25 restaurant survey questions

Customer feedback is critical to maintaining a successful restaurant. Not only does it help you understand the customer experience, but it also helps you make sure your menu options match the preferences of your target demographic.

A restaurant survey is one of the most efficient ways to gain valuable insights and improve customer satisfaction. These surveys ask customers questions about the menu, facility, service, overall guest experience — or all of the above. This information will help you further develop your business plan to keep your customers coming back again and again.

Gathering customer feedback

It’s not practical to have a face-to-face conversation with every customer who walks through the door. Instead, you can obtain their feedback through a survey. For years, restaurant owners used comment cards in the restaurant to get feedback. Now, technology offers more effective ways to gather data quickly and efficiently.

Digital customer feedback is a simple and effective way to learn more about your customer’s dining experience. For example, you might send a digital survey link via email or a text when the person receives a digital receipt. You can share restaurant survey questions on your website or social media platforms.

Asking the right questions

If you want the most useful information from this feedback, then you need to ask the right restaurant survey questions. Use a mix of open-ended questions and multiple-choice questions so customers can provide clear feedback while also having a chance to share their opinions. It’s best to limit the use of yes-no questions because the answers don’t give you actionable data.

Keep the survey to a few essential questions. When a customer feedback survey is too long, most people won’t take the time to read all of the questions. Decide which questions are most applicable to your current business needs. Then, consider rotating the questions in the future so you can get different types of feedback throughout the year.

Categories of restaurant survey questions

The simplest way to design your restaurant survey is by selecting questions from the following categories:

• General questions
• Food and drink questions
• Customer service questions
• Facilities questions

Since every restaurant is unique, no two surveys will be the same. You need to consider the unique offerings of your business to determine which survey questions will provide useful information. You can start with these ideas.

General questions

• How did you hear about us?
• How often do you visit our restaurant?
• How likely are you to return?
• How likely are you to recommend our restaurant to a friend?
• How can we better serve you in the future?
• What was your favorite part of your experience?
• Do you have any other feedback to share?

Food and drink questions

• What did you like about the menu?
• What did you dislike about the menu?
• Is there anything you would like to see on the menu?
• Was the preparation of your meal satisfactory?
• If you have dietary restrictions, did the restaurant accommodate those needs?
• How would you rate the quality of your food overall?

Customer service questions

• Who was your server today?
• Was the service welcoming and friendly?
• How did you feel about the speed of service?
• Did our staff meet your needs?
• How easy was the payment process?
• How long did it take to get seated?

Facilities questions

1. Was the music too loud?
2. How would you rate the cleanliness of the bathrooms and dining rooms?
3. Is our restaurant family-friendly?
4. Were the seats comfortable?

Facilities questions

• How was the music volume in the restaurant for you?
• How would you rate the cleanliness of the bathrooms and dining rooms?
• How family-friendly is our restaurant?
• How comfortable was the seating?
• Were you satisfied with the ambience of the restaurant?
• How accessible were our facilities to people with disabilities?

Conducting a restaurant survey, step by step

To get the most out of your restaurant survey, follow these steps. 

1. Plan out your objectives. Think about the kind of information you’re looking for and the customer insights you’ve been missing. Without clearly established goals, you might end up collecting information that isn’t helpful or actionable. Meet with upper management and other team members to carve out goals for your survey that will help you make improvements. 

2. Formulate your questions. Once you have a clear understanding of the survey’s intent, you can start planning out your questions. Feel free to use the questions suggested above, or you can ask questions that are more specific to your restaurant. Incorporate different question formats, including rating scales, open-ended, and multiple choice — this adds some variety to your survey and allows you to collect a broader range of feedback.

3. Build your survey. Now it’s time to design your survey! While we recommend going with an easy-to-use online survey that you can send out via link or embed in your website, you also have the option of printing out a physical survey. Jotform’s online form builder lets you customize your restaurant feedback form and share it with your customers in seconds.

4. Analyze results. Finally, organize and analyze your results so you can determine which aspects of your restaurant need improvement and what your action items are. Consolidating your survey data is easy with Jotform Tables, and you can even convert your data into a professional presentation with Jotform Report Builder.

Using survey results to improve your restaurant

Though you might not be able to make every customer happy, you can use restaurant survey questions to gather valuable information to improve your business overall. Plus, gathering this information gives customers a platform to share their experience before they post on public review sites.

The goal of gathering survey feedback is to identify solutions that enable you to improve the way you manage your restaurant. Watch for trends to find potential areas of improvement. As you act on this information, you can use it to help your business grow by increasing the likelihood of repeat business.

An easy way to create restaurant surveys 

Building a survey doesn’t have to be difficult. Jotform helps you streamline this process with more than 800-plus survey templates you can customize to fit your needs. Just pick a template, add your restaurant survey questions, share it with customers, and then view the reports to gain valuable insights.

If you don’t want to use a premade survey template, you also have the option to design a personalized survey form from scratch.