In my experience, it's becoming harder and harder to track down nice places to eat when on vacation. Foodies fill up the internet/review sites with their feedback. Most of the times these are unrealistic expectations. I'm sorry that your local mom & pop diner doesn't have the same level of service as that that Michelin 3* restaurant you went to in Paris. They are not the same thing.

I'm a normal person. I do not obsess over my every dining decision. I want decent food & decent service. That's what a restaurant is supposed to provide. I don't care about the presentation, or the much more ambiguous "dining experience".

How do YOU find it?

It's never been easy to find good food on vacation, and I blame it on resort locations catering to the least adventurous palates. When I travel I want to say what locals eat, even if it is not what I eat at home. Unfortunately, what I often get is Sysco garbage.

Ask the front desk clerk or the guy you meet on the street what their favorite place is.

Look for a restaurant that looks busy.

Don't eat resort food.

I will regret posting this but ask the lower level employes where you are staying. Be it a resort hotel or cruise. You have make it clear you want local cheap food. The best noodle shop I found was hidden a block from a Mandiran Oriental in Japan.

Depends on where you are and their policies. At one hotel in Italy I swear the clerk must have directed us to his brothers place- absolutely disgusting. On our last trip to Paris the hotel said they could only recommend from a handful of restaurants on their approved list. We have however also been given great advice, so you never know

Am sorry Doc, but I disagree. The concierge would only recommend safe places, places that they think the majority of the traveling public would enjoy. Here in Paris for example the GV would recommend (locally Chez Andre, or Chez Francis) they serve mediocre traditional french food. Nothing exiting in their menu. But it pleases the traveler. I once asked the 4S in NY why they do that and the answer it is basic food.

And it is tricky the restaurant that is busy, it has to be busy with the locals. And depending on the area as well. I went to a resto Volney that has been touted for its food, it was busy (lots of biz people, it is in a biz area) but I really didn't find it THAT interesting. Now down the street from me is a great little bistro that yes is full of tourist but locals as well. So be wise.

As for all the reviews, I really don't follow them, since I don't know if we have the same taste. I go by friends recommendations. Here in Europe people travel internationally a lot. So you get some good advice.

To find good places that locals eat at, you can look on Yelp. Tourists don't seem to use it.

Also, if you have the time and feel like meeting someone new, you can meet someone (a local born and bred is best) for coffee on couchsurfing and pick their brain for places to eat. But be sure to buy their coffee


I don't ask (anymore) the front desk clerk where to go because they might send you to their brother/cousin/friend's place. Asking a random person might work but my preferred method it to go to a cell phone shop or similar and ask someone there to recommend a place.

Obligatory story: We were visiting the Canary Islands and spent our last night in Santa Cruz on Tenerifa. We wanted seafood so asked at the front desk and were told to eat at the place around the corner. We walked down there and it was a tourist trap. Across the street I saw a cell phone shop and went in there to ask for good seafood. The clerk told us that he could not recommend anything in Santa Cruz and instead to head to San Andres. We took his advice and found an amazing and inexpensive seafood restaurant.

A busy restaurant might be a good indicator or it can just be the new trendy place that isn't all that great.

I will definitely agree with you to not eat resort food.


This is really good advice.

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Places like Chowhound, FT & even Tripadvisor (in descending order) are useful resources, but there's a huge risk of "group-think" and herd mentality by relying on the same sources.

We all have different tastes and there can be no single definitive ranking.

Starting from the premise that "food is fuel" helps. As long as it makes the engine run smoothly then anything else is a bonus. I do not travel for food.

I avoid chains and focus on the local cuisine. I am a big fan of street food. I prefer restaurants that are mid-sized and look like they've been there for a while. I look for places that are busy but not crowded. I will not wait hours in line just to dine at an eatery with a good reputation among the foodies and Trip Advisor crowd.

If I check Trip Advisor or Yelp it is usually after I visit a place for the first time and measure my experience against what everyone else has to say. I don't care to have my expectations set by anonymous posts on the Internet. I have found places that are gems that no else cares for and highly-rated spots to which I wouldn't return. YMMV.

Check out Tyler Cowen's An Economist Does Lunch for some great advice on this.

Absent a special meal or a place I know about, we typically peek in windows, look at menus, and do a bit of online checking. Fortunately, I've not stayed at many "resort locations" and haven't frequently been subjected to such limited options.

As to the OP, 90-some percent of people are not "foodies" and eat "non-foodie" food, and I'd bet that some of it is quite good.

There is a resto in NY that I really wasn't impressed by. When I tried to reserve for 6 they said they were full, they only had a table for 4. So we took it. Going in is like going into a boudoir, the food was mediocre and there were so many tables empty the WHOLE evening. Whole evening. Yet if you read the reviews on TA or yelp you'd think this place is incredible great.

And I went twice there with people from Ft. Both times we were disappointed.

So review don't do it for me. I think the people who reviewed it have never eaten in a good resto, least a 1 star.

Well, don't obsess over it. I ignore those comments, but try to look for more reasonable ones. I also do things like look for lines of locals lining up waiting for a place to open or read reviews in papers. But a lot is really just filtering the comments.

A busy place? Olive Garden is a busy place.

Seriously, though, I think serious foodies have lots and lots of resources at their disposal. And not just the big name crowd sourced sites like Yelp. They have other friends they trust. Specialty sites that aren't bogged down with reviews of Cheesecake Factory and Chik-Fil-A.

I see why a desk clerk suggests a boring place. Someone who asks them really may not be a foodie. Send someone like that to a foodie place and they might not like it because it's much to unfamiliar and not like back home.

Front desk clerk/bellboy/gift shop lady, etc., NOT necessarily the concierge.