Ristora: Chinese Restaurant Website with Reservation & Table Ordering
About This Project
Ristora is a feature-rich website for a vibrant Chinese restaurant, built to modernize the full dining experience — online and in-venue. Customers can browse a rich digital menu with customizable options, reserve a table in advance, and even order directly from their table via a QR-code-linked web app with integrated payment. The result is a seamless, end-to-end dining experience that impressed both the client and their guests from day one.
The Problem
Ristora had no digital presence and relied entirely on walk-ins and word-of-mouth for business. There was no online menu, no way to pre-book a table, and the in-venue ordering process depended on paper menus and manual order-taking — leading to delays, miscommunication, and a slower table turnover during peak hours.
Key pain points:
- No website or online menu — new customers had no way to discover or preview the restaurant
- Table reservations only by phone, with no real-time availability visibility
- In-venue ordering was slow — staff had to physically take orders from every table
- No payment option at the table — customers queued at the counter to settle bills
- The restaurant's vibrant brand had no digital expression to attract new diners
Our Solution
We built Ristora a full-featured restaurant website and in-venue ordering web app that handles discovery, reservations, and tableside ordering in one connected platform.
Core features delivered:
- Digital Menu with Customization — full menu organized by category with dish descriptions, photos, dietary tags, and customizable options (spice level, portion size, add-ons)
- Table Reservation System — customers pick date, time, and party size to book online with instant confirmation
- Order-from-Table Feature — each table has a QR code linking to the ordering web app where diners browse the menu, place orders, and add items throughout their meal without waiting for staff
- Secure Payment at Table — Stripe-integrated checkout lets customers pay their bill directly from the table app — cards, UPI, and digital wallets supported
- Kitchen Order Dashboard — orders placed via the table app route directly to a kitchen display screen, reducing verbal miscommunication
- Brand-Forward Design — warm, vibrant aesthetic reflecting the energy of Chinese dining culture with rich food photography throughout
Our Process
Phase 1 — Requirements & Flow Design (1 Week)
Mapped both the customer-facing journeys (online discovery, reservation, in-venue ordering) and the operational flows (kitchen order routing, bill settlement). Defined the QR-based table ordering architecture.
Phase 2 — Design (2 Weeks)
Designed the public website, table ordering web app, and kitchen display screen. Built a warm, vibrant visual language with rich food photography, bold menu typography, and intuitive order flow optimized for use on a phone at the dinner table.
Phase 3 — Development (4 Weeks)
Built the public website with menu and reservation system. Built the table ordering web app with real-time order updates to the kitchen dashboard. Integrated Stripe for tableside payment and configured per-table QR code generation.
Phase 4 — Testing & Launch (1 Week)
Simulated full dining sessions end-to-end — from scanning a QR code to placing orders to settling the bill. Tested kitchen dashboard order flow under multiple simultaneous tables. Launched in-venue and handed off with staff training.
Challenges
1. Real-Time Order Routing to the Kitchen
Orders placed from multiple tables simultaneously needed to reach the kitchen display instantly and in the correct sequence. We used WebSockets for real-time order push from the table app to the kitchen dashboard, ensuring zero delay between a customer placing an order and the kitchen seeing it.
2. Designing for Dinner Table Use
The table ordering app would be used on customers' personal phones, often in dim restaurant lighting, while eating. We designed the interface specifically for this context — large tap targets, high-contrast text, a simplified order flow requiring minimal reading, and an easy "add more items" flow that didn't reset the cart between rounds.
3. Handling Split Bills and Partial Payments
Groups dining together often want to split the bill. We built a flexible payment flow that supports full bill payment by one person or a custom split where each diner pays their selected items — handled cleanly through Stripe's payment intent API.
Results
- Full restaurant website live with digital menu, online reservations, and brand presence
- QR-based table ordering live across all tables — reducing order-taking time significantly
- Kitchen display dashboard active — verbal order communication errors eliminated
- Tableside payment live via Stripe — customers settle bills from their phones
- Table turnover speed improved during peak hours with faster ordering and payment cycles
- Client described the outcome as transforming both the customer experience and the kitchen operation
Screenshots
