

  Remains of a thermopolium in Pompeii

• 

  The kitchen of Pétrus, in Central London

• 

  Restaurant Basilica at the shoreline of Kellosaarenranta by night in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, Finland

• 

  Chef's table at Marcus restaurant in Central London

• 

  Le Grand Vefour restaurant at the Palais Royal in Paris

• 

  Garden café of the Hôtel Ritz Paris (1904), Pierre-Georges Jeanniot

• 

  Tom's Restaurant in Manhattan was made internationally famous by Seinfeld

• 

  Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark rated 2 stars in the Michelin guide, and named Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant.

• 

  Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York has two Michelin stars

• 

  Restaurant Näsinneula in Tampere, Finland

• 

  Gunpowder Cellar of Tartu, a former 18th-century gunpowder cellar and current beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia

• 

  The kitchen at Delmonico's Restaurant, New York City, 1902.

See also

In Spanish: Restaurante para niños