1. According to the dictionary, a restaurant is an eating place. Therefore, according to this definition, the restaurant is as old as civilization. For example, there is evidence of eating places in ancient Roman ruins.
2. Most ancient eating places were taverns .Taverns served simple meals and drinks to travelers. By the middle of the 17th century, a new kind of eating place appeared in many parts of Europe. These were cafes. At first, they served only coffee; later, they served food. Cafes become popular meeting places for writers and their friends.
3. The restaurant appeared at the end of the 18th century, in Paris. It was very different from the tavern or the cafe. It gave customers a choice restaurant had menus .For the first time, customers decided what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat .Also for the first time, customers knew how the food cost before they ate it. The menu at a typical Parisian restaurant in the 18th century might have 12 different kinds of soup, 65 meat dishes, and 50 desserts
4. Before the restaurant was born, there were different kinds of cooks in France. For example there were roaster, bakers, and dessert makers. A roaster could not bake anything and a baker could not make a dessert. This was the law. Also at this time, the word restaurant had a special meaning. It was a French word for a kind of soup .This soup was restorative, this means, it made people feel better when they were tired or sick. Eating places served the restaurant soup to customers.