1. How do I earn more ingredients?
You receive a free daily ingredient for your first log in to Restaurant City each GMT day.
You also earn an ingredient for each daily quiz you answer correctly!
You can purchase a select few ingredients each day from the Ingredient Market, the ingredients available for purchase change each day at midnight GMT. To locate the Ingredient Market, when inside your restaurant click and drag the screen so that you see outside above your restaurant. Here is what it looks like:
And, you earn one new ingredient for the first ever visit you make to each friend! (This is a once only ingredient per friend, not daily.)
2. How do I earn more cash?
You earn cash from serving customers at your restaurant. However, you can also earn cash by picking up trash; and clicking on the trees around your restaurant and your friends’ restaurants to ‘bump’ them.
3. How do I hire employees and how do I fire them?
To hire one of your friends select the magnifying glass icon. Then just select the purple ‘Hire’ button of the friend you would like to hire!
To fire one of your friends, select that employee while in your restaurant view and then select the ‘Sack’ button. Note that you will be required to pay 200 cash as severance pay if you would like to sack a friend!
4. What is the advantage of leveling up a particular dish?
For each increase in level of a dish, you earn slightly more Gourmet Points when a customer has that dish. However, it is not one full point extra for each level, instead it is around an 0.2 Gourmet Point increase per level, so once you have a dish at level 2, most of the time you will still see just 1 Gourmet Point increase when serving it, but sometimes you will see a 2 Gourmet Point gain.
Also, the appearance of the dish being served improves as the dish is leveled up.
5. How do I learn and level up dishes?
To learn a dish, you need to gather all the ingredients required for that dish. Once you have the ingredients (which are displayed via the ‘Change Menu’ icon), select the ‘Change Menu’ icon and then select the pink ‘Learn’ button underneath your dish of choice. When you do this, those ingredients you gathered for that dish will be removed from your inventory, and you will now be able to serve the dish to your customers if you chose.
To level up any dish, you need to gather the same ingredients for that dish again, once you have all the ingredients required, again select the ‘Change Menu’ icon, find the dish you are wishing to level up, and then select blue ‘Level Up’ button.
After you have learnt or leveled up a particular dish and you wish to change what you are serving in your restaurant to the new dish, you need to click the picture of the dish you wish to serve (while in the ‘Change Menu’ screen). You will notice that a yellow circle then appears around the base of the dish to show that it is what you are currently serving!
6. Why aren’t my Gourmet Points increasing, even though my cash has from serving meals?
Your Gourmet Points will only increase if you are in your own restaurant when serving the meals. If you are not logged into the game, have another screen open like the redecorate screen, or are visiting a friend’s restaurant, your cash will increase for those meals, but your Gourmet Points will not. Therefore, if you are wishing to level up, leaving your screen open to your restaurant is recommended.
7. What is Popularity and what is the maximum Popularity you can achieve?
Popularity is the number shown by the thumbs up icon towards the top right of your screen. The higher this number is, the happier your customers have been, so the more customers will visit.
At the moment, the maximum Popularity is 50.
8. How do I stop my Popularity going down when I am not using the game?
If you are worried about your Popularity decreasing while you are not using the game, you can use the ‘Redecorate’ button to remove any doors on your restaurant while you are not using it. This will stop customers coming in and getting upset if you are resting your employees, or your employees need food or rest. You can also put a table, plant, etc. in front of your door(s) to stop customers coming in.
9. What happens when my employees’ health decreases?
When you employees health decreases, your employee starts to work slower. Once an employee’s health reaches zero, that employee will stop working altogether and will need food or rest before starting work again.
10. Do the more expensive stoves cook faster?
No, all stoves cook at the same speed currently.
11. How do I trade ingredients? (How does it work?)
Firstly, you’ll need to enter your friend’s restaurant and choose the TRADE INGREDIENTS icon as shown below.
You will then see the trading menu. Choose the ingredient you want from your friend and then choose another ingredient from yourself. Remember that trading only works if the ingredient that you’re trading is of the same level or higher level of stars than your friend’s.
The second way of trading is by choosing the TRADE LOCKED INGREDIENTS icon. You can request trade on any locked ingredients with any of your friends, but you’ll need to wait for his or her approval.
12. How do I lock and unlock ingredients?
If you want to save an ingredient for a future dish, and do not want anyone to be able to trade that ingredient away from you, you need to lock it. To lock a particular dish, select the ‘Change Menu’ icon and then click on the picture of the unlocked ingredient you wish to lock. Once an ingredient is locked you will see a padlock icon appear on top of its picture so that you know it is locked.
If you wish to unlock an ingredient (for example one you’ve decided you’d like your friends to be able to trade from you), again select the ‘Change Menu’ icon, and this time click the locked ingredient that you would like to unlock. You will notice that the padlock icon is removed! 
13. How do you move floor tiles and wallpapers?
To move a floor tile or wallpaper, you need to replace it with another one. The old one will appear as available in your ‘Floor Tile’ or ‘Wallpaper’ section of your Redecorate icon to be placed where you wish.
14. Why do I have some ingredients that do not appear in any of the recipes?
These are most likely ingredients that are for future, yet-to-be-released recipes!
15. Why do some of my customers have red circles with stars around their feet?
These customers are your friends!
16. What do all the icons the customers show mean?
A green thumbs up icon means your customer was happy with their meal and service.
A red thumbs down icon means your customer was unhappy with the service. The icon that is shown prior to this will tell you more.
A seat icon means that there is no available seat in your restaurant.
A table icon with a plate on it means that the table the customer sat at needs to be cleared.
An empty table icon means your customer sat at a seat where there was no table available.
An icon showing a banana peel means that your restaurant has trash on the floor that you should clean up.
A clock icon means your service took too long.
