Written by Katie
Restaurants in touristy areas have no need to be good. They don’t rely on repeat business and they know that weary, hungry tourists won’t bother to look around too much before resigning themselves to the restaurants inflated prices. Fortunately, with some advance research and extra effort, there are ways to find a great meal, wherever you are:
Ask around. Keep in mind that certain people may stand to benefit if you eat at a particular place. Your concierge, for example, might encourage you to eat at a certain restaurant because he’s getting a cut for every customer he sends over. Instead, inquire at a non-competing establishment (for example, ask the owner of a bookstore where to get a good meal, or ask the waitress at a coffee shop where she likes to eat dinner).
Do your homework. Sites like Yelp offer user review of restaurants around the U.S. and Europe, so you can get the unbiased opinions of people who live there before you go.
Before you commit, try and get a glimpse of the patrons in a restaurant. Do they look happy or are they poking at unappetizing plates with little enthusiasm? If you’re feeling bold, you could even go up to some diners and ask them what they think of the place.
Go off the beaten path. Food in touristy locations is usually lower in quality and higher in price. Often, cheaper cuisine is only a few blocks away. Take a walk further from the major sites and save some money.
Go ethnic. Beyond just eating the local ethnicity’s cuisine (Italian in Italy), try a local eatery specializing in food from another country. Odds are a restaurant that specializes in a particular type of cuisine is going to be more reliable and consistent than one that tries to make everyone happy. If the place is packed with people of the ethnicity of the food (i.e., if all the Koreans in France seem to be eating at a particular Korean restaurant in Paris), there will be a good chance the food is tasty.
Follow the locals. They live here, they know the good spots. It’s a simple as that.
Become a repeat offender. True, travel should be about experiencing new things. But if you find a restaurant that you absolutely love, it’s okay to go back another night. You can try a new dish, but you’ll know that the quality will be good based on your previous experience. Beside, you never know when you might be able to go back again, if ever.
Before you go, ask around to friends and family and other travelers. If you travel often and hang with a crowd that does as well, you can usually find someone in your circle who has been to that destination and can offer advice.
Ask your server. Generally, even the worst places have at least one dish that do a decent job of. Ask your server and if they seem hesitant about a dish, skip it.
Use common sense. If it looks like it won’t be good, it probably won’t be. If a place smells great, give it a try.
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