Despite extensive research on staging the dining experience in a restaurant, the customer experience in patronizing ethnic restaurants remains under-investigated. It is important to note that ethnic restaurants are popular among tourists and play a significant role in meeting the demands of the food tourism industry. However, there has been insufficient relevant research to understand the potential of ethnic restaurants as a marketing tool in the tourism industry. Thus, this paper seeks to address this gap by exploring the strategies used by ethnic restaurants to stage memorable dining experiences. A narrative review approach was applied to 60 articles obtained from scholarly search engines to provide a comprehensive view of the strategies implemented by ethnic restaurants. The strategies were classified into six categories; (1) offering an authentic quality menu; (2) strengthening cultural identity through the physical environment; (3) creating harmonious ambiance; (4) using proper and suitable lighting and colours; (5) providing quality services and improving performance; and (6) collaboration projects with the tourism stakeholders. By implementing these strategies, ethnic restaurants can be positioned as a complete package in food tourism marketing, providing both authentic food and a memorable dining experience.
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