Review #4

Due to the lack of fusion restaurants in Pittsburgh, I would have to say our biggest rivals for business would be Kaya and Habitat. Both are restaurants that pride themselves on fresh, local produce while integrating Island cuisine and twists on traditional favorites, respectively. Of course, since The Burgh focuses solely on fusion burgers, it has a bit of its own uniqueness that Kaya and Habitat do not already possess. Kaya’s website (bigburrito.com/kaya) is a bit lacking to say the least. The body is but a square in a seas of earthy brown. While its color scheme does give a feel of “island life”, it does so in a generic way with thickly textured backgrounds of palm trees. It lacks the sophisticated appearance of a restaurant that is supposed to be one of Pittsburgh’s best and disappoints with its lack of web pages, especially the menus which are just PDFS linked to the page. There also seems to be little care shown to how margins and gutters are used in regards to text and the blocks of color they are placed within. Habitat (habitatrestaurant.com), on the other hand, has a much more pleasing aesthetic than Kaya. This website has a fresh and clean looking that is pleasing to the eye and hints at the more extravagant (and expensive) dishes that they serve. The website is not the most straightforward one I have experienced. When arriving to the homepage, I was caught off guard by the lack of navigational bars and instead had to search for the “menu” icon seen in many cell phone applications. After realizing that this was the navigation bar, I could appreciate the design since the website really does focus on the food more than anything else with the menu being the focal point and otherwise unaccompanied by blocks a text. Even the “About Us” portion was only three or four snippets of short sentences. I also enjoyed the overall flow since the website is mainly one page that just scrolls vertically, except for the extended menus, such as breakfast, brunch, and lunch. Our design for The Burgh is similar to Habitat’s in that is uses a set color scheme that is clean and consistent as well as a simple layout made for easy navigation. Elements that our website shares with Kaya is that it too uses a navigation bar at the top and bottom and has separate pages rather than Habitat’s single flow. While The Burgh would potentially be less expensive than either of these restaurants, we designed it to have a similar to feel to a restaurant that is more modern and high-end than the average burger joint. Its simplicity and cleanliness is what will make The Burgh standout as a fusion burger restaurant.