What Restaurant Guests Want Today: A Dining Experience Worth Dressing Up For

What compels people to dress nicely and drive to a restaurant is no longer food, it’s the vibe.

Well, food still plays a factor, but with aura farming-obsessed consumers, what’s on the menu takes a backseat in favor of the interiors, the music, and sometimes even the performance of the staff (think Salt Bae but less cringe).

According to the National Restaurant Association’s latest outlook, despite economic challenges, Americans still want to dine out, but they want to make each opportunity count.

“For us in the industry, there’s going to be headwinds, but there are also opportunities that one can exploit to make 2025 a profitable year,” says a spokesperson for Avery Restaurant Consulting, a hospitality advisory group that works with independent restaurants across Massachusetts. “Creating an unforgettable dining experience is chief of them.”

Service Is the New Signature Dish

That is exactly why front-of-house teams are stepping into the spotlight. The best restaurants are training their hosts, servers, and managers not just on efficiency, but on empathy, that is, how to read a table, anticipate needs, and recover gracefully when things go sideways.

“When service is smooth and the team is dialed in, guests relax. That’s when they start to enjoy themselves,” said Avery’s spokesperson. “That’s when they come back.”

And achieving this level of smoothness among staff is not just the result of training. The business’s retention methods play a huge role. “Restaurants with high turnover will struggle in creating this atmosphere. You need good management and a strong team culture to create a rhythm,” the spokesperson added.

Make the Menu Make Sense

Then there’s the food itself, still the main event, but now with a heavier supporting cast. Menu design has become more intentional, with each dish serving a role in the restaurant’s story.

That also goes double for bar programs. “It’s not enough to have a few local beers and a house margarita anymore,” Avery’s spokesperson said. “Your cocktail list should speak the same language as your food, like it belongs.”

A clever bar menu can enhance the dining experience, set a mood, and encourage guests to linger, but as Avery counsels, it needs to be thoughtful and consistent, not thrown together.

Can Restaurant Consultants Help?

For restaurant owners, improving the guest experience doesn’t always mean reinventing the concept. Sometimes it’s about fine-tuning what’s already there, tightening up the service, refreshing the menu, or creating better flow between the kitchen and the floor.

For those unsure where to start, working with a restaurant consultant might be worth the investment, especially if the result is more seats filled. “A good one won’t just hand you a checklist; they’ll work with you extensively to make sure all the pieces fit together for a one-of-a-kind dining experience,” said Avery’s consultant.