Facts for Kids

Long ago, people ate outside the home too. In Ancient Egypt, around 512 BC, a public place served a simple dish to many customers. In Ancient Greece and Rome, small shops called thermopolia sold ready-made food to people who had no kitchen.

Traveling inns offered food and a bed for guests in many places. In China’s Song dynasty (about the 11th–12th centuries), restaurants grew more like ours: they had choices on a menu and waiters who helped customers. Later, Japan’s tea houses and European cafés and taverns added more ways people could eat out.

A restaurant is a place where people pay to eat food and drink that is cooked for them. Restaurants are a kind of business, so they hire cooks, servers, and sometimes hosts who greet customers. Many meals are eaten right at the restaurant, but some places also let you take food home or send it to your house by delivery.

Restaurants come in many shapes. You might see a quick fast-food restaurant that serves burgers and fries, a family diner with homey meals, an ice-cream parlor for treats, or a very fancy place with tablecloths and special dishes.

In the late 1700s in Paris, places began calling themselves restaurants. One early dish was a warm broth called bouillon, thought to restore the body. These places were different because they had a printed menu with choices and waiters who served each table.

By the 1780s some restaurants became quite fancy, with trained staff, long wine lists, and many cooked dishes. After big events like the French Revolution, more cooks opened public places to feed people, so the idea of a sit-down restaurant spread across Europe and later the world.

Waiter is a word you hear a lot in restaurants. Most places have tables where servers take your order and bring food. Some restaurants are different: at buffets or school cafeterias you carry your plate and choose food yourself. Long ago, inns and early eateries often had no menus and people sat at common tables to eat together. In the Song dynasty in China, some servers even sang orders to the kitchen and helped customers with special tastes or diets.

A special kind of meal is at the chef's table. This table sits inside the kitchen so guests can watch cooks work. The head chef makes small plates called a tasting menu, often with a theme. These meals can require a minimum number of people and cost more because they are a unique, planned experience.

You can group restaurants by the food they serve, where the food comes from, or how they serve it. Some serve only vegetables, some are seafood places, and some specialize in a country's cooking like Italian or Korean. Service styles vary too: small plates called tapas, counter service where you order at a window, or a buffet where people serve themselves.

Restaurants also differ by speed and price. There are quick meals from trucks or fast-food shops, family restaurants for everyday meals, and fine dining for special occasions. Some restaurants only deliver food and have no dining room—what kind would you try first?

Restaurant history shows how food travels. In the late 1700s, places in cities began to sell meals to people who did not stay overnight, like coffee or oyster houses. The word