Rick's food suggestions

Short answer? No, but there is no way to tell that any recommendation meets whatever standard you have for a restaurant and what you want to eat or how they serve you.

I will look at places listed in the guides, but I usually find a place that seems to meet my expectations. I usually see his picks as some of the better known, but not tourist trap, places; then some smaller, local, places that his local guides have turned up, nearish to his recommended hotels.

I travel as much for food as the sights, I look at his picks, then also look at curated sites like TimeOut and Eater. I generally avoid user review generated sites, like Tripadvisor and even The Fork, there seem to be a large number of junk reviews, and the most popular places are not always the best.

I also like to look for food blogs, either locals, or known travelers. You can look through the blog, see what type of places they recommend, and if your tastes click, then the picks can be really good. YouTube also has a number of video blogs, for Spain for example, James Blick has loads of great picks, I have been happy with every place I went with his recommendation.

But all that is just trying to find recommendations that have a better chance to match your personal tastes. A fantastic place for me, may be a "meh" or terrible for you, basically nothing to do with the restaurant, it's all on you. I also just make a "possible" list, rarely a commitment, I pretty much have to see the place and the current menu with my own eyes before making a final decision.

Can you trust most of his suggestions, or do you have to be more
careful?

You can trust that the tour guide that gave RS the name thought it was a good choice for his/her tourists. Doesn’t mean you will like it.

For a few of his recommendations, I've noticed that other sources and
blogs have also recommended those specific recommendations to the
point that I can feel confident that that place will be good.

Often, but not always, a restaurant that keeps popping up on travel blogs is a tourist restaurant. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but something to consider.

But, his other recommendations don't have the same praise by other
sources so can you trust those recommendations too?

It’s a crap shoot isn’t it. Do your homework and roll the dice.

And, is there a easier way to find out which of his recommendations
are really good instead of googling each individual recommendation?

No. Cause your “good” may not be my “good”.

No. Cause your “good” may not be my “good”.

Best answer, IMHO. If we all liked the same stuff, we'd have nothing but same-same, right? We've never chosen a restaurant from any guidebook 'cause along with the "your good may not be mine" thing, I figure they're probably overrun by other tourists with the same guidebook. And some lousy choices were recommended by locals so that strategy doesn't alway work either. We've just decided never to let a less-than-wonderful meal ruin a pretty wonderful adventure! So far, so good. :O)

What makes a place good for you? You have to consider what his criteria are for recommendations. He is not looking for the "best" four-star food or big name chefs in any given city. His recommendations are focused on small, mom & pop type places, with decent local food, that are in a location that is near the attractions you're visiting, or near the recommended hotels. That is, location is the prime criterion for both hotels and restaurants.

Some people infer that he is a "foodie" from his shows, because he talks about food and wine a lot. But I think thats because he thinks food is important to the local culture. Not because he's always looking for a gourmet experience. I think that is why he recommends some places but also promotes your finding your own gems. Its only a guide, not a guarantee.

And, of course, places change over time, and while his tour guides may check on places to see how things are going periodically, part of their assignment is to check out new places.

I always go the the restaurant’s website and look at the menu and prices. If they use many spices which I don’t like or list items I have to Google, we’ll skip it.

We were watching Somebody Feed Phil in Lisbon and 2 of the places he ate at were those small, expensive tasting menu restaurants. We will on occasion splurge but I read the menu and didn’t know what half the items listed were. Also, on one website one mentioned they do not want any tipping, but go on to say they have a 22% surcharge per bill, interesting, but a skip.

The main issue with dining recommendations is that, depending on how long ago the recommendation was made, the food can be completely different than what was recommended.

I have seen several places with great recommendations that have gone way past the good by date. Meaning the restaurant had been living off its accolades and the chef/owner just doesn't care any more. One example (not a Rick recommendation) had resorted to providing microwaved TV dinners and trying to pass it off as home cooked Italian food! Several places have closed without warning that I attempted to visit. Others have changed format from one type of cuisine to something completely different.

But for the most part over the years, Rick's recommendations are good.

As alway, Buyer beware.

