Baxeo

We just returned from Seattle for a long weekend and tried a few restaurants that were recommended in the 08 Seattle guide. It was frustrating that the recommendation to try the crab salad at the 'Union' restaurant hasn't been on the menu for a few years. Also, the dim sum restaurant featuring pork buns that was supposedly a neighborhood institution (Top Gun at 668 S. King St.) was now an Asian vegetarian joint! The guidebook was however accurate with a great recommendation for the French Restaurant called Le Pichet...mmm

Fodor's could use a little advice from Rick Steves,,,check your sources if publishing a new tour book for a current year...

Caveat Emptor...

NewbE

I have to be honest, Baxeo, and say that I have found Fodor's restaurant sections to be stale for many years now. They just don't seem to update them.

For restaurant ideas, I come here, to the chat boards, and I also check the New York Times.

Sorry you were misdirected!

Grcxx3

Yup - that is the one part of the Fodor's guides that I don't pay much attention to. We once spent 45 minutes (with 2 hungry kids) trying to find a restaurant in London that my DH REALLY wanted to go to based on the Fodor's review. Turns out it had closed 2 years earlier.

LoveItaly

Well Fodor's sent me the Fodor's SF Book. I noticed immediately that they had Sears Breakfast on the wrong side of Powell St. Not a big deal but it was an error.

janisj

This is not exclusive to Fodors - when it comes to restaurants, just about any guide book is out of date the day it is published.

Just goes w/ the territory . . . .

artlover

I thought the Fodors travel book for SF was quite good and enjoyed many of the restaurant recommendations, especially L'Osteria del Forno in North Beach and Delfinas, and Sushi Ran in Sausalito, though I didn't agree with Fish (which was a Fodor's choice). I felt this guide was much more thorough than NYC guide which I was disappointed with (but Katie said they're changing that.)

I just glanced at the Seattle book when ET was here for the GTG and yes, we found Le Pichet and enjoyed it, but when enzian and I went there, we weren't too impressed with the service.

Sometimes I guess places can be "off" and we all don't have the same taste, so it's hard to really judge some of the guides.

TTess

Rick Steves? You've got to be kidding me!

TwoFatFeet

If the crab salad hasn't been available for many years, then, yes, it's time for an update.

However, as someone who has worked in publishing, including travel publishing, for many years, I have to tell you that it's difficult to keep up with restaurant menus and things that change frequently, like ticket prices, etc.

TwoFatFeet

Additionally, I guarantee that Rick Steves's books have had errors either currently or in the past. Suggesting that they don't is ridiculous.

doug_stallings

I can assure you that all guidebooks (and even the venerated NY Times) have errors when details change. That's not a problem limited to Fodor's. I hope you will and NewbE will give our restaurant choices another look, especially in our annual city books. We've been spending a lot of extra time and attention on the dining sections.

Baxeo, please email the Seattle editor so we'll know what's going on there. Our guide (which isn't updated annually, by the way, which probably explains some of the problem there) is currently being revised and can still be corrected if we are told of a problem.

LoveItaly, please send an email to the San Francisco editor so the location of Sears can be fixed in the 2009 edition; that book is also being edited right now, and there is still time to make the correction.

Aduchamp1

Someone challenged me to find errrors in Rick Steve's. I was given as a "gift" Rick Steve's Spain and found numerous mistakes. I did not inlcude hours, addresses, closings or even his impressions of restaurants and hotels and found many many mistakes. His comments and thoughts are small and his characterizations of culture are often lazy and uneducated.

IMHO
Fodor's, Frommer's-good on hotels and restaurants-small towns non-existent and cultural and history instructions have improved over the years.

Rough Guides, Lonely Planet-opinionated and edgy, good on small towns and uneven on culture and history, poor on hotels and restaurants

Eyewitness, National Geograohic-nice to look at, go to sleep

Cadagon-Very helpful and understated

Michelin Green-very well done and researched.

Michelin Red-So Francocentric as to be useless outside of France

Let's Go-Let's not if over 23 yeasrs old

jbass

IMHO I don't think it's okay to make errors just because "everyone does". Why point the finger? Why not do the research so you can be accurate. I agree that menu items can change over night; but if certain restaurants have been closed for 2 years and are still recommended - that's just laziness. Again, IMHO.

suze

I would never expect anyone's printed guidebook to be up-to-date on restaurants. Things change to quickly. Especially if you are talking a specific menu item! That's simply not reasonable to expect imo.

For restaurants in Seattle, I would have posted here on the forum and asked locals for what's current.

TwoFatFeet

jbass, all publishers "do the research". I've fact-checked travel guides before, and it is an extremely frustrating and laborious process -- calling or emailing countless hotels, restaurants, tour guides, museums, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies, etc. can take months -- and that's just for ONE city. So, it's not just "laziness."

Information about the travel industry changes so rapidly that it's impossible to be accurate forever.

Publishers depend a lot on readers to help with these kinds of small details. Whenever you find one, you should submit it to the publishers, as Doug Stallings asks.

Aduchamp1

I am guessing that guide books when purchased are at least 18 months obsolete. Between research, editing, printing and your purchase, the time lag must be extensive.

We have been traveling for almost 40 years and I am never surprsised that a restaurant ore hotel is closed nor the hours for a museum have changed.

It is unrelistic to expect perfection when guide book publishers obviously cannot control the actions of others.

suze

Baxeo~ If you want the current menu go to www.unionseattle.com

It's right there for the world to see

El_Swainer

Doug Stallings, I would like to tell you I am enjoying "Fodor's Caribbean 2008" which I recently purchased. Very well done.

NeoPatrick

I'm not sure about the guide books, but right here on their website if I look at the Naples, Florida listings it is over 2 years out of date. I even emailed them over a year ago regarding a couple of them, but still the wrong information remains.
They talk about Chardonnay as a long time bastion of fine dining. Huh? It closed about two years ago and sat vacant for nearly two years. It has now recently reopened with new owners and new name, so the entire review is totally out of date. And they still list Aqua Grill which hasn't existed for at least 2 years -- maybe three!

Katie_H

Hi Patrick---
Thanks for pointing out those two spots and for posting reviews on the two reviews to say that they have closed. We adopted a more proactive policy to reviewing user reviews this fall; these are the sort of reviews we like to catch obviously as they are so helpful in keeping the site as accurate as possible.

I've forwarded both properties to the proper department; they will be removed from the site (and the book.)

Thanks for helping us!

Baxeo

Interesting feedback. I agree with Jbas that multiple mistakes in a tour book are unacceptable especially after dropping $ 25 bucks for it.

I realize Rick Steves books are shallow but if he publishes a new book he is pretty good at researching before releasing it. (except for that time I spent 4 hours at Pere Lachaise cemetery looking for Jim Morrison's grave)

The correct answer is to use balanced sources when planning a trip (forums, books, local newpapers)