I'm with Gamblor. That may be your experience, but in my experience McDonald's barely sneaks into the definition of "restaurant." It could certainly be mentioned in response to "What restaurants are around here?"

A restaurant would be anywhere that a group can go to have food prepared for them, and then sit down and eat it. Most gas stations don't qualify on either count.

(And incidentally I've been to some really excellent, chef-owned restaurants that don't have table service. Cajun places, mainly. Cajun seems to occupy a weird intersection between "classy" and "cheap" that no other cuisine can enter.)