Hi, this difference is meaningful what you eat drink and do in the place - BAR is usually fast taking a coffee/ breakfast however, what you can do there largely depends on the place (get 5 minns coffee and write your book 4 hours...), also consider that actual trend is to transform setting so that you can read books and listen to the music. Some prefix also indicate the place is specialized - Ice bar, Lounge bar, Molecular bar (very small) fine? - Now Café is like a Bar, but sort of classy place, intellectual artists find there and talk... it's usually set in the city centre/ crowded square; in Café's you can usually get high quality pastry (bar quality is lower, so this might be the most important difference?) - Restaurant literally, just place for eating: dating, groups - lower quality Restaurants, for workers or cheap eating are called Taverna and Trattoria. * Taverna sounds old style, places where people used to get drunk, hire a woman and kill each other.. - Birreria, Pub and Taverna are synonyms for night pubs also with live music. Hope it helps -------------------- EDIT Important: names today are used in suggestive way, "Good old times" is a business, you know. Café - French name for coffee bar - I suppose it used to be any bar, now it means sofisticated place / high prices Taverna used to mean low level, now might mean that you eat traditional in a place not strictly formal The exterior aspect / location, would clarify what kind of place really is. Bye

Maybe I didnt' undestand exactly your question. Do you want know how we call a place where you can drink something, like a coffee? in this case we call it BAR, caffetteria; At the restaurant we go to eat for dinner or lunch. I hope my answer is usefull for you

I understand that this is confusing because, expecially in tourist areas, many bars started to serve food. There is no neat difference. We have Bars (the places that serve mostly coffee), Pubs (the places that serve mostly beer), Tavola Calda (quick, inexpensive food, restricted choice of food), Restaurant (slower, generally expensive food, larger choice of food). Sometimes the place that early is the morning serves coffee and at lunch time serves food is called Bar/Ristorante. The world "Tavola Calda" is less used nowdays. Generally most bars can serve at least a sandwich in tourist areas. In conclusion, there is no strict rule. We simply ask to places that look like a bar if they serve food as well and what type of food (sandwich, home made etc).