kristainlondon

To be fair, Chowhound has a bunch of international boards. I wouldn't be surprised if their demographics skew American, but it's still a good resource if you're heading off somewhere and need some tips.

EuropeanPete

Never used Chowhound - has anyone experience of using it for restaurants in Europe? Just curious...

darthbimmer

It depends on where I'm traveling. When I'm staying in an urban downtown area I generally assume that I'll be able to find satisfactory food choices nearby. I'll wait until I get there to look around and ask for suggestions. When I'm staying out in the suburbs, though, where choices are fewer and farther between and getting to them frequently requires a car, I'll check in advance when I book the hotel. In fact, I'll often use the results of my restaurant search to decide which hotel to stay at.

EmptyKim

Yelp for US locations
TripAdvisor for non-US locations

rsqrott

I always check Chowhound before travelling...I even used it before a trip to Disney World .

I used it before my trips to Cambridge UK (my only international travel of late) and it led me to the excellent Peacock's Tea Room in Ely which I otherwise would not have found.

I will also check trip advisor for ideas but always check the restaurant's website for menus to see what sounds appealing. Trip Advisor has led me to some interesting places outside of the immediate area of my hotel (like the Annabel Lee Tavern in Baltimore...a Poe themed tavern with excellent food).

RadioGirl

GoogleEarth

Find the hotel, turn on the layer for restaurants, see what's nearby, then switch to Street View to see what's actually in the neighborhood and how to get there. I do an internet search on anything interesting, looking for a website with menus, reviews, etc.

I may not end up at the particular restaurant(s) I research, but it's useful to see whether there's a decent selection and variety. Sometimes the images are several years old and a particular restaurant may have gone.

In fact, I use GoogleEarth Street View in a more general sense to see what the neighborhood is like, where the bus stop is, how to get around, so that when I arrive I'm not standing on the sidewalk staring at a map all the time. I accept some people like the experience of arriving in a new place without any preparation, but I'd much rather have a good sense of where things are.

travelmad478

I always research restaurants and local foods before traveling--it's a huge part of trip planning for me. I use Chowhound a lot in the US, but its structure and interface are so awful that it's pretty challenging to get good information without spending hours poking through threads. And outside the US/Canada, Chowhound is pretty bad--a lot of Americans who don't know very much about their destinations going to the same few restaurants over and over. Interestingly, I have had very good success in the last two years using TripAdvisor for international trips--it's got good content from locals in many places. I wouldn't have expected it, but I've eaten some fantastic meals that TripAdvisor pointed me to. I do look at Yelp also, but always with cross-referencing because I find the reviews to be extremely hit-or-miss (a lot of idiots post on Yelp). Also, Yelp's map interface is very inconsistent. For some reason simply moving the map very slightly, or zooming in/out very slightly, can give you a completely different set of results for a search--I can't figure that out.

stut

I often look at restaurants before travelling, but try and make sure they're in an interesting area too, whether that's near the hotel or not (I'll generally select a hotel in a city centre, rather than one near the office anyway).

However, I do generally ask colleagues (or suppliers - although only when I know people well enough that they don't feel the need to send me somewhere posh) for recommendations. They know me well enough now to know that I like to explore a city when I get there, so I've had some fantastic meals and recommendations out of it. Often, it's more interesting to get pointed to an area with a concentration of interesting restaurants, and pick something out myself, rather than have a list of specific places.

Most cities I stay at are doable on foot or by bicycle, others by public transport. When visiting India, some of my most memorable meals have followed a hair-raising ride on the back of a scooter.

crabbing

i start with flyertalk!

specifically, i look for restaurant recommendations in the regional subforums. i then look them, to see which places are near where i'm staying.

emma69

If I am setting up meals ahead of time, I will use a good concierge (not necessarily the one at the hotel I am booked at, I have called concierges at other good hotels in the area when the hotel I am staying at has fallen short of my expectations).

For social travel or just me meals, I will have a look online, both maps, zagat, and things like FT or trip advisor. I find it hit and miss - last year I found what sounded like a fantastic, authentic Italian place in a US city, locals raved about it. I found it shockingly bad. So I take these things with a pinch of salt - the 'best Italian' in might simply be a notch better than the other one that microwaves frozen lasagna!

Once I get there I usually go for a walk when I get to the hotel and see what there is to see and will quite often change my dining plans if I find something that looks more appealing to me.

CMK10

A mix of Google and TripAdvisor usually. Also, if Man vs. Food has been in the city I'll often go to one of the restaurants from the show. That's rarely proven to be a bad choice.

Paul56

I used an app called "AroundMe" when at the location unless
I am familiar with the area and know what I want.

KENNECTED

I use Google Maps and Opentable.

Google Maps "Street view" to explore an unfamiliar area.

Opentable to view restaurants in the area.

I also keep lists of restaurants I want to try in cities, so I always have a running list of places to dine at.

tfred

Yelp

I am usually in places in the US that I don't go to often. Yelp seems to have the best reviews available for local eateries. There are a few too high or too low in a listing but I can deal with those

TA is really for hotels in the US. They just don't have enough info on restaurants to get a clear picture

jeremylives

I have never on that, it takes the fun out of the adventure