Charlie Trotter Topic

[WHT]

Good job totally avoiding the subject.  You're an ass, and you prove it with every post.  If only you knew what people really thought.

Oh, and http://www.blastradius.com

I think you have a bit more ass-kissing to do over in the Bobby Gold thread.  Hop to it!

I hope you get over your anger issues. You must lead a sad life!

[pixelchef]

Yea, I'm completely miserable. Sucks.

[nightscotsman]

Explain to us all what makes a great restaurant website, WHT.

Here are a couple threads that might answer your question:

Thread 1

Thread 2

[Elizabeth_11]

Well, having never visited Charlie Trotter's before, and considering myself to be of "average" website savviness, I have to say that I find the site to be just fine. A bit bland perhaps. But bad? No way! The tour section of it alone piqued my interest enough, with or without the picture of Charlie pensively grasping his face. Besides, I doubt he really needs an "oh my god" website to lure diners or sell his food....Just my humble $.02. His food and reputation already speak for themselves. Moreover, I would assume that a majority of his present or prospective customers are more than likely already familiar with the calibur of his talent and wouldn't need a fancy "buy my food!" website to persuade them to dine there.

[mikeczyz]

Well, having never visited Charlie Trotter's before, and considering myself to be of "average" website savviness, I have to say that I find the site to be just fine.  A bit bland perhaps.  But bad?  No way!  The tour section of it alone piqued my interest enough, with or without the picture of Charlie pensively grasping his face.  Besides, I doubt he really needs an "oh my god" website to lure diners or sell his food....Just my humble $.02.  His food and reputation already speak for themselves.  Moreover, I would assume that a majority of his present or prospective customers are more than likely already familiar with the calibur of his talent and wouldn't need a fancy "buy my food!" website to persuade them to dine there.

I would agree. I think the majority of people will find the website to be more than acceptable.

mike

p.s. I've got reservations for this upcoming monday evening. Can't wait to go....

[Lady T]

I'll be in on Wednesday night. It'll be fun to compare notes...dang it, that website isn't working for me either, not in 7.0.

[nightscotsman]

Well, having never visited Charlie Trotter's before, and considering myself to be of "average" website savviness, I have to say that I find the site to be just fine.  A bit bland perhaps. But bad?  No way!  The tour section of it alone piqued my interest enough, with or without the picture of Charlie pensively grasping his face.  Besides, I doubt he really needs an "oh my god" website to lure diners or sell his food....Just my humble $.02.  His food and reputation already speak for themselves.  Moreover, I would assume that a majority of his present or prospective customers are more than likely already familiar with the calibur of his talent and wouldn't need a fancy "buy my food!" website to persuade them to dine there.

I would agree. I think the majority of people will find the website to be more than acceptable.

I might agree also, but since the site is blocking my browser from actually entering the site, I really couldn't say. This is sort of the equivalent of a diner finding the door locked at the restaurant because they arrived in a Mercedes rather than a Lexus.

[Lady T]

I just called the restaurant and left word about this. No estimate on when the fix will be in place.

It is a very nice home page, I suppose...

[Elizabeth_11]

I might agree also, but since the site is blocking my browser from actually entering the site, I really couldn't say. This is sort of the equivalent of a diner finding the door locked at the restaurant because they arrived in a Mercedes rather than a Lexus.

I do agree that THAT is a problem! I was previously referring to the layout of the site itself since I apparently drive a Lexus.

[FoodMan]

Charlie has completely revamped and improved his website.  Take a look at the new site...

http://www.charlietrotters.com/

You would think that a restaurant of that level would have a better web site. If I did not already know the place this site would detract from any desire to visit. I hate to think of what the last site looked like.

The website was pretty good, informative and not bad looking. I do not think it reflects bad at all at chef Tritter, and that picture in the kitchen shows his finger on his face really and not "in his nose" !!!

That being said I think one of the best restaurant websites is the one for Daniel Bouloud.

on another note, what the heck are you people still doing using "Netsacpe" anyways????

FM

[vengroff]

I had a look through the website yesterday. It failed miserably on Safari. Checking the code, it has pretty standard cross-browser issues. The Javascipt is probably more complicated than it really needs to be. If Trotter's web programmers are decent they can easily fix it in an hour or two.

[nightscotsman]

on another note, what the heck are you people still doing using "Netsacpe" anyways????

Haven't been assimilated by the Borg. Resistance is NOT futile.

[Schielke]

Yeah, and Mozilla is the bomb anyway. This is coming from somebody who doesnt hate Mr. Gates.

Ben

[Kerouac1964]

One thing I noticed on content ~

On the Charlie Trotter's Restaurant page, the awards are mentioned, but no graphics are shown for them. Would'nt it be permitted for Trotter's to display the Mobil 5 stars logo, and all the other awards - say along the side, or even on the title page?

[Kerouac1964]

Oops!

I just noticed the pretty gold "T" picture on the left looks cocked to the left. It sort of makes things look not quite right. The bottom of the "T" isn't in parallel with the blurb of text underneath.

On a bright note, I'm glad to read his place is handicap accessable. Sometimes I've seen some famous places that are just not well thought out for the disabled diner.

[inventolux]

Netscape and Linux, fight the power, thats all I have to say about that.

As far as the CHT website goes it follows HIS style, subtle and effective and besides, youre not dining near the computer screen and to please everyones website palletes would be an excercise in impossibility.

