16 Restaurants

A restaurant  is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal. Meals are generally served and eaten right inside the place, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services.

 Modern restaurants are dedicated to the serving of food, where specific dishes are ordered by guests and are prepared to their request. The modern restaurant originated in 18th century in France. A restaurant owner is called a restaurateur, the word is from French. Professional artisans of cooking are called  chefs, while preparation staff and line cooks prepare food items in a more systematic and less artistic fashion.

History:

In Ancient Rome existed a special place called thermopolium. It was small restaurant-bar which offered food and drinks to the customer.

Types of Restaurants:

Restaurants  can range from fastfood or street stalls which serve simple food in simple settings at low prices, to expensive and luxurious restaurants like CAFE IMPERIAL in Prague serving refined (uhlazený/kultivovaný) food and wines in a formal setting. To some of the restaurants the formal clothes are needed.

Typically, customers sit at tables, their orders are taken by a waiter, who brings the food when it is ready, and the customers pay the bill before leaving. In finer restaurants there will be a host or hostess to welcome customers and to seat them. Other staff waiting on customers includes busboy (pomocný číšník) and sommelier (sklepník/odborník na víno).

Restaurants often specialize in certain types of food, for example there are seafood restaurants, vegetarian restaurants or ethnic restaurants. Generally speaking, restaurants selling food characteristic of the local culture are simply called restaurants, while restaurants selling food of foreign cultural origin are called ethnic restaurants: Chinese, Italian, Indian etc. We can also have very special types of restaurants: railway restaurant cars which are, in effect, travelling restaurants.

Restriction: 

Depending on local customs and the establishment, restaurants may or may not serve  alcohol. Restaurants are often prohibited from selling alcohol without a meal by alcohol sale laws.

Restaurants Guides:

Restaurants guides rewiev restaurants for food and other things like handicap accessibility. The most known guide in Europe is guide called MICHELIN (from one to three stars).