What Does 'Restaurant Style' Actually Mean For Tortilla Chips?

When you browse the chip aisle at your local grocery store, you might realize there are far more options than you thought. When it comes to tortilla chips in particular, "restaurant style" is a label that often makes its way onto chip bags, but what does it really mean?

When you order tortilla chips at a restaurant, they're often salty, thin, and crispy. They are sturdy enough to hold up to that complimentary salsa without being too thick, yet this chip style has a melt-in-your-mouth texture that you don't always get from standard tortilla chips. Restaurant-style chips are usually noted for these attributes, but if you ask major tortilla chip brands, it also signifies a higher-quality product than what you'd get from regular tortilla chips. 

Better-quality corn might be used, and production processes lead to a heartier chip with a better crunch. Plus, you lose the grease that sometimes comes with lower-quality options. Restaurant-style chips should also have minimal ingredients, which you can gauge on the chip brand's ingredients label. Still, it's important to note that there is no true standard for a "restaurant-style" tortilla chip, so one brand's version of the chip might vary compared to another, and whether or not there truly is a quality difference might also depend on the brand more than anything else.

Price-wise, there isn't much of a difference between restaurant-style and standard tortilla chips. A party-sized bag (17 ounces) of Tostitos Restaurant-Style chips costs $5.79 at a ShopRite in New Jersey, while standard-style Tostitos tortilla chip rounds cost the same amount for the same-sized bag. With that said, if you're being charged more for a bag of restaurant-style chips, there's a chance it reflects the quality, but it also might not be worth the price increase if other brands are charging the same amount.

If you're looking for the best-quality chip, it turns out it's a bit of a mixed bag (pun intended). When a Reddit user requested recommendations for the best thin, crispy tortilla chip (similar descriptors to restaurant style) on r/salsasnobs, the answers varied depending on personal preference. A few people called out names like On the Border's Restaurant-Style chips as well as Tostitos, while someone else said to ask the local grocery store if they make house-made chips, which might fit the bill better than a store-bought version. "Look for them near the bread or deli departments," a Redditor wrote.

In another Reddit thread, someone suggested H-E-B's restaurant chips. "Simply the best ones you can get outside of a restaurant," they wrote. Someone else said that Safeway's in-store chips also taste like they come from a restaurant. The verdict? Restaurant-style chips are thin, crispy, and sometimes better quality, but generally shouldn't cost more than regular tortilla chips.