It’s largely down to the lighting levels. It’s well known in the fast food industry that if you want people to eat fast and get out, you turn up the lighting levels. People feel instinctively uneasy about eating in a brightly lit environment. Some posh restaurants, where they want customers to feel at ease, can be quite gloomy by comparison.
You mean they don’t just turn the lights down so you can’t tell what you’re eating and therefore can’t complain about it?!
Back when I was a wee Missy, my parents would treat us, very very rarely, to McDonald’s. It was in a town that was about 10 minutes from our town, and it was considered a “rare treat”. McDonald’s (and others of its ilk) will therefore ALWAYS be a restaurant to me.
What? When we got TV dinners, that was a huge treat too!
Sure they’re restaurants. But we do refer to them as “quick”, as opposed to “sit-down”: “I’m hungry. Do you want to grab something quick or go to a sit-down?”
My kid picked up on that as a toddler not as an indication of food, but of his expected level of manners. A “pay-before-you-eat” meant that he had to be fairly civilized while eating, but could probably look forward to wandering around after his meal as long as he didn’t bug anyone else, and if he was really lucky, they had a playground for him. A “pay-after-you-eat” means you have to be very good. We used McDonalds as a training and testing ground for Restaurant Manners. Figured if you piss people off at McDonalds, fuck 'em, they’re eating at McDonalds.
There were two further distinctions of the pay-after-you-eat as he got older: Sugar on the table when you sat down or not. No sugar = *really *boring, and they probably don’t even have crayons.
Yes, of course, if we’re talking classification of what kind of business they are, I think they belong in the larger category of restaurants, and then in a subcategory of their own.
If we’re talking about whether I would consider them “restaurants” in the sense of “going someplace for a meal” (i.e. both experience and sustenance) as opposed to “I’m hungry and a sandwich would do” then I don’t consider them “restaurants”.
Sunspace the Bonanza chain is not quite as defunct as you think. There are several of them in Saskatchewan.
True, though I wouldn’t call the hot dog vendor on the street corner a “restaurant” even though it’s also a place that serves food. If it’s an enclosed permanent building, it’s still a restaurant to me.
Burger King tried this, too, back in 1993 when I was working there at the time. There was a lot of excitement and fanfare about it and test marketing seemed to indicate that it was ready to roll-out full scale, but after a month or so sales dropped off and after about four months or so the whole thing was mothballed.
No they are not restaurants.
And neither are cafés, those lovely places with a dozen tables and an open kitchen.
A restaurant needs a hidden kitchen, absence of counter service in the main room, and no TV.
Well, I guess techincally they’re restaurants, but it’s not what I think of when I hear the word “restaurant” (though after reading this thread, the word is starting to lose all meaning to me). They’re fast-food places.
And my first date with DangerDad was at a hot-dog place, which may possibly be even lower on the heirarchy than a McDonald’s. It wasn’t a cart, though; it had barstools and a roof.
Then my local Hardee’s is a true restaurant. The kitchen is in the back and cannot be seen by a customer; the counter can’t be seen from the main room as the view is blocked by a divider made up primarily by the soda & condiment vending machines, and I don’t know of any fast food establishments around here that have TVs. TVs are in bars and homes.
To me, a restaurant serves food; has tables to sit down to eat it; and the food is the main attraction. Speed of service or method of getting food from kitchen to customer is not a factor. Location of kitchen is not a factor (Benihana’s kitchen is part of your table and couldn’t be less hidden). I wouldn’t call a hotdog cart or a vendor’s booth at a fair a restaurant because neither have tables and they are probably not the primary reason you are there.
For that class of establishment I just call them by their name.
I commented recently on the inappropriateness, IMO, of even chain restaurants like IHOP calling their locations “stores”. If you serve food to people and think of establishment as a store, like a Pep Boys or Rite Aid, there’s something wrong.
When I was in grade school they taught you to spell the word ‘restaurant’ as sets of letters rest-a-u-rant sounding like rest-all-you-want.
Since then I have always considered a restaurant a place where you can sit, eat, and rest for as long as you care to.
So since Subway doesn’t enforce a policy to kick you out as fast as possible I guess they qualify. IMHO anyways.
Perhaps it’s a different chain, but we still have Bonanza restaurants around here. I’ve not been to one.
If I have to queue up to order and then take my food to a table, it’s not a “restaurant”. At the very least “restaurant” implies table service.
It’s a type of restaurant (fast food, buffet, sit down), it’s more like a cafeteria.
A while back I started a thread on how to tell the difference between a type I restaurant and a type II.
A type I has menus at the table. A type II has the menu above the cashier.
In a type I a person transports your food on a circular tray. In a type 2 you transport your own food on a rectangular tray.
Type I: “Avec pomme frites?” Type II: "You want fries with that?
I’m suddenly reminded of a failed Taco Bell experiment (circa '97) called “Border Bell.” It was an attept at a semi-nice Taco Bell that served a bit of their regular menu, and some higher-end stuff. The building is now back to a regular 'Bell on El Camino in Mountain View.
How much table service? Complete? Order-to-cleanup?
We have a wonderful, homey, upscale establishment nearby called the “Bluefront Cafe”. Not cheap, not fast. You order at the counter, pay, pour your own coffee, sit down and eventually you get your food delivered by a waitperson. And unlike some cafeterias, you don’t bus your own table afterwards.
I think it is a good compromise. I’m sure they save some time when they don’t have to come to the table for your order. If you have a question about some items, like sides or drinks, they can point to the glass case. Yet you can help yourself to coffee refills at any time.
I think the management would be quite upset if you said they weren’t a restaurant.
Similarly here in NW Ohio at a small village there is a sandwich and soup restaurant where you queue to order, then sit down and have it brought to you, on a circular tray.
And is a Carl’s Jr. a Type I or Type II if you order with a menu above the register, but sit down and have the food brought to you?
Folks, a restaurant is a building with tables in it that serves food. There are different types of restaurants, including fast food restaurants. Get over it. 
I consider fast food chains as restaurants. Just that they specialize in quick meals for busy or lazy people.
Sure you would not take a girl out on a proper date to Macdonalds or have a business lunch in KFC but people do sit and eat there between classes or errands or after they went to a bar.
I agree. Anyplace that primarily serves prepared meals qualifies as a restaurant. Starbucks does not primarily serve entire meals, nor does a hot-dog vendor on a street, but any fast-food chain does.