Searching for a place to eat out

"Online reviews are so important that businesses have been known to plant reviews by employees, pay strangers who have never been customers to write five-star reviews, and even sabotage their competitors by the posting of harsh, negative reviews." Time

Here we are in Puglia last year trying to decide whether this particular restaurant was the one we should choose. I can't remember how but we had a couple of names to check out - maybe from the house owner's recommendations, maybe from Trip Advisor. And we did choose this one and it was great. The point is that it's not easy choosing a restaurant. In this case we had one person with seriously compromised food choices due to health, and at least one picky male. Then there's the price and the ambience to consider. But at least this was a fairly pleasurable experience. We were in a lovely part of Italy and it was a glorious evening. I mean how can you complain?

But sometimes on holiday we do complain - which is really a rich man's problem is it not? Tempers have often been frayed when choosing a restaurant, particularly when you have a lot of people. Accommodating everyone's needs and opinions can be difficult, even when there are only four of you and if you have eight or nine, as we have done on occasion, it becomes a bit like herding cats. You spend so much time checking out all the choices and arguing about them that in the end you haven't got any choice because they are all full and so you probably end up in the worst choice - all the best ones having gone.

These days on holiday we try to do a bit of homework. A combination of Trip Advisor reviews, house recommendations and footwork generally comes up with the answer, though not always. Trip Advisor is indeed a wonderful thing, but not only does the quote at the top of the page apply, but also people's opinions differ. It should be used with caution - a rough guide. And every place has the odd bad night and the reviewer might have been there on that night. Then there are expectations - some people's, it strikes me, are somewhat unreasonable - and at the risk of generalising I tend to take most American reviews with a pinch of salt. It's useful to look at these sites to check them out but it shouldn't be the only way. And when on holiday one has the opportunity to actually go and check them out before you decide.

But the inspiration for this post is the fact that we are taking someone out for dinner on Sunday. Thankfully, in a way, this reduces the choice because lots of places are closed on Sunday and also lots of places don't do dinner these days - they just do all day breakfast, or brunch. The other filters are location - somewhere around the northern fringes of the city (my husband won't go into the city), and price - and, to a certain extent the type of cuisine. We are not that keen on Japanese in this household or Chinese either, for example. Nevertheless when you start to look at Zomato and Trip Advisor you have hundreds of places to plough through.

Zomato

trip advisor

I think Zomato used to be Urban Spoon (which I think was Australian) but it was bought up by Zomato which I have just discovered is an Indian start-up. It is now in 23 countries, so must be huge. Trip Advisor is American of course. And there are others - but the problem with these sites is that they list every restaurant that anyone has bothered to review which means a huge quantity to plough through and not necessarily reliable reviews to read.

So what about the professional restaurant critics, which in Melbourne's case means the Age Good Food Guide.

I used to buy this religiously every year, or was gifted it - that and The Age Cheap Eats, but I stopped doing that a long time ago. Well we rarely go out for a meal these days and tend to stick to those that we know. This occasion is out of our local area though and so I am searching. Still searching because if you go to their website you also have heaps of places to plough through there.

Then when you decide to have a look at one from the list you go to their website (if they have one - mostly I have eliminated them if they haven't). And it's amazing how poor some of those websites are. Some of them may have used software like Wix (that I am using now), but most of them are 'designed' by professionals. Having looked at a few now I realise that one needs to know - on the front page - when they are open and where they are. And you also need easy access to the menu - with prices so that you can judge what you are likely to eat. And yes some pictures of the food and the place will also give you an idea. Then you need to be able to book - either directly online or via a telephone number. Oh and it should be attractive to look at, easy to navigate and easy to read - yellow on green does not cut it for me! And If you haven't got a website then really you shouldn't be in business - unless you can get enough business from passing trade.

I think you can probably tell I am a bit fed up with this exercise. Maybe we should just go to one of Melbourne's Eat Streets and cruise up and down until we find something that suits. The equivalent of our holiday trawls.

But I shouldn't complain at all really. My problem is too many good things to choose from, not a dearth of choices. Even on a Sunday.