Fonts for restaurant and café menus
Serifs, scripts and narrow display faces for menus: a heading face with character and a text face that stays readable in low light.
Today's Specials
A menu is read at arm's length, often in dim light, by someone who is also talking. That sets the brief. Dish names and prices must be readable at once, and the descriptions under them, usually the smallest text on the page, need a face that holds together at 8 or 9 points on uncoated paper.
Most menus use two typefaces. The first sets the tone in section headings: a high-contrast serif suggests a formal dining room, a hand-drawn or script face a café or a bakery, condensed capitals a bar or a grill. The second does the work. For descriptions, choose a text serif or a plain sans with open letters, and make sure its figures are clear, because the price column is where people look hardest. Old-style figures blend into a line of text; lining figures stand at capital height and are easier to compare down a column. Scripts and decorative faces should stay in headings, never in descriptions. If the menu will also be a QR-linked page, check that both fonts are available as web fonts too.
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Playfair Display
High-contrast headings with italics for dish names on a formal menu.
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Cormorant Garamond
A light, high-contrast serif in five weights with italics for headings and dish names on a fine-dining list; too thin for small descriptions.
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Lora
A text serif with brushed curves that keeps descriptions readable at small sizes; four weights with italics.
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Dancing Script
A bouncing casual script with large capitals for a section title or a daily special.
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Instrument Serif
A condensed, high-contrast serif in Regular and Italic for large section headings.
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Bebas Neue
Condensed capitals in one weight for category headings such as starters and mains.
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Yanone Kaffeesatz
A condensed sans whose Bold recalls 1920s coffee-house lettering, for headings and dish names; six weights, no italics.
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Balthazar
A sturdy small-serif face inspired by bistro and café lettering, with a lowercase and old-style figures for dish names.
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Amatic SC
Hand-drawn, very narrow small capitals in Regular and Bold for the headings of an informal, hand-lettered list.
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Oleo Script
A slanted, heavy script whose letters stay unconnected, so a section title remains legible; Regular and Bold.
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Josefin Sans
Geometric letters with a low x-height and a 1920s flavor for headings on a café or bar menu; seven weights with italics.
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Quattrocento
A low-contrast serif with wide, open letters and a generous x-height for descriptions; Regular and Bold, without italics.
Samples load a basic Latin subset of each family. Every family here carries an open license; its page states the terms and offers the original files.
Questions about fonts for restaurant and café menus
How many fonts should a menu use?
Two is the usual answer: one for headings and one for dish names, descriptions and prices. A third can appear once, for the restaurant name.
What size should menu text be?
Descriptions rarely work below 9 points, and 10 to 11 is kinder in low light. Dish names can be the same face in a heavier weight or a point or two larger.
Can I use these fonts on printed menus and signs for my business?
Yes. Open licenses allow commercial use in print, on signs and on a website. The license text is included in every download.