Hey, this is Robert on this English podcast. And today we're talking about types of restaurants. I'm sure you guys go to restaurants every now and then. Let me know in the comments if you do, and which ones do you like to go to? So there are various types of restaurants, and if you are learning English as a second language, you might want to know the names or the types of these restaurants, because when your hunger takes over, you literally go blind, right? So you don't want to be doing that and not knowing where to go. So let's get started with the types of restaurants. So here are the common types of restaurants in most cities.
The first one I go with is fine dining. Fine dining restaurants offer diners, which is the people who dine an upscale meal experience, often compromising several courses for example salad, appetizers, entrees, dessert, etc. These types of restaurants try to create a stylish atmosphere that speaks of elegance, exclusivity and class fine dining establishments can operate as a franchise for broader appeal or as a single location to increase their sophisticated image.

But be careful. If you go to eat in one of these restaurants, you might come out actually hungrier than before. You might have to go home and knock yourself a sandwich because fine dining often means very little, very tiny, sophisticated food.
Next one is casual dining. Casual dining types of restaurants usually share the following characteristics the customers are served at their table.

Food offerings are moderately price. Atmosphere is low key, so you don't need to worry about dressing up or keeping your voice down when you're speaking. Decor is often unique and based on the type of food served. As a general rule, casual dining restaurants fall between the fine dining and fast casual on the fancy spectrum. Okay, so next is fast casual.

Fast casual restaurants cater to customers who are looking for fare that is relatively quick, yet at the same time healthier than fast food and more affordable than a casual dining establishment. As such, fast, casual types of restaurants offer quality food counter service as opposed to table service and a more casual, contemporary style and decor. Next, we have Ghost restaurants, a ghost restaurant also known as virtual restaurant, delivery only restaurant, online only restaurant or dark Kitchen, is a food service business that serves customers exclusively through phone orders, online orders are both, in a virtual restaurant, as the name rightly suggests. The majority, if not all of the business is conducted via computer, tablet or smartphone. A ghost restaurant doesn't have a traditional storefront with decor, signage and a large dining room. Instead, this new business model only requires a kitchen and delivery drivers. Then we have family style types of restaurants.

A family style restaurant is similar to the casual dining model mentioned above with one single difference: servers deliver the food in large dishes and customers then serve the food for themselves and pass it to other diners at the table. These types of restaurants often have a more relaxed atmosphere than the fine dining and casual dining models and cater to families with children or groups of friends.

Then we have fast food. Of course, everybody knows that fast food is the most widely recognized type of restaurant, thanks to franchised chains like Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, etc. Fast food restaurants attract diners because of their price, convenience and speed. Because of this focus, ingredients in fast food restaurants are usually preheated or pre-cooked, though not always. Food is then delivered over the counter or through a drive thru window, and customers seat themselves.

So there you go. Fast food, fast food, fast pay, fast collect, fast eat. Next we have food truck, cart or stand. Food trucks carts or stands are unique modern businesses that normally...