A toilet icon means that there was no available clean toilet for your customer to use.
17. What are the levels and upgrades available?
If you click your Gourmet Points bar, it will tell you how many points are required for the next level and what you will be awarded!
Level 1
50 Gourmet Points
2000 Cash
Level 2
70 Gourmet Points
3rd Employee and 300 Cash
Level 3
100 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 4
200 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 5
500 Gourmet Points
4th Employee and 300 Cash
Level 6
1,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 7
2,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 8
4,000 Gourmet Points
5th Employee and 300 Cash
Level 9
6,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 10
8,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 11
10,000 Gourmet Points
6th Employee and 300 Cash
Level 12
14,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 13
18,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 14
22,000 Gourmet Points
7th Employee and 300 Cash
Level 15
30,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 16
38,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 17
46,000 Gourmet Points
8th Employee and 300 Cash
Level 18
58,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 19
70,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 20
86,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 21
102,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 22
122,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 23
142,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 24
166,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 25
190,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 26
218,000 Gourmet Points
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
Level 27
246,000
Larger Restaurant and 300 Cash
18. I’m having issues loading Restaurant City, what should I do?
Make sure you have the latest version of flash installed. You can check what version you currently have here: http://playerversion.com . And can download the latest version from the Adobe website:http://www.adobe.com .
Clear your cache! (The Knowledge Base has instructions for this!) And re-start your computer!
Check that Java is enabled on your browser, for instructions on how to enable Java, check out this site: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/enable_browser.xml
Sometimes people have this issue when they have a lot of friend’s on their list, you can try removing some (particularly relevant if you have over 150 friends).
Check out: http://www.playfish.com/support/
Use the Support Link if all else fails!
19. How do I add my Facebook profile link under my forum name?
Go here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home Then select ‘Profile’. Copy the address that appears in the address bar, it should be something like: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?…**&ref=profile (where the *****’s are your Facebook ID).
Then go here: http://forum.playfish.com/profile.php=editprofile
Scroll until you see: “Facebook Profile Page”. Paste your Facebook Profie link there.
Select ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of the page.
If people advise you that your profile link does not work and re-directs them to their homepage:
When someone clicks your profile link, it initially tries to load it, but then re-directs to their home page. This is because your Facebook privacy settings are too high.
The privacy setting that this relates to is: http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=search
You need to set the Search Visibility to ‘Everyone’ to allow people to use your profile link to add you!
20. I think I have found a cheater, what should I do?
To report a someone you suspect of cheating, e-mail all details to cheaters@playfish.com. Ensure you include the user’s Facebook ID.
21. What are all the forum user titles I can obtain?
The forum user titles are based on your number of posts (excluding those in the Contests & Games sub-forum) and are as follows:
Newbie = 0-19
Larva = 20-49
Plankton = 50-99
Fish Egg = 100-149
New Little Fish = 150-399
Little Fish = 400-499
Clown Fish = 500-699
Angel Fish = 700-899
Star Fish = 900-1499
Adventure Fish = 1500-1999
Captain Fish = 2000-2599
Legendary Fish = 2600-2999
Magic Fish = 3000-3999
Ultimate Playfish Fan = 4000+
22. How do I view how many times I, or another person, has posted in a particular thread?
View the thread from the forum it’s in, where you see the list of thread names, total posts and total views. Click on the number of total posts which corresponds to the thread you are interested in, this will gives you a breakdown of posts per user.
23. I tried to sign up to the forum, but lost / never received my activation e-mail, how do I arrange for another one?
You can request a new forum activation e-mail here: http://forum.playfish.com/register.php?a=ver
You need to click the link in: „If you have lost your activation code or you have forgotten your username, click here to have the codes emailed to you again.“
Or, you can just go here: http://forum.playfish.com/register.php?do=requestemail
24. How should I arrange my restaurant?
You should arrange your restaurant however you find works best for you!
If you want to take a look at some great guides to help you get started check out:
General Layouts: http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=534672
General Layouts: http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=640164
Island Layouts: http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=545136
25. I purchased cash, where is it?
Any cash you purchase should arrive in a bag in your mailbox! So please check your mailbox!
Some transactions can take a little while to go through, depending on a number of factors, so please be patient if you do not receive them straight away!
26. What is the purpose of toilets and cleaners?
Once you are level 8 or above, some customers will want to use a bathroom after eating their meal. These customers will not give you a thumbs up (to improve your popularity) until they have used the bathroom.
Therefore, if you do not have an available, clean toilet, the customer will leave with a toilet icon above their head, and will not increase your popularity. Hence, having enough toilets for your customer base assists your popularity.
A cleaner will be able to clean the toilets whenever they require cleaning, hence allowing your restaurant to continue running smoothly. In addition, they can clean up trash as well (this will add to your cash, gourmet points and towards your trash trophies, as if you cleaned the trash yourself). When there are no toilets or trash to clean, they will just generally act as though they are cleaning your restaurant, by scrubbing the floor, or similar.
27. Can I gift ingredients?
No, you cannot gift ingredients. Ingredients can only be traded with other ingredients as described in question 11.
28. How do I put a picture in my avatar or signature and how do I post a picture in thread?
Please see this thread for signatures and avatars: http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=8540
Screenshot instructions are included in: http://forum.playfish.com/showthread.php?t=8540
For adding a picture in thread, take a screenshot as descibed in the above thread. Upload it to an external website such as www.photobucket.com or www.tinypic.com
Take the code from there that has the [img] tags and paste that in your thread.
Or if you just have the image link, the tags are (remove the stars):
[*img]http://addressofimage.jpg[/*img]
The address between the [img] tags must end in the filetype (i.e. ‘.gif’, ‘.jpg’ or ‘.png’).
