'Brasseries' may serve food round the clock, whereas 'restaurants' usually only serve at set intervals during the day. Others are called 'brasseries', a term which indicates hours of service. In France, for example, some restaurants are called 'bistros' to indicate a level of casualness or trendiness, though some 'bistros' are quite formal in the kind of food they serve and clientele they attract. Outside North America, the terms fast casual dining restaurants, family style, and casual dining are not used and distinctions among different kinds of restaurants are often not the same. Fast food and takeaway (take-out) outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants. In British English, the term restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table service, so the 'sit down' qualification is not usually necessary. Sit-down restaurants are often further categorized, in North America, as 'family-style' or ' formal'. Most commonly, 'sit-down restaurant' refers to a casual- dining restaurant with table service, rather than a fast food restaurant or a diner, where one orders food at a counter. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a retronym for the older 'standard' restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one ate while seated, typically served by a waiter.

The clock menu