100 Survey Questions to Ask Guests at Your Restaurant + Free Survey Template

Most guests who have a bad experience do not say anything at the table. They leave, post a review, and do not come back. 

A well-timed restaurant survey changes that equation — it gives guests a private channel to share what they would never say to your server, while you still have time to do something about it.

Guests who leave unhappy rarely say so at the table. In fact, they'd rather leave a bad review than say it to you personally, as the effort is less and requires no emotional effort - said a few Reddit users. 

A well-timed survey closes that gap before it becomes a public review.

With the right kind of questions, restaurateurs can improve the overall experience and manage the amount of poor reviews that go out. 

Here are 100 questions organized across six categories: overall experience, food and drink, service, ambiance, reservations, and online ordering.

100 Survey questions to ask your guests

Here are the 6 categories of questions you can include in your restaurant survey:

General Restaurant Survey Questions

These questions cover the overall visit and guest profile. If you're asking only one set of questions, make it this one.

1. How would you rate your overall dining experience today?
2. Was this your first visit to our restaurant?
3. How did you hear about us?
4. How often do you dine with us?
5. What was the best part of your visit?
6. What was the least satisfying part of your visit?
7. How likely are you to return?
8. How likely are you to recommend us to someone you know?
9. Did you use any discounts or special offers today?
10. Would you consider our restaurant a good choice for a celebration or special occasion?
11. Are you a member of our loyalty program?
12. How far did you travel to visit us today?
13. Do you find our opening hours convenient?
14. Is there anything we could do to improve your next visit?
15. Do you have any other feedback you would like to share?

Questions to measure the food & drink experience

Food is the primary reason guests choose a restaurant and it could also be the reason that they may not come back. These questions reveal whether your menu is delivering on what it promises.

1. How would you rate the overall quality of your meal?
2. How would you rate the freshness of the food?
3. How would you rate the presentation of your food?
4. How would you rate the portion sizes?
5. Do you feel our menu offers good value for money?
6. How well does our menu accommodate different dietary preferences?
7. Were we able to accommodate any dietary restrictions or order modifications you requested?
8. How would you rate the variety of options on our menu?
9. Did the menu descriptions accurately represent what was served?
10. What was the best part of the meal?
11. What was the least satisfying part of the meal?
12. Did you order beverages today?
13. How would you rate the quality of our beverages?
14. How would you rate the value of our beverage offerings?
15. Is there anything you would like to see added to our menu?
16. Is there anything on the current menu you would remove or change?
17. How would you rate the temperature of your food when it was served?
18. Did the food meet your expectations based on what was described?
19. Was there anything about the food or drink experience you would improve?

Questions about the service

A great service shapes the way a guest remembers the experience. These questions help you understand how your front-of-house team is performing at each stage of the visit, right from when they arrive to when they leave.

1. Were you greeted when you arrived?
2. How long did you wait before being seated?
3. Was your table clean when you were seated?
4. How would you rate the friendliness of the staff?
5. How would you rate the attentiveness of your server?
6. Was your server knowledgeable about the menu?
7. Did your server make recommendations when asked?
8. Did your server anticipate your needs without being asked?
9. How would you rate the speed of service?
10. Did the service feel rushed or too slow?
11. Were courses timed appropriately?
12. Was water refilled consistently throughout your meal?
13. Did bussers clear the table between courses?
14. Did you receive fresh cutlery between courses?
15. Did a manager check in on your table during the visit?
16. If any issues arose, were they handled to your satisfaction?
17. Who was your server today?
18. How likely are you to return based on the service you received?
19. Is there anything about the service experience you would improve?

Questions on the ambiance

Ambiance is easy to overlook when you are close to the business. With the following questions, you can surface the details guests notice that your team could have missed.

1. How would you describe the ambiance of our restaurant in three words?
2. Was the space welcoming when you arrived?
3. Was the restaurant clean and well-organized during your visit?
4. How would you rate the noise level?
5. How would you rate the temperature of the space?
6. How comfortable were the seats?
7. How would you rate the lighting?
8. How would you rate the decor?
9. Were the restrooms clean and well-stocked?
10. If you require disability accommodations, was the space accessible to your needs?
11. Was our restaurant suitable for the type of occasion you were celebrating or attending?
12. How would you rate the parking or accessibility of our location?
13. Is there anything about the atmosphere or facilities you would improve?

Questions about reservations

Guests who book in advance tend to have higher expectations and are more likely to be repeat visitors. These questions measure the reservation experience from first contact to their arrival.

