Pirate themed restaurants

Pirate themed restaurants are relatively easy to decorate. Go to an antique store in any coastal area and you can find dozens of maritime items that will make the place come together. There is no need for a sophisticated menu, you just might have to come up with a few pirate phrases to liven up the names of the dishes. Most importantly, do not forget to create the right atmosphere with traditional sea chanties:

Steady as She Goes: Songs and Chanties from the Days of Commercial Sail

Cheese Restaurant (a theme restaurant)

This would be a great concept for a theme restaurant. Cheese is an essential ingredient of many dishes and deserts (don't forget cheesecakes!). You can built your menu around a few cheese staples, such as pizza, calzones and lasagna, but be prepared to impress your patrons with a wide selection of cheese, served on platters. You can also serve cheese-bread before the meal.

Chances are, people will end up liking a couple of your carefully selected items, so you can sell them at a gift shop. Cheese lasts a long time, so you will never have problems with inventory, even if you choose to carry a couple very expensive imported cheeses. There are thousands of kinds of cheese available world-wide. When it comes to decorating the restaurant, you can use vintage cheese production tools, old packaging and some whimsical farm animals (cows, goats, sheep) to make the kids happy. White, yellow and green would be an easy choice for uniforms and even furniture.

P.S. Still looking for an actual restaurant that has already implemented this idea. Let me know if you find one!

Beach themed restaurants

The summer this year curiously makes me think of a particular type of theme restaurants build around experiencing something that is completely out of reach in the area where the restaurant is located. For people who live in cold climate (that would be just everybody this summer!) beach themed restaurants would have considerable appeal throughout the year. This idea is almost too simple. All it takes is some beach-inspired restaurant furniture, life-jackets, beach balls, umbrellas, oars... I would even get some real sand. The menu is not difficult to figure out. Sandwiches, grilled meats and veggies, fruits and refreshing drinks.

A380 - Jumbojet Themed Restaurant

This restaurant is name after the A380 jumbojet, with all of its interior design based on the airplane theme. It is located in Taipei, in the university quarter. As you can imagine, the waitresses are dressed in flight-attendant uniforms. One thing is certain, this Western menu eatery does not create great expectations. Airline food is notorious for being hardly edible. What an opportunity to shine and to impress!

See also:
Aquarium-themed restaurant

Restaurant-Aquarium (Nais Aquarium)

This restaurant in Guatemala contains 15 aquariums (or, perhaps, is contained within them). The owners take great pride in their collection of species, so this more than just randomly picked sea critters. The menu features primarily traditional dishes with a slight bow towards seafood. This design idea can be very easily replicated. Just keep in mind the costs of maintaining those aquariums!


Nais Aquarium

Blind Restaurant Experience: Dining in the dark

Not that a restaurateur can completely avoid any need for design this way, but you can certainly come close to spending almost nothing on interior design if you decide to open what some people call a blind restaurant. It usually means that patrons get to dine in complete darkness. Naturally, for vision-impaired people this does not present any problems, but for the rest of us the experience is quite unique. Typically, you will be ushered into the darkness and seated. Simple rules and precautions will be explained, then you are ready for a strange awakening of senses. It is common knowledge that in the absence of visual stimuli our hearing greatly improves. But the sense of taste and the ability to enjoy the texture of otherwise mundane foods also increases!

Dining in the dark is, of course, not something that most people will choose to do on a daily basis, but if you plan to cater to both the blind community (who, obviously, can work as your waiting staff!) and the general public in a large metropolitan area, why not consider this idea? There are also additional features that you can try to introduce. Berlin's Nocti Vagus restaurant has the following list of extras: "Live music, Dark Theater, Comedy, Erotic Evenings, Creepy Story Evenings" etc.

A few restaurants of this kind (I believe that The Blind Cow was the original blind restaurant):

Dans le noir (Paris, France)
Dans le noir (London, UK)
Nocti Vagus (Berlin, Germany)
Opaque (LA-West Hollywood, CA)
O.Noir (Montreal, Canada)
The Blind Cow (Zurich, Sqitzerland)

Zetor - a tractor themed restaurant

A very strange establishment in Helsinki, Finland. This restaurant serves a typical Finnish menu in the atmosphere of old farm equipment. The word is, it started as a joke, but eventually became rather successful. I guess, the moral here is that if you manage to get your hands on a good number of objects that are old and sort of stick together in a common theme you can build a restaurant around it. Some weird nostalgic feelings will inevitably be invoked in some people.

"Mars 2112" - Space themed restaurant and bar

"The Mars 2112 restaurant is a space themed restaurant for all the family located in the heart of the Times Square district at 51 Street and Broadway. Mars 2112 is a spectacular mingling of fantasy and reality, a 35,000-square-foot, bi-level, multi-dimensional, immersive environment that catapults travelers to a completely new world."

You can see how sometimes 40% of the theme effect is achieved simply by lighting effects :) Also, finding the right seats and tables is crucial. A nice touch - soft drinks are unlimited and served in souvenir Mars 2112 cups.

T-Rex restaurant at Disney World

T-Rex restaurant is particularly interesting in its attempt to combine several themes under the umbrella of a single themed restaurant. Prehistoric environments and creatures are the broad theme of this establishment, but you have a choice of Ice Room, Coral Reef Room, Cave Room and, of course, a gift shop.

Ancient Egypt themed restaurant

This is my first post in a series of articles about possible ideas for themed restaurants. Creating an interesting environment is a great way to attract patrons, often from outside of the immediate area. It does not have to be expensive. All it takes is an original idea, a proper design and some artifacts that can flesh out the theme you have in mind.

Ancient Egypt is a fascinating topic for both adults and kids. I have been unable to find any restaurants that feature this theme, but it seems that this idea could be very easily implemented. I would be delighted if someone became inspired by this idea. Let's look at some key elements:

• Exterior and interior design must be done in warm sandy colors, with accents of white, blue, red and gold.
  
• I would suggest hard wood flooring and simple wooden furniture. You can go with wooden benches for a rather authentic look.
• There are some traditional Egyptian decorative motifs that you can easily apply on various surfaces. Use this site for reference: http://www.egyptartsite.com/motifs.html
• For accents, use objects directly associated with Egyptian culture: statues and paintings of Bastet cats, Ankhs (ancient Egyptian symbol of life and eternity), busts of Egyptian gods and rulers.
• Look for museum quality reproductions of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. You can obtain amazing objects that can be prominently displayed at the entrance of the restaurant. This will entertain the patrons and can even attract new customers. If possible invest in a few actual antiques to anchor your little museum area.
• It would not be a great idea to look to Ancient Egyptians for inspiration when you are selecting menu items for your restaurant. I would suggest to look at a variety of generally popular Mediterranean dishes. Of course, the Nile can provide a very natural sagway for fish. Consider placing a complimentary basket of bread or fresh fruit on every table when your patrons arrive.
  

Bizarre themed restaurant features hospital-like atmosphere

It rarely gets more bizarre than this. Behold Hospitalis, a restaurant in Riga, Latvia. I can only assume that Hospitalis means 'hospital' in Latvian. The name fits, because this restaurant uses medical care as its theme, with such sub themes as dentistry, obstetrics and reanimation. There is even a psyhiatric ward. This is the only restaurant on earth where you can choose to be treated as a mental patient (includes a straight jacket and "force feeding"). The menu is rather extensive: traditional European, seafood and local cousine. All served on hospital-ware with various medical instruments instead of forks and knives. To sum it all up, a very sick place!

See also:
Space themed restaurant