[ballast_regime]

The Trotter's website is exactly what I would expect from a restaurant's website. If somebody is visiting the site, chances are they don't need to be sold on dining at Trotter's. In my eyes, the site's function is as a supplement, to provide additional information for an already-existing customer base (or for people who are likely to go). I can't imagine any restaurant's website, regardless of quality, convincing a potential customer to go. Surveys quite clearly show that such ancillary forms of advertising have very little impact on diners, since an average of 7 out of 10 diners use word-of-mouth, 2 out of 10 restaurant reviews, and the remaining odd-man-out is divided between four or five other options (including websites).

Much peace,

Ian Lowe

ballast/regime

[inventolux]

There can be no peace in gastroniomic discussion forums, sorry, thats just way it has to be.

[Elizabeth_11]

ballast_regime Posted on Jun 13 2003, 10:30 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Trotter's website is exactly what I would expect from a restaurant's website. If somebody is visiting the site, chances are they don't need to be sold on dining at Trotter's. In my eyes, the site's function is as a supplement, to provide additional information for an already-existing customer base (or for people who are likely to go). I can't imagine any restaurant's website, regardless of quality, convincing a potential customer to go. Surveys quite clearly show that such ancillary forms of advertising have very little impact on diners, since an average of 7 out of 10 diners use word-of-mouth, 2 out of 10 restaurant reviews, and the remaining odd-man-out is divided between four or five other options (including websites).

My thoughts exactly.

[tommy]

The Trotter's website is exactly what I would expect from a restaurant's website.  If somebody is visiting the site, chances are they don't need to be sold on dining at Trotter's.  In my eyes, the site's function is as a supplement, to provide additional information for an already-existing customer base (or for people who are likely to go).  I can't imagine any restaurant's website, regardless of quality, convincing a potential customer to go.  Surveys quite clearly show that such ancillary forms of advertising have very little impact on diners, since an average of 7 out of 10 diners use word-of-mouth, 2 out of 10 restaurant reviews, and the remaining odd-man-out is divided between four or five other options (including websites).

i don't totally agree with this. what are the sources of these surveys?

i can say from personal experience that viewing and reviewing a restaurant's website are part of my decision making process. i also don't think that i'm unique in this respect.

Edited June 13, 2003 by tommy (log)

[WHT]

One thing I noticed on content ~

On the Charlie Trotter's Restaurant page, the awards are mentioned, but no graphics are shown for them.  Would'nt it be permitted for Trotter's to display the Mobil 5 stars logo, and all the other awards - say along the side, or even on the title page?

That is an interesting question. Two things come to mind. Maybe he does not have clearance to use the logos. Or He may not have found them in a usable format. Rights and clearances can be a strange area.

[WHT]

i can say from personal experience that viewing and reviewing a restaurant's website are part of my decision making process.  i also don't think that i'm unique in this respect.

I think that because most of the people posting are local it is skewed. Having been to the place and from the area will color the judgment. But the problems I mention seem to be common to a lot of websites. Funny to here about the number of browsers that can not view it correctly if at all.

[Hobbes]

Charlie has completely revamped and improved his website.  Take a look at the new site...

http://www.charlietrotters.com/

You would think that a restaurant of that level would have a better web site. If I did not already know the place this site would detract from any desire to visit. I hate to think of what the last site looked like.

The website was pretty good, informative and not bad looking. I do not think it reflects bad at all at chef Tritter, and that picture in the kitchen shows his finger on his face really and not "in his nose" !!!

That being said I think one of the best restaurant websites is the one for Daniel Bouloud.

Just my 2 cents worth,

I do have to agree with "FoodMan" that Daniel Boulud's URL (danielnyc.com) is one of the best restaurant web sites due to its simplicity and streamlined interface (this echoing other replies what makes a good website). What makes this simplicity and streamlined look and feel is the programmers use of Macromedia Flash with its innate textural and interactive feel (ie the way text and pictures/movies fade in and out when changing from one bit of information to the next, etc). It is ergonomic if you will. The point of a restaurant's website is to get the feel (ambiance or aura) of how a guest will feel during their meal at the restaurant. As with Boulud's site I get a uniform and micromanaged designed feel, like the use of one color palate throughout the site. This makes me feel that, well now, I get this at the site so I will get it when I eat at Daniel's, that everything has been thought of. Boulud's site is very easy to traverse with info and picture abound. There is info as simply as what is on the menu to what the wine service is to the history of the restaurant to what interior design was used to how to make reservations. It is just fun to look at and really makes me want to eat at his restaurants.

Now With Trotter's site. No it is not bad at all, it a very simple site in design and function. The only real difference I see between Boulud's and Trotter's is the real lack of the use of color to unify the whole site and the lack of Macromedia Flash. That is what really hurts Trotter's site. The first thing you see on Boulud's site (besides flash) is the color design, his site glows with warmth do to the color palate. Trotter's is just there, not offensive or bad, it just is there sitting; while Boulud's wants to be explored. And hopefully this excitement (or lack thereof) in the site translates to getting the customer to go to the restaurant, to explore the restaurant like the site. I think that is the point. A restaurant of Boulud's or Trotter's reputation (or fame) needs to have a good site to boot. It gets me in the door.

But everything was not thought of at danielnyc.com. I could not view the site (like Trotter's) with Safari Browser (1.0 Beta 2 v74), had to use explorer v 5.2.

Catch later,

Hobbes

PS Another restaurant site that I think works well is Jean Georges (www.jean-georges.com). It uses the same technology and feel of Boulud's but on an even more simple and less flash scale.

[Lady T]

A partial fix is in...still can't make the "tours" work, but I can now get into the site. How's it working for other folks?

[mikeczyz]

Just got back from Trotter's. In general, I very much enjoyed the experience. It wasn't perfect tho. Most of my criticisms lie with the food. Personal preference? Maybe. On the whole, it was still alot of fun, but it costs a hell of alot. 300 bucks for one person. Anyways, I'll write more later....

mike