Restaurant City is a caretaking simulation game on Facebook. The core concept is similar to many of the popular games on Facebook — a customizable canvas. You start with a drab and empty restaurant, and as you level up, you expand your restaurant and decorate it to your taste. Your restaurant receives a stream of customers, and it is your responsibility they leave happy.

Once your customers pay for their food, you use that money to upgrade and purchase new items for decoration. The game takes many factors into consideration for the customer’s happiness. Everything from the quickness of the wait staff and cleanliness of the bathrooms to the decor of the restaurant and gourmet ranking of the food all add up to the satisfaction of your restaurant’s customers.

As for the customizable palette, you can decorate every aspect of your restaurant. You can choose the tile on the floor, wallpaper, tables and chairs, lanterns or candles — even the outside of your restaurant is entirely customizable!

Playfish’s level of quality shines in this game. But what it has truly nailed down better than most social games on Facebook is the level of interactivity between players. The social engagement Restaurant City captures is one of the gold standards among Facebook developers today.

Restaurant City starts with the “Circle of Friends” routine we have seen many times over in Facebook games. As typical among social games, Restaurant City opens up your cafe to your friends. You hire your friends to be waiters, chefs and janitors. As you build your restaurant staff with your friends, you are able to better serve the restaurant’s patrons. Continuing with the traditional social features, you can also visit your friend’s restaurants, take photos of your restaurant and publish them to your news feed, and even send gifts to your friends.

Restaurant City then moves to a deeper level of social interaction with the trading of ingredients. In order to create higher quality gourmet dishes for your restaurant, you need to find the right ingredients and build the dishes for your menu. But these ingredients can be hard to come by, and this is where trading comes into play. You can visit your friend’s restaurants and see what ingredients they are using to cook with in their kitchen. You can offer to trade your ingredients for theirs. Rarely are two friends working on the same menu selections, so this highly encourages social engagement between players. It is this deeper layer of social mechanics that has set Restaurant City apart from the pack. Few Facebook games come close to its level of player-to-player interaction, something that drives strong virality and stickiness.

Restaurant City has done many things right in its game design, but above all, it capitalizes on what has been proven in social gaming and takes virality to the next level. Overall, this is a fun and addictive game you will enjoy with your friends.