“What Should I Order?”Using Apps To Have Your Best Dining Experience
What to Look For: tips for choosing restaurants or meals based on review apps
I recently have been to a couple restaurants, and have had almost all positive dining experiences/food experiences while with friends AT THE SAME restaurant who had not-so-positive food experiences.
While that does suggest some restaurants are highly uneven in their offering of dishes, I have found that most restaurants have their “signature” dishes and that is what you should stick with. But if they do NOT have a signature dish, what else should one do?
I am here to offer a couple of tips for how to get the best food experience at any restaurant, by using Yelp and a couple other suggestions.
These are all my own opinions - if you have other suggestions, let me know in the comments below!
Check Yelp (or other review sites such as Google Guides, Franki or Atmosfy) - these sites help you see, hear and read about user experiences to make the best choices possible for your meal. Yelp is my go-to standard because it includes photos, videos AND detailed reviews along with tips, but any of the ones above will help you in your decision making.
Always look at the most recent reviews - this is a tricky one. In Yelp, you can sort by most recent (or “newest”), and I highly recommend that. Often the most “popular” review can be dated, or mention dishes or drinks that are no longer offered. Find the most up to date comments to make your determinations.
I also highly suggest (shameless plug here) sorting by Yelp Elites or Google Local Guides. Often, Yelp Elites know what to look for in good dishes and drinks - they write reviews often! Even if a review is good, there may be some suggestion within that can help steer you towards one dish over another. Same with Google Guides.
Added to that, the more reviews someone has done, the better. If you come across a review (on any platform) where the reviewer has literally only done one or two reviews, I always approach those with caution. There may be a specific issue we don’t know about that the management is already addressing. You may see several reviews all around the same time from people that have never reviewed anything and suddenly have terrible things to say about a restaurant. Be aware, and read all the way through, using the tips I mention above.
That also means, the more reviews that say the same thing over and over, you can bet it is close to the truth. If four Yelp Elites across twelve months say to steer clear of a dish (or restaurant), or the wait times are atrocious, you can see trends that haven’t been addressed by management. Be aware.
Conversely, if multiple reviews - recent, by elites, and others - all say “get this dish” or “get this server to help you” - pay attention to that!
A recent example - I visited a restaurant I had been wanting to try with a friend who was in town. I went with the dish that several Elites mentioned in their reviews, and it was PHENOMENAL. My friend chose a dish not mentioned hardly at all, and it was, while not terrible, mediocre.
So you might say, but I don’t WANT the signature or what everyone else orders - I want to be different and order what I WANT. Okay, fine. One more tip below:
I would then highly recommend you check any review site and search THAT dish - again, you can do that on most sites. See what people are saying (elites and anyone else) and look at the photos so you can at least have an idea what to expect. If they are not saying anything, then you may want to ask the server if that is a popular dish or what they prefer. Sometimes servers can give you a clue about what might be a good (or better) option.
This happened when I was at a restaurant with some friends. I had been sharing with them some of the top dishes mentioned on Yelp before we left for the restaurant, and told my friends, it seems like they are known for THIS or THAT. Well, those are the items I ordered. And they were delicious. One friend ordered dishes based solely on her eating habits, and was highly disappointed. When I looked up the dishes later, they were not only negatively reviewed, but some reviewers (with similar palates) offered alternate suggestions. Had my friend opted for one of the suggestions, she probably would have left happier.
Unfortunately, there ARE times (especially in current times) where restaurants will be uneven in their offerings. By utilizing the tips above, I was able to arrange dinner for several nights when I was recently in Vegas with friends - they left the dinner planning up to me (no pressure lol), and everyone at least said to my face they were happy with the restaurant choices. That meant we were able to discover some hidden gems off the LV Strip that we might not have otherwise tried. I will go into detail on that in another post.
Do these tips guarantee 100% success every time? Absolutely not. But, after many years exploring places and meals, I feel confident you will have a great experience (or near to it) using these suggestions. What are some of your tips for finding great dishes? Leave me a comment below!
So, to wrap it up - want to have the best dining/drinking experiences? Use the tools available to you, or entrust a friend to do it, and be wise in your selections. Then enjoy!
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