What is the difference between a bistro, diner, cafe, trattoria, and restaurant?

The Price

. . . Usually not much

Letters

Good answers guys.

Well, they’re all restaurants.

A diner. I usually open long hours and usually have a California menu, which means you can order breakfast, lunch or dinner at anytime. Diners are designed to be more affordable and quick, get ya in get ya out service.

A Cafe is restaurant that is designed for serving just coffee and beverages like that. They might have a few little snack foods that go with the coffee. People usually spend a lot time there chatting and drinking their coffee. They more low turnover then diners.

Trattoria is an Italian style restaurant that more like a diner, with the casually service and affordable food.

Bistos is also like diner. Quick affordable food. They usually have European fair.

They’re all ‘eateries’, but the name will give you an indication of it’s theme, formality, price, menu and opening hours. Café‘s and Bistro’s being more prone to serve a la carte all day, whereas a restaurant typically has a breakfast/lunch/dinner menu.
A Diner (at least to me) is typically American themed (Captain America is the first example that comes to mind), a Trattoria Italian, and a Café French….these are kinda loose, but there can be those differences too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bistro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trattoria