adj. Of or relating to a restaurant that offers a slightly higher quality of food, service, and atmosphere than a fast-food restaurant.
2001
Besides bumping up a notch from fast food, the fast-casual restaurants, including chains such as Chipotle, Panera Bread Co., Qdoba and Noodles & Co., offer up more atmosphere.
1995 (earliest)
ZuZu's concept is 'fast-casual,' a restaurant-industry term that means more service than fast food but less than a sit-down restaurant. Customers order menu items from the counter, and their food is delivered to their table when it's ready.
Not to put too fine a point on it, ZuZu does it right. That is to say, ZuZu serves food we love, despite the fact that it is clearly health-Mex, rather than Tex-Mex.