Before I bought this I read a review on some game review site that called it "boring". It complained that you don't get to actually direct the cooking of the food or the serving or such. I thought to myself, I am going to like this game. And I was right. Your job in the game is to be management -- learn recipes, plan the menu, hire and train the staff, decorate the house -- and then the host(ess), seating tables. But you quickly learn that everything is inter-related. Customers get impatient if they have to wait long. The right decorations might help their patience but not if they don't get seated in time. If they don't get the kind of food they want they'll be upset. Cooks don't just need skill and knowledge they need decent equipment. Your decorating includes the tables in the restaurant -- how many of what kind will fit, and how will it work with what kind of customers are thrown at you? The happier your customers, the more money you make. The more money you make, the more you can improve things and workers. But it's a vicious cycle, and spending your money on the wrong thing can set you back. You really never "fail" this game, which is good, but a mis-step can make "winning" (completing all the goal stars) each restaurant take longer. Each restaurant starts with less and is harder to get up to speed. I keep coming back to this game every other month or so. It is really different than most of the other restaurant games out there.

This game is very original and not at all stressful. It's more of a "tycoon" game than time management -- very much in the style of Restaurant Empire, but a lot simpler. I really enjoyed trying to guess which ingredients made up particular recipes from all the different countries. Also appreciated all the options available to customize my restaurants. I wish there were more games like this one, less clicky and more relaxing.

I absolutely loved this game and was disappointed when I completed it. I wish there were more games like this one. It is a nice game to play when you want a game that is fun yet not too demanding. This game is kid friendly and is good for whiling away the afternoon. Getting expert on the levels is fairly easy, but the game still holds your attention.

The only thing I don't like about this game is the background music. It could be better. The rest is just great. It's one of my favourite Time Mangement Games. There are different tasks to manage, I've often replayed it and I never got bored.

Game was excellent, even after playing several times it didn't get boring or predictable.

I'm not really a fan of "managing" stores since I mostly played games which required me to serve customers directly, so I didn't know what I was thinking when I got this game. To my surprise, it turned out to be really fun. True, all I did was buy stuff, plan menus and seat customers, but it was cool; I'm still very involved in running the restaurant. The part where you have to guess the ingredients was a bit frustrating, but it feels great when you get it all right! I loved how I got to design the restaurants and how different cultures were featured. The only criticism I have is that the game is too short, and once you've got the hang of it, it isn't very challenging. There are also very few furniture, but believe me, once I started playing this, I cannot stop until I've gotten all thirty stars.

Personally, I would not have classified this game as a Time Management game. There is no timer to speak of. It is really a Strategy game. So, for anyone looking for a Diner Dash-like game, this is not it. This game is a lot of fun, though. In your restaurant, you design the table placements, decor, and hire staff. The more training the staff has, the happier the clientele will be. You are required to "learn" different recipes (meaning figure out what ingredients go into it), then you match up each recipe with the chef that has the highest skills for that particular recipe type based on the ingredients. For instance, a chef with high meat skills would be assigned recipes that have beef in them, and so on. You also get to design the kitchen, purchasing the appropriate equipment that will allow your staff to work more efficiently. It is important to manage your cash flow correctly or you could end up unable to advance in the game. At one point, I had to start over due to some errors I made early on in the second restaurant that made it almost impossible to advance. As I said at the beginning, there is really no TM part to this game. There is no rapid clicking around trying to beat a timer somewhere. Perhaps the reason this game was classified as a TM game is because the more inexperienced your staff is and the less equipment you have, the longer your customers have to wait for their food, and if they wait too long, they will leave. But once the restaurant opens for business for the day, you can't do anything to speed up the process--you sit back and see which of your choices worked and which ones need improvement. This is a very different game from the run-of-the-mill TM games and resource management games, so check it out. You'll be delightfully surprised.

As a 40+ woman I find many time-management games too childish but this one is excellent. Good graphics and an emphasis on planning & strategy as well as plain old TM makes this a winner! I've played it straight through twice in 3 days! Each full game takes 4hrs plus so good value for money.

I don't know why this game doesn't have a little fire icon next to it! I tried it because I love cooking games and out of all the cooking games apart from Burger Bustle, this is a winner. It's a mix of SIMS, where you get to choose recipes, decorations, change the floor buy paintings, experiment with cultural recipes around the world and when you play you get to sit and watch the cooks, waiters and diners all do their jobs with cooking, serving and eating! I love decorating the restaurants according to what the food is eg Italian or Chinese and choosing the recipes are really fun. It's so great they give you such a good variety. You can work on on building a restaurant or just enjoy and relax with the 5 star restaurants you have already built. It's fun!

I loved this game. I hope you make another Big Fish! It was fun. I liked how you could deocrate and serve your dishes hirer your staff! I would love more games like this I hope Big Fish makes more please! :}