A lot of folks ask me how I find the places I eat, so today I want to share and show the 7 ways I find the best restaurants.
This works just as well for the city you live in or for when you move somewhere new as it does when you’re heading on vacation.
For those of you who would rather watch than read, here’s a link to the full YouTube video:
#1 The “Expert” Friend
We all have that one friend who has a spreadsheet of everywhere to go in Tokyo (broken out by sushi, ramen, etc.). This is the first place to start your research.
If you have that friend(s), embrace them and ask early and often. This may yield too much information for you, but friends like these typically want to share their coveted info with you to ensure your tongue and tummy have a great time.Â
There are two ways I go about finding this friend(s): 1) post on Instagram and ask if anyone has been to the city you’re planning to go to; 2) over time, you will uncover the friends that travel the most (and are excel-obsessed).
If you don’t have that friend, well, hopefully I can be that person for you.Â
To see what these crazy spreadsheets look like check the YouTube video above.
#2 Trusted Blogs (you like)
Finding the best places to eat is all about building up compatibility, rapport, and trust. If you find that your “expert” friend’s recommendations don’t jive for you, they’re not that helpful.
The same goes for blogs. Once you can find a blog or specific writer whose tastes match yours, this is about the best way to find places you know you’ll enjoy. Nothing is 100%, but as you build trust/compatibility with a blog or writer your odds go up dramatically.
For me, I tend to trust blogs like Eater, Timeout, and Condé Nast Traveler.
If you’re not crazy, please skip ahead. For others–like me–another thing I like to do when going somewhere new is compiling how many blogs/people bring a place up. For example, if I’m going to New Orleans and have never been there but two people I trust and three blogs I like mention the same bar, I’m going to note that (and likely go there).
To see an example of how I keep track of places to visit and how often they’re mentioned check the YouTube link and use the video chapter to go to tip #2.
#3 Google Maps!Â
Quick disclaimer, I used to be a huge Yelp fan, but over the years I’ve found Yelp declining and Google (maps) continuing to get better.
I’m not sure when I discovered this, but I basically use this trick all the time now. When you are on Google Maps in your target city, you will see popular places pop up. All you have to do is look at different neighborhoods and scroll in and out, and places with hundreds or thousands of reviews will surface on their own.
I have found some awesome places this way. Another benefit of this is the folks who tend to (not always!) rate these places are locals/people who live there. This can also backfire though as popularity isn’t always indicative of quality. One of the McDonald’s in Sao Paulo, Brazil has 4,000+ ratings, and I don’t think that’d sway me on going in.
Besides these popular places popping up, Google will also highlight “Top Rated” places. This seldom yields much for me as these places have good ratings but seldom have enough reviews.
All in all, I am a huge fan of scrolling around Google when I’m in bed thinking about a place to visit.Â
Again, to see examples of how to do this, check the YouTube.
#4 Google in Target City’s LanguageÂ
This method is good in two scenarios: 1) you really want to get a vibe on what locals think; 2) you’re struggling to find good places searching in English or employing any/all the other methods.
This idea came to me before we visited Queretaro, Mexico. I couldn’t find many blogs on places to eat there and when I Googled “best restaurants in Queretaro” or “where to eat in Queretaro” not much came up.
When I changed my queries to “mejores restaurantes en queretaro” and “donde comer en querétaro”, things quickly improved. Once you find a few blogs/sites, you can just use Chrome/your browser to translate everything at once.
If you don’t know your target city’s language at all, use Google translate to come up with your query. Google will also auto complete your query when you search so you only need to know a few words.
#5 Ask Servers/Bartenders at Places You LikeÂ
If you are eating or drinking somewhere and are really enjoying the food/drinks and/or vibe, it’s a great idea to ask your server or bartender what other places they like.
In the food industry (at dope places at least), folks are choosing to work somewhere because they stand behind the concept or love the food/cuisine. I have found several gems I otherwise wouldn’t have by employing this method.
IMO, it’s important to either ask 1) what are YOUR favorite restaurants; or 2) I really like this place. Do you know other places like this?
The first question validates their tastes and opinions. The second validates their place of work and ultimately them and their tastes again.
Regardless of who you ask, I’d always lean toward asking their favorite restaurant vs “what restaurants they’d recommend”. This is when people tend to share popular places that they themselves may not even like.
Lastly, this method isn’t foolproof. I’ve found this particularly true in the high-end cocktail scene. Each city has N number of fancy cocktail bars and they almost always tend to recommend each other. For example, in Mexico City, we love Bar Baltra but hate(d) Hanky Panky. When we asked the bartenders at Bar Baltra about their favorite bars, they invariably mentioned Hanky Panky (as well as the other bars that are often [read: always] mentioned in the same breath).Â
#6 Explore & Stumble InÂ
This is probably obvious to the non-type-A people who are great with going with the flow (read: NOT me). For those of you (us) folks who plan weeks in advance, use spreadsheets, and plan your day out by the meals you will eat, it’s important to remember it’s okay to be spontaneous.
There have been countless places I could have never found via research and only found by popping in.
One of my main rules to eat (or skip) at a place is to check the crowd/vibe. This by no means has a 100% success rate, but if a place is dead during the lunch rush it probably isn’t great. On the flip side, if you walk by a bar or a stand with a long line, people probably aren’t choosing to waste their time on bad food either.Â
Lastly, if you know you like a place and it happens to be empty at a certain time, disregard the above and enjoy having the place to yourself! This happened to us last Saturday when we couldn’t get in to our first two choices and went to the cafe we’d been the day before. It was so nice to have the place to ourselves!
#7 Airbnb Host/Hotel Concierge
This can be hit or miss. I’ve found some people genuinely care about food while others just eat to stop being hungry.
Like asking your “expert” friend or relying on blogs, you need to build trust and check compatibility here, too.
The best way I’ve found is to ask my host what their favorite restaurants are. In a perfect world, they will give you a list of their favorite places (maybe even by meal type or cuisine!) and you will have already eaten at (AND enjoyed!) some of them.
With that, you have some built in trust and compatibility. From there, you can try another place on the list. If you like it, great! Keep trying the spots on the list. If it’s a major miss, you can try another (or maybe you and your host just don’t vibe).
Final thoughts
I hope everyone has learned at least one new way to go about finding awesome places to eat. I also hope everyone will try building their first saved places/map on Google maps as it is truly a game changer.
If any of the above is unclear or you’d like to see something more hands on, please check out the YouTube video as I did demos for most of the above tips.
What ways do you use to find places to eat? What did I miss? Please let me know in the comments!