Restaurant Entrances

What makes YOU choose to go into a restaurant?

Hello there,

I'm in the process of making amendments to my design proposal for my Internship work; I started to wonder what makes a restaurant entrance appealing and how can I use precedents to aid my design. So I went for a 5 minute walk around the city centre of Nottingham and had a look at entrances to restuarants to gain some research.

If you decide to go out for dinner, and decide to walk into town open to interpretation as to which restaurant you choose; pushing aside personal preference of cuisine, first impressions are vital to pulling in customers. The entrance needs to appeal to potential customers and ideally needs to give a sneak peak of the atmosphere/ambience, the product being sold normally in the form of the menu, but also showing the space to pull those customers in.

Walking up Low Pavement, Prezzo's, an Italian chain is nestled in two buildings. This bring slight confusement to the blissfully unaware dinner, so luckily there are two entrances and plenty of single. The entrance's doors are wooden framed with plenty of glazing, allowing dinners to shave a look inside and make the decision if they want to venture in to dine. Other than the building facade on the left entrance and some bridge red chairs internally, nothing really catches your eye about the entrance and doesn't make a big fuss to gain customers attention.

Carluccios is the next restaurant along from Prezzo and its entrance gives a grand impression of again another Italian chain. The symmetry of the building really helps to pinpoint and draw the customers eye to the entrance of this restaurant. The Blue signage contrasts against the white and grey facade; 

'A' framed signs also aid the persuasion of a client to choosing this restaurant over others near by. The menu is also attached to the metal framing, which I will incorporate into my design.

 At the top of Low Pavement, sits Piccolino (yes, ANOTHER Italian!) snug next to La Tasca and near Nottingham Contemporary. This building was previously a warehouse, similarly as my current project; so this is a very relevant precedent.







The windows are glazed, with no Jambs or cills; this leaves a full view into what the restaurant offers as well as allowing those inside to people watch passers by.

The entrance features decorative railings; an element of security while somewhat showing off the superiority of this restaurant. Once passed through the railings, modern door fittings are in place, which I believe nicely contrast with the exterior. There are two sets of double doors to reduce draughts into the internal space; nobody welcomes a draught when enjoying a meal!


To conclude restaurant entrances come in all shapes and sizes; they all want the audience to personally choose that restaurant and want to venture inside. Choices of materials, colours and features are evidently crucial for an inviting entrance. I also feel that the designs need to fit into the context of the site. I will take forward my findings into my final designs.

What do you think about these entrances? Do you have a good/poor examples of restaurant entrances near you?

There is a large Ferris-Wheel intervening Market Square; which if I find the time I will go on. If you're in Nottingham and want to get a birds eye view of the rooftops of Nottingham, here if your answer. 

Thank you for reading,

Take care,

Hannah