If Pei Wei were a website…
…it would be perfect (in my opinion).
Many of the weblogs that I read daily discuss how easy websites are to use. And I’ve read many books on the subject as well. To me, its almost an art form to anticipate perfectly how to build something so easy to use. So since this is an interest of mine, I tend to notice things that are easy to do.
Pei Wei is an Asian diner prevalent in the Southwest. Its one of my favorite restaurants mainly for the food. However, in my most recent visit, it struck me that its designed perfectly.
To begin with, there are two entrances conveniently market for their purpose; one is for Dining, the other is for To Go. When you enter for Dining, you are presented with an aisle that leads you past three tall vertical menus which enable you to determine what you’d like on your way to place your order. It should be mentioned that as you enter, you could also take an alternative path into the seating area, but a sign encourages you to place your order first. So basically, you know exactly the order to follow.
After you move past the menu displays, you get to a twin set of registers. Over the registers is a big sign that says "Orders". And along the backs of the registers sit miniature menu displays to enable you to refresh your memory for what you had decided to order. The entrees require some choices (e.g. beef or chicken, white rice or fried rice), so its handy to have the menu right in front of you again.
If you entered through the To Go door, you would enter right at the cash register station and thereby have bypassed the standing menus. After all, you’ve perhaps called your order in and don’t need those menus. There’s a single register for you and chairs available while you wait.
Back to the Diners path. Once you’ve paid, you are given a numbered token which identifies you for order delivery. You then follow the path to the drink station where you get your ice, choose your drink, and select any utensils or straws you may require. You also can select your fortune cookie here.
Thereafter, you are now ready to find a table. Once seated, you insert your token into a wire tower so that it can be seen and you wait for your food.
You then leave through the pathway you were encouraged not to use upon entrance.
I call this pretty much a perfect restaurant design. And oh by the way, the food is awesome too.