About

A restaurant (/ˈrɛstərənt/ or /ˈrɛstərɒnt/; French: [ʀɛs.to.ʁɑ̃ ]is a business establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with a running tab. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of the main chef's cuisines and service models.


Coffee house and coffee shop are related terms for an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee and other hot beverages. Café or cafe or caff may refer to a coffee house, bar, tea room, small and cheap restaurant, transport cafe, or other casual eating and drinking place, depending on the culture. A coffee house may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffee house focus on providing coffee and tea as well as light snacks. Many coffee houses in the Middle East, and in West Asian immigrant districts in the Western world, offer shisha (nargile in Turkish and Greek), flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah. Espresso bars are a type of coffeehouse that specialize in serving espresso and espresso-based drinks.