1. Did you make a reservation for today's visit?
2. What platform did you use to make your reservation?
3. How easy was it to book a table?
4. How long did the booking process take?
5. Did you receive a confirmation after booking?
6. Did you receive a reminder before your visit?
7. Were you able to communicate any special requests or preferences at the time of booking?
8. Were those requests acknowledged or fulfilled during your visit?
9. Did you have to wait for your table after arriving, despite having a reservation?
10. If so, how long did you wait?
11. How likely are you to make a reservation with us again?
12. Is there anything about the reservation process you would improve?

Questions on ordering and takeout

Off-premises dining is a different experience from sitting in your restaurant, and it needs to be measured separately. These questions cover the ordering process, food quality on delivery, and packaging — the factors that determine whether a takeout customer becomes a repeat one.

1. How did you place your order — online or by phone?
2. How easy was it to place your order?
3. How long did it take to complete the ordering process?
4. Was the online ordering system easy to navigate?
5. How long did you wait for your order to be ready?
6. Was the staff courteous during pickup or delivery?
7. Did your order arrive on time?
8. Was your food at the right temperature when it arrived?
9. How would you rate the freshness of the food in your order?
10. How would you rate the taste of the food?
11. Was the packaging intact when your order arrived?
12. How would you rate the food packaging overall?
13. Did the order match what you selected — correct items, correct quantities?
14. Is there anything about the takeout or delivery experience you would improve?

Additional open-ended questions worth including

Structured questions tell you where the problems are. Open-ended questions tell you why. Include one or two of these in your default survey to capture the context that rating scales miss.

1. In your own words, how would you describe your experience today?
2. Is there anything we did particularly well that you would like us to continue?
3. Is there anything that would have made your visit significantly better?
4. Would you like us to follow up with you about your feedback?
5. Is there anything else you would like to share?

Here's a sample restaurant survey you can reference.

Restaurant Survey Template

Use This Template

Many of us find the usual static surveys boring. Enter conversational surveys. Echo is a customer service AI agent that can ask follow-up questions automatically, and really figure out customer perceptions.

With conversational and automated surveys like this, your guests will no longer find surveys boring. 

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Conversational surveys typically tend to boost survey responses and create pleasant experiences. Most of your restaurant customers will complete your survey as they would be pleased to take surveys that are conversational in nature.

These surveys are different from the long, boring forms you’ve seen on the internet. SurveySparrow provides you with a simple drag-and-drop interface and a free restaurant survey template.

If you want to boost your survey responses and create pleasant experiences, take the conversational way and try SurveySparrow today!

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Best practices for restaurant surveys

1. Send it at the optimal time

Your guests may be exhausted to respond to your survey after dining in. Some may skip it altogether. So you need to capture feedback at the moment. Find the right time to send a feedback survey, possibly during billing, which is when your guests are more likely to take your survey.

2. Keep it short

A key way to avoid survey fatigue is to keep your surveys short and crisp. Long surveys can exhaust your guest and refrain them from providing feedback in the future. 

3. Stay neutral

Avoid using biased questions. Many businesses unintentionally make the mistake of phrasing the questions in such a way that steers guests towards a positive response. 

For example, a biased question looks like this: "How much did you enjoy your meal?"

A more neutral and better version to not skew response data is: "How would you rate your meal?"

This gives your guests equal room to respond honestly in either direction. Biased questions can produce inflated scores that will not reflect reality.

4. Ask one question at a time

Avoid combining two separate points into a single question. "How would you rate the quality and presentation of your food?" asks two things at once. 

A guest who loved the presentation but found the quality disappointing has no way to answer accurately. Keep each question focused on a single aspect of the experience so the responses are clear and the data is usable.

Final thoughts

Restaurant surveys help you understand how your restaurant customers feel about your services.

When done right, these surveys can help you improve the experience your customers have at your restaurant and grow your restaurant faster. We hope this article will help you create an effective restaurant questionnaire.

SurveySparrow's conversational survey format turns a standard questionnaire into something that feels closer to a natural exchange. Questions appear one at a time rather than as a wall of scales, which produces higher completion rates and more considered responses.

You can distribute your restaurant survey via QR code on the table, receipt, or menu (through email, SMS, or WhatsApp), or collect responses in person using SurveySparrow's offline mode, which stores responses on any tablet or mobile device and syncs automatically when connectivity is restored. This makes it practical for locations with unreliable WiFi, such as outdoor dining areas, pop-up events, or remote venues.

All responses feed into a single dashboard, where you can track sentiment over time, filter by category, and identify the patterns worth acting on. 

Explore a hospitality feedback solution like SurveySparrow for your restaurant.