Restaurant websites in Dubai: what guests check before they order

Friday, 1 pm, a car outside a cafeteria in Al Qusais. The driver wants karak and two cheese parathas and does not want to get out. A few streets away, a family is choosing between three grills for dinner. Both decisions happen on a phone, in the time it takes to scroll.

How guests decide

Most guests meet your restaurant on Google Maps or Instagram first. Then they look for the same few things, in roughly this order.

1. The menu. What you serve, with prices, readable on a phone without zooming.
2. Whether you are open. Late at night and in Ramadan, this question decides everything.
3. Where you are. A map pin that opens directions, and a word on parking or car service if you offer it.
4. How to order. WhatsApp, a call, a delivery app or a table request, one tap away.

Our study of 11,029 UAE restaurants found that only 13 % have a website that does this on a phone. The rest send guests to a Facebook page, a dead link or nothing.

The delivery apps question

Talabat, Deliveroo and Careem bring new guests, and they keep a share of every order. Few owners want to leave them, and there is no need to. The useful move is a direct route for regulars next to the apps: your own order button on WhatsApp, without commission. Guests who already know you can choose it, and the chat leaves you their number for the next offer.

The calculator on our restaurants page shows what that is worth with your own numbers.

What the website needs

• A menu written as text. It loads fast on mobile data, reads on any phone and can be found by search engines and AI assistants. A PDF or a photo of the printed card does none of that.
• Prices you change yourself. Lamb went up, so the mandi goes up. That should take a minute from your phone, without calling anyone.
• Sold out and today's special. One tap when the biryani pot is empty, one tap when the kofta special starts.
• Open now, also after midnight. If you close at 2 am, the website should still say “Open” at 1 am, and switch to your iftar and suhoor hours in Ramadan.
• WhatsApp, call and map buttons. Large, at the bottom of the screen, where thumbs are.
• Your delivery links next to your own order button, so guests choose.
• Your name in Arabic as well as English, and a full Arabic menu if many of your guests read Arabic first.

Photos of your food, or none

Stock photos of dishes you do not serve cost trust the moment the plate arrives. Ten honest phone photos taken in daylight do more than a hundred perfect ones from a library. Until you have them, a clean page in your colours with a readable menu does the job.

Questions