A popular game on the social networking website Facebook, Restaurant City, by Playfish, is a reality simulation game in which players manage their own restaurant. In addition to cooking, waiting on tables, and cleaning up after restaurant patrons, Restaurant City players can design their own buildings, network with other restaurant owners, trade key menu ingredients, and earn gourmet points.
Like many simulated games, however, playing Restaurant City takes a lot of time and patience. The speed progress of the game cannot be changed, resulting in frustration for many Restaurant City players who are ready to move to the next level. But, a little creativity can help Restaurant City players grow their restaurant business swiftly.
Earning More Cash In Restaurant City
Cash is king in Restaurant City. Cash is required for many things in Restaurant City, including changing the appearance of the restaurant, changing the appearance of the staff, and buying select ingredients. Cash is also needed to keep employees of the restaurant healthy and rested, so they better do their jobs.
When a customer dines in the restaurant, cash is earned. Other ways to earn cash in Restaurant City include:
- Clicking on the trees around the restaurant periodically. Coins will drop from select trees and deposit themselves in the player’s bank.
- Clicking on the trees surrounding the restaurants owned by Facebook friends. Like the trees surrounding the player’s restaurant, these trees will also shake money into the player’s bank.
- Selling unused items. If a player needs a quick cash fix in Restaurant City, selling items already in the restaurant can help. The price is usually less than the player paid for it originally, but can help when funds are low.
- Saving cash in Restaurant City by using the default low-level products. More expensive stoves, for instance, do not cook faster than the basic model. Upgrading items in Restaurant City will only result in enhanced esthetic value.
- Picking up trash in and around restaurants.
How To Get More Ingredients In Restaurant City
Ingredients are crucial to developing a menu with plenty of variety. And variety can be helpful when trying to earn more gourmet points. In addition to buying daily ingredients from the market in Restaurant City, other ways to get more ingredients include:
- Taking the daily quiz. Successful completion of the quiz results in an ingredient gift. A quick visit to the Restaurant City forums for the answer key is helpful if a player is stumped.
- Trading ingredients with Facebook friends. Visiting the street in Restaurant City allows players to visit the restaurants owned by their Facebook friends. Visit the inside of their restaurant to see what ingredients are available for trade.
- New players will get a new ingredient the first time they visit a friend’s restaurant. More friends are easily made in the Restaurant City forums. An entire subthread is dedicated to making friends for the sole purpose of ingredient scouting. This practice is referred to as “becoming temp friends” in Restaurant City.
Increasing Gourmet Points and Ratings In Restaurant City
Gourmet points are key in growing the business, increasing visibility and acquiring more options throughout the game. The faster a Restaurant City player earns gourmet points, the faster they ascend through the levels. There are several ways to quickly increase gourmet points:
- Increase the level of the default dishes before adding new dishes to the menu. When a diner orders a dish that has “leveled up,” more gourmet points are earned than with a default dish.
- When customers leave because there are no tables available, or because the wait is too long, the restaurant’s ratings decrease. Placing empty chairs to creating a “waiting area” can help restaurant owners avoid this.
- Because the game keeps playing while the restaurant owner is away from Facebook, dragging the door to the restaurant into the owner’s items prior to leaving the game will keep customers from complaining and employees from becoming unhealthy.
Other Restaurant City Tips and Tricks
Being a sucessful Restaurant City player requires paying attention to efficiency. Easy ways to increase Restaurant City efficiency include:
- Building island-style dining layouts that allow the waiter to move no more than two or three steps per table.
- Building a maze-style layout that force customers to take longer to arrive at a table, allowing the waiter more time to clear tables and serve food.
- Setting up a section of empty chairs so waiting patrons can immediately be seated when a table opens.
- Cleaning toilets with out using an employee by dragging the toilet to the player’s items section and then immediately dragging it back.
While there are engine cheats and hacks that work with Restaurant City, many Facebook users will report suspected cheaters. Using simple strategies to increase performance in Restaurant City will not only make the game more interesting, but will allow for long-term enjoyment of the game.
Cheating In Games 