How do you pick restaurants?
 

Just reading through Access Paris guide book and am overwhelmed at the restaurants.... How many of you plan which restaurants to visit in great cities like Paris and Rome and how many of you go with the flow, ie, just go with what looks good, when it comes to eating?

I look and see how full of locals they are. If the locals don't eat there, there must be a reason.<BR>

Depends on the city. For Paris, I plan. I really, really plan. Usually try to intersperse old-fashioned bistros with new trendy food and decor temples. I review the latest entries about Paris restaurants on this site and on the Chowhound international board. I check the file on Paris that I throw articles from recent magazines into. Check various websites on restaurants I'm considering via a Google search. Reread a couple of favorite restaurant guides--Paris Bistros by Hamburger, Gourmet Paris which lists restaurants by dishes and types of food, e.g. cassoulet, Asian, etc. Double check entries in the latest Zagat for those restaurants selected for further consideration. Decide where we're likely to be at lunchtime on each day we're there. Be sure the place is open on the day, time we're planning to be there by checking opening times in the Michelin red guide. Call, fax or e-mail for reservations for those listed as requiring reservations or where reservations are recommended. Keep a list of places in the neighborhood as alternatives for those I plan to just stop at in case they're full and we can't get in. <BR><BR>In other cities or in the countryside I simply take my Michelin red guide and consult as we're about to stop. If no guide entries, we grab what's available and looks good.

I know this is the Europe forum but I hope my experience is still relevant! We recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong, Bangkok and a Thai island. Our worst meal in 17 nights was in a restaurant that is supposedly one of the top restaurants in Asia. We had researched beforehand and decided upon this one. One of our best was a restaurant on a beach, costing a fraction of the cost of the worst meal!!!<BR>Also, when we had been seated in the "top" restaurant I began to have negative thoughts about the place and considered just leaving. We only stayed because of the rave reviews.<BR>In future I will take away a couple of good guides for ideas but make my own mind up once I'm there.

pam,<BR>I'm making a new list for our trip to Paris in Jan. and admit to being a planner like Julie, for Paris anyway, where the choices are overwhelming. (Julie, I use many of the same sources that you mentioned.)<BR>I do tons of "research" beforehand, using Bistros of Paris, Gourmet Paris, Patricia Well's Food Lover's Guide to Paris (plus her latest reviews at www.patriciawells.com), Zagat, my food/wine magazines (I clip and keep a Paris rest. file), the red Michelin, Gault Millau, the Bon Jour Paris site, Chowhound, Belle France and Paris Notes, Time Out and the Forum favorites. Then I cross reference, looking for them in more than one source. But value for my euro is also very, very important, so we tend to stick with bistros or satellite restaurants (less exp. spin offs by the famous chefs) rather than the Michelin starred temples of haute cuisine. (Never dined at Taillevant or Guy Savoy). We stay under $100 for 2, preferrably $80, by always ordering from the prix fix menu (which has ranged from 21-30 euros p.p.) and a modest wine.<BR>(We save those splurges for the countryside, where the bill is half the price-just did this in Spain and southwest France).<BR>I also check opening times, coordinate dining with sightseeing. I email, call or fax for reservations, then send my restaurant list to my hotel desk staff and ask if they will call and follow up to reconfirm. Then when we arrive, we "scout" out some of the places to make sure they feel right. Avoided a big mistake last time that way. But I also keep a few meals completely open for "on-the'spot" discoveries, such as La Taverne Basque on Cherche-Midi, behind the famous L'Epi Dupin. A lovely, relaxing, pretty place filled with locals (and better meal than at L'Epi), and it's not in any of my guides, not even Zagat. <BR>So, my list is never set in stone. But for me, all this planning is part of the fun.<BR><BR>

When we are hungry, we walk around till we see a place that looks nice, or cozy, or has a nice view. We look on the menu posted outside to see if there's anything we particularly feel like that day and that's it. <BR>Sure, we've had some bad experiences, but I think the rate of success is as high as when you try to stick to recommendations from guide books. Remember, every high rated place started off one day from scratch. So hidden gems where the owner is eager to please are often better than rated places overrun by the guide book crowd.<BR><BR>On the other hand I would never make a reservation weeks in advance. What happens if that particular night you're not in the mood for a 4 course meal?<BR>But I guess every person is different.

I was looking on this site for relevant posts -- and folks are talking about dropping $100 for two people at a meal. I've NEVER spent that much money on a meal. How about " how do you pick reasonable cost restaurants for people who are on a modest budget?"

Many good suggestions above. No better guide than a personal recommendation. But let me offer a simple guide when none other is available, that I read in one of Andy Rooney's books; If a restaurant isn't crowded, there's probably a better one just up the street.

We get as many personal recommendations as we can from friends and clients.<BR>We read more than one guide book then cross reference the restaurants that sound interesting, getting as many reviews as we can.<BR>We look for "key" words, hip, cool, young, may not make it a comfortable, quiet or elegant setting, you just have to do a LOT of homework!<BR>There are some people on these threads that live in France or go there often, try to find their threads and see what they recommend. It is a good place to start.

Although I did LOTS of research about restaurants before going to Paris, I ended up taking two recommendations from the hotel's concierge and liked them as well or better than the ones I had seen recommended on bulletin boards and in guide books. <BR><BR>Additionally, two of our best meals were in restaurants in which we were the only customers. Don't know if there were better ones up the street, but these were super. And some of the biggest crowds were in places that I had seen poorly reviewed, so I don't necessarily think the policy of avoiding restaurants where there is no crowd is a sound one.

At lunch, I go with the flow, as I never know where exactly I'll be in the middle of the day - I'm not a rigid planner, and often make detours. I look for places where the menu isn't translated into other languages and where I can see and hear mainly local people.<BR><BR>I usually have a couple of places picked out for dinner before we arrive someplace. I like to try new places when I visit a place I've been to before, but I also like to return to places we've enjoyed in the past. For a 5-day stay in a big city, e.g., I'll have picked out maybe two places for dinner in advance. For the remaining dinners, I keep my eyes and nose open during the day as we tour, and note places that look interesting.

I have not had the greatest luck with guidebook recommendations for inexpensive or moderate meals. I look for cute curtains, clean floors, and a place where you can see the cooks cooking, and it never fails.

I've found a great deal of validity in Bob Brown's answer. Also, I do look to see if it's clean. And if someone I trust has given me a recommendation, that's almost as good as gold.<BR><BR>Bon Appetit,<BR>BC