Code provided with many thanks to Keymailer
Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator is a promising cooking and restaurant management simulator which recently hit Early Access. My first thoughts going into the game were ‘What if Overcooked’ but with more complexity. But after playing through the game I can see there is a lot more to this game than that other popular party game.
Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator: a Rewarding Experience
Simulator is in the title, so you can probably guess the premise of this game. But if you’re new, I’ll sum it up. Once again, you are a rookie looking to make it in the restaurant business. Starting from a small restaurant, your goal is to create the tastiest dishes whilst running the restaurant itself. It’s a lot to juggle, but maybe you’re up for the task. If you don’t want to take the challenge alone, three additional friends can join you in your restaurant crusade in online multiplayer.
Getting Started
The game is set in the first-person perspective with familiar controls, which is standard practice for Simulator games. In the build I played, I used mouse and keyboard controls since controllers didn’t seem to be an option despite the game advertising partial control support. Maybe it’s coming later.
You can create your character from a pretty generous selection of customization options. I felt like creating an older chief with a fine moustache, maybe because I’m hitting a midlife crisis myself. Usually, I whine about how most Simulator games go for the dull real-life graphic design. Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator bucks the trend and takes on its own family-friendly look. Character sprites all seem rather happy walking around the town. Although the design looks simple, there is a warm and happy feel to the presentation, which just feels refreshing.
Making The Best Dish
I’ll walk through the introduction to Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator. On waking, you head out of your rather fancy flat to meet your mentor at the restaurant. They then proceed to show you the ropes. And boy is there a lot to take on this game. For starters, you need to clean up the place. Taking the rubbish out, cleaning the floors and replacing futures and equipment to get started. All these steps are presented in helpful step-by-step tutorials. You’re then taught how to make dishes.
This is a much more in-depth and thorough process than the simplified Overcooked experience I was expecting. You need to collect ingredients from stores outside of the restaurant. You then bring these ingredients back and manually take them out of the box to place on the counters or store them neatly in the fridge or shelves.
Time to Cook
After that you need to make the food in a fairly thorough process. The game provides you with a handy recipe, which you can tag to the bottom left of the screen to follow each step. Let’s take a simple chicken dish for example. You need to load the grill with charcoal and kindling. Light the grill. Prepare the chicken with herbs such as salt and chillies. Then grill it, and remember to turn it over when one side is done. You need to prepare the vegetables, some of which will need to be chopped and grilled. Of course, be careful not to burn anything. Then, if all goes to plan, you serve the food on a plate and take it to a serving station where your dish is given a rating.
If you make a mistake such as overcooking or forgetting ingredients, it will reduce your score, and therefore, you’ll make less money. What’s interesting is that making one dish will actually feed a fair few customers, so you won’t have to go through this process for each individual customer. But when you start adding multiple dishes to your menu you’ll need to try to keep on top of things. As well as this you’ll need to collect payment and dirty plates and clean up any mess left by customers. And so the juggling act begins.
Progression and Downtime
In terms of progression, you gradually level up, becoming more proficient with dishes. As you make more money, you can expand your restaurant and potentially upgrade to a bigger building. When the time’s right, you can invite top Gourmet chefs to your restaurant, who will challenge you to cook a specific dish. If you succeed, you will unlock more dishes and equipment to purchase. Failure doesn’t carry a huge weight as you can simply retry later if things don’t go to plan.
Another attention to detail I like is how food will rot if not stored incorrectly, as well as lead to a fine from the health inspector. There is a lot of depth to each of the game’s mechanics but also plenty of flexibility for the player to create their own restaurant. You can customize the fixtures from the furniture to the walls, even customizing the wood finish. During downtime (for me, usually when the day ends), you can explore the town and head into the local pub to play mini-games like darks or blackjack. It all gives the game a quirky sense of personality.
Final Thoughts
When I first started Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator: I honestly found this quite overwhelming. Keep in mind that I played this alone. I persevered with the game and did start to settle into a satisfying rhythm. If you have the time, I can see this being something solo players can still enjoy. With the game’s sandbox-style design, you can take things at your own pace. When I was finding things a bit too much, and not managing to keep up with multiple orders, I took a step back. After that, I only added a few dishes to my menu until my confidence grew. With all the elements to juggle, this does feel like an experience best enjoyed in co-op multiplayer.
Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator is not a pick-up-and-play arcade experience but more a game you’re taking on board for the long haul. If you’re willing to take on that challenge, I think you’ll find a deep, rewarding experience here, enhanced further if you can play with friends. For Early Access, build Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator is showing a lot of promise and is well worth keeping an eye on. Another good Simulator, this is a good start to 2024.
Kebab Chiefs! Restaurant Simulator is currently available in Early Access. You can purchase the game now and enjoy the game in development. Or, if you prefer to wait for a final release, consider wish listing it on Steam.
A free prologue is also available on Steam if you want to try it before you buy.