Americans are or can be extraordinarily finicky which often shows through here. Rick is a good baseline to go by. I haven’t been disappointed with RS advice and often discount some more shrill recommendations or criticisms from Americans.

Europe is not a perfectly coifed amusement park….you’ll find memorable, ok, good, mediocre and awful dining “experiences”. Revel in the adventure!

. . . and of course, the more blue-book-toting Americans that show up, the less "non-touristy" a place becomes.

Over the years, the "very best" recommendations we have received during our travels in Europe (and sometimes elsewhere, too) are from the front-desk staff at hotels. I would typically describe what we are looking for.....relaxed atmosphere, good food/good value...and I mostly "finish" my question with: "Where do you like to go?" And, if that particular person does not dine out much, "where do you hear has been very good?"

We received a recommendation for the most wonderful deli for breakfast/lunch in NYC, the most wonderful restaurant right across from our Rick Steves' hotel in Italy, a great tapas place in Spain, and on and on. We typically have a larger meal for lunch, and then something lighter for dinner.

Just like you know the good spots close to where you live, they know the same for their locale..

I've ended up in one or two Rick-recommended places over the years without realizing it until later, and they were fine, but my focus when traveling is sightseeing, so my restaurant choices are driven by proximity to where I am at the moment and to my hotel. I map places recommended on this forum--and occasionally elsewhere--before a trip. In doing so, I take note of the rating that pops up in Google (which I think is from TripAdvisor, but I'm not sure). If the rating is under 4.0, that's a hard "No" for me unless I'm in such an obscure area there's no reasonable alternative. I have the same rule when I choose a place blindly as I'm walking around; I check the Google rating as well as the menu before entering. If a place has gone seriously downhill recently or has become a scam joint, that should be reflected in its rating.

I like to limit my choices to places rating at least 4.4 or 4.5 and have usually felt I got good value; you just have to understand those places cover a broad range--they could be fairly expensive white-tablecloth restaurants, sit-down spots with good home-style cooking or order-at-the-counter places whose ratings are based partly on their being inexpensive.

I think the advice often offered here--that a serious restaurant not leaning heavily on a microwave will not have a really broad menu--is accurate. A quick look at the length of the menu has allowed me to screen out some places that didn't seem to be preparing all their food in-house.

We don't ever look at Rick's recommendations, but only because my husband has a system that has worked perfectly for us (maybe for nobody else!) for 23 years. Yes, as acraven says, we do sometimes accidentally end up at one of his restaurants and have liked it. We do look at photos of the food and cross off places that make the food look fancy ---- doing this quickly eliminates a lot of places for us. I also enjoy reading the bad reviews because they are so often about things we don't care about, or else ridiculous outrage including "I didn't even eat here!" and "They said they were full but we could see lots of empty tables!" --- it's helpful to find out why a restaurant that looks really good to us only has a 4.3 rating.

I don’t rely on the RS restaurant recommendations. Some are good but some are just conveniently located with average food.

Where are you going? I find better recommendations from other sites. For example, Time Out and Hot Dinners are good sources for restaurants in London. If you can list the places you are visiting, people might be able to make recommendations

I tried following the locals, figuring they would know the good places. But I got tired of eating at KFC and Burger King.

You really have to define what you want. Local, general, fast, quality, cost, cozy, formal. You can find it all in most large cities (even in Eastern Europe ... yea!)

Oh, and sure, if you go to Prague you got to try some of the local delicaies. But also remember you are in a major European capital. If you didnt take advantage of that, it would be like going to NYC and only eating hotdogs or Chicago and only eating pizza. My city has amazing Georgian food, Iranian food, Thai food, French food. And for those of us who come from small town America the opportunties are endless.

Like Maggie, I rely on suggestions from locals starting with the people at my hotel's reception desk. In fact, I've never gotten a bad recommendation from them. I figure if it's in a travel guidebook, it's overrun with tourists.

I remember passing a restaurant in Venice at one time and looked inside. Almost every table had the "Blue and gold" guidebook on it. I ate somewhere else.

Just for fun. Do