The Enormous Variety of Restaurants
There are a multitude of various different styles and varieties of dining establishments. It’s interesting to note that, in the past, and in countries outside of the United States and Canada, fast food restaurants don’t fit the conventional label of “restaurant” all that well. In fact, the label sit-down restaurant, which began to be used to differentiate fast-food restaurants from the normal variety, is virtually nowhere to be found as well.
Specifically, the term restaurant, within these locales outside of the US, refers exclusively to the variety of dining establishment where you sit down at a table to eat, and are waited on by a waiter or waitress.
What are the separate categories of dining? There is 4 basic categories recognized officially (mostly in the United States). These may include the following categories: fast food, family-styled, casual dining, and fine dining. Fast food dining entails rapid turn-around on orders. Fast-casual dining falls into this category as well, however, with fast casual dining non-disposable cutlery, which is ordinarily not characteristic of fast-food, is used. Fast food includes street vending hot dog carts, Wendy’s, and more.
Family style dining often hold true to their nomenclature, in that they may be very idiosyncratic and run by a single family. Often they’ll have a lower price on most of their menu items, and bench seats, but may or may not offer non-disposable cutlery as well. Think small-town diner when you think of a family style restaurant.
The third category of dining known as casual dining is a type of dining experience roughly somewhere in between fast food and fine dining, and probably a couple of steps ahead of family-styled eateries. They usually are part of a popular chain. Most often they have a full bar with staff, a menu priced towards the center, and wait staff to serve you. Often the bar will boast a moderate selection of beer, and a modest selection of wine.
Fine dining often has a fancier interior, highly trained staff with an obvious and apparent dress code, and specific, dedicated meal courses. Fine dining establishments often have more of “atmosphere,” and often have a required standard of dress code and conduct of their guests. Fine dining is limited to just a few locations instead of being a part of a large chain, which is more commonly associated with “casual dining” restaurants.
All other types of eating establishments generally are spin-offs of fast-casual dining, and casual dining. Cafes are a good example of this. In most cafes, you do not have a waitress, however, your food selections will be brought to you at your table. Additionally the selection of food can often be restricted to only sweeter foods, accompanied with an outdoor patio.
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