Some places put on a show while you wait for your order.
There are various tropes for where characters go out to eat, anything from getting coffee to a family dinner. It could be establishing relations by giving characters a common place to gather. It could be using the place as a microcosm of the whole area (if everyone at the bar is unfriendly, so will everyone in the town). Or it could be just a place to look nice while the characters talk or set up some of the plot.
Compare Food Tropes, Beverage Tropes, Hard-Drinking Tropes, Nightlife Index.
Tropes
- Adjective Animal Alehouse
The standard naming style for taverns in High Fantasy settings. - Bad Guy Bar
Villains, thugs, and other lowlifes drink and socialize here. - Bar Brawl
If lowlifes hang around a diner, then expect a fight at the drop of a hat. - Bar Full of Aliens
where creatures of all sorts go. - Bar Slide
Using the bartop, or other long tables, as a Slip n' Slide. - Burger Fool
Places that play up the flaws in fast food places. - Check, Please!
A Stock Phrase said to get out after some restaurant shenanigans. - Chez Restaurant
"Chez X" is the standard format for high class diners. - Cosplay Café
Theme restaurants where the servers dress up appropriately. - Dine and Dash
Characters leave without paying for their meal. - Diner Brawl
Fights aren't on the menu, but they happen anyway. - Dinner and a Breakup
Taking someone out to a public dinner in order to dump them. - Dinner Order Flub
A character makes a humiliating mistake while trying to order. - Dinner Theatre
Catch a play while you eat. - Drive-Thru Antics
Someone messes around at a drive thru window. - Fanservice with a Smile
This eating place hires sexy servers. - Flair Bartending
Would you like your order with a side of theatrics? - Foul Ball Pit
Ball pits and tube playgrounds in fast food places are seen as disgusting, dangerous, and/or deadly. - Good-Guy Bar
Where the special is truth, justice, and the American way. - Greasy Spoon
Your stock roadside diner. - Kidnapper's KFC
A kidnapper pops into a fast food restaurant to get his hostage food. - Kitchen Chase
The kitchen at a diner will do for a chase when there isn't a Fruit Cart nearby. - Lethal Eatery
This eatery is loaded with health hazards. - Local Hangout
The protagonists' favorite hangout will more than likely serve food. - Malt Shop
Standard teen hangout in The '50s and other decades. - My Local
The British pub. - The Need for Mead
The standard fantasy taverns. - "Nighthawks" Shot
That eatery looks just like the "Nighthawks" painting. - No Fame, No Wealth, No Service
Fine dining, if the staff deign to serve you. - Obsessive-Compulsive Barkeeping
If the bartender isn't serving drink glasses, he's cleaning them. - Restaurant-Owning Episode
A character spends an episode running a restaurant. - A Round of Drinks for the House
A character orders a food item for everyone in the restaurant. - Service Sector Stereotypes
Stereotypes of food service staff in media. - A Side Order of Romance
A character's trip to a restaurant begins a romance arc with a waitress. - Suck E. Cheese's
A combination pizzeria and "family fun" center with creepy mascots and jerky animatronic musicians. - Wrong Restaurant
When someone orders food at the wrong place.
