7 tips to improve the customer experience in your restaurant

13 de May, 2025

When people visit a restaurant, they are looking for more than just good food. They are looking for an overall positive and consistent experience.

There are numerous factors and points of contact with customers that can influence their experience in a restaurant. The first is, of course, the menu and the quality of the meals served. But restaurant managers can’t overlook aspects such as customer service, speed of service, the ambience and atmosphere of the space, among others.

A pleasant and positive experience is what makes customers want to come back and recommend the restaurant to family and friends (or strangers on social media and other digital platforms).

Therefore, for restaurants to remain competitive, those in charge must build positive and consistent experiences, and they must do so on an ongoing basis, since customers’ expectations and interests can change over time.

If you own a restaurant, discover some practical tips that will help you improve your customers’ experience.

1 – Managing waiting times

It goes without saying that waiting times can have a negative impact on the customer experience.

While people without a reservation may be more prepared to wait while they don’t have a table, people with a reservation may be less flexible or patient if their table isn’t ready on time. So try to create a pleasant and comfortable place in your restaurant where people can wait. If possible, offer them a drink or an aperitif while they wait.

However, waiting time doesn’t just apply to the time people have to wait for a table, but also to the time they wait for their orders when they are already being served. And although some delays are unavoidable, there are some good practices you should consider so that meals are served to customers quickly and smoothly:

To mitigate errors in orders, employees should record them rather than trying to memorize them;
To reduce meal preparation times, don’t neglect “mise en place” (pre-prepare portions, ensure the accessibility of ingredients and use standardized recipes and procedures);
Ensure good communication and an efficient workflow within the kitchen;
If customers ask for an estimate of the waiting time, give them a realistic view.

2 – Restaurant atmosphere

People eat out for reasons that go beyond food and one of them is the desire to discover new places. As such, the ambience of restaurants plays a major role in customer satisfaction.

The atmosphere of the space should be welcoming, comfortable and engaging. And for this to happen, it’s important not to forget aspects such as:

Comfortable chairs and tables that can accommodate groups of different sizes;
Appropriate lighting, according to the time of day (more intense during the day and softer and more intimate at night);
Cleaning and maintenance of the space, which must comply with all safety, hygiene and conservation standards.

3 – Customer service

Restaurant staff are the face of the restaurant. Therefore, training them to ensure excellent service is a decisive aspect of providing a positive customer experience.

When training your team, ensure that the following messages are understood and put into practice on a daily basis:

It is important for customers to feel valued and welcomed, and for this to happen, the service must be provided with sympathy and courtesy;
Each member of staff should know the menu well enough to be able to answer any questions customers may have;
In order to anticipate customers’ needs and show concern for their satisfaction, it is essential to pay attention to what they say, but also to their non-verbal language.

In addition, as well as having a well-trained team, try to have a happy team. Employee satisfaction, motivation and involvement are reflected in the way they interact with customers.

Communicate directly and transparently with employees, share clear guidelines on what is expected of them, provide regular feedback and encourage them to give their opinion and suggestions for improvement. Also, show your appreciation for their performance and dedication.

4 – Personalizing the experience

Being able to provide an individualized experience is a key element in making customers feel satisfied, pleased and welcomed. Attention to detail and differentiation in small gestures can be decisive in creating a lasting positive perception of the restaurant.

These small details could be, for example:

Treat repeat customers by name;
Make dish recommendations based on your preferences and past orders;
Give customers a free dessert or a special drink if they are celebrating a special occasion.

5 – Complaints management

No matter how hard you try to provide an impeccable experience at every point of contact with the customer, it is likely that you will still have some complaints. There may be a day when a dish takes longer to come out, when the food was already cold or when a customer has to wait a while to get a table.

The way you handle these complaints is a point you shouldn’t neglect. Keep calm, listen carefully to what the customer has to say and try to resolve the problem quickly and professionally. You could consider offering an additional dish, dessert, drink or coffee to compensate the customer and try to minimize dissatisfaction.

6 – Collecting feedback

People won’t always spontaneously say what they think about their experience in your restaurant. However, customer opinions are a very valuable source of information so that you can understand what is going well and what needs to be improved.

Encourage customers to leave their reviews via digital channels – such as the restaurant’s social networks or Google Business Profile – and make staff aware that they can ask questions throughout the meal.

Taking customer feedback into account when making adjustments to the restaurant’s service shows that you are committed to continuous improvement.

7 – Data-driven decision-making

It’s not enough to ask for feedback, you have to translate that feedback into points for improvement and these, in turn, into concrete action plans.

Take advantage of technology to collect customer opinions in a more organized and standardized way – for example, by sending out satisfaction questionnaires. These platforms will allow you to analyze the data collected, identify problems (which may be more or less frequent) and make more informed decisions.

For example, you may notice that at a certain time of day or day of the week, orders tend to take longer to be served to customers. With this information, you can assess whether you need to hire more kitchen staff.

Even after making optimizations, continually ask for feedback and use this data to improve the customer experience more and more.

In short, investing in the customer experience is investing in the sustained success of your business. By considering all the points of contact with the customer, and ensuring a positive and consistent experience at all of them, you will be well on the way to ensuring the overall satisfaction of the people who visit you.

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