The objective of this study was to investigate the attitudes of restaurant managers, employees and customers towards a total smoking ban policy in restaurants. A restaurant based survey in an urban area of Kunming City, China, was carried out from May to August 2009. One hundred managers, 1,055 employees and 5,213 customers aged 15 years or above were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The percentage of respondents supporting a total smoking ban in restaurants was 17% among managers, 13.4% among employees, and 16.6% among customers. Multilevel analysis confirmed respondents who did not smoke, who were educated, and who worked or dined at a restaurant with fewer than 200 seats were more likely to support a total smoking ban. A total smoking ban in restaurants is unlikely to be supported by people involved in the restaurant business in the study area. This coincides with poor awareness of the harms of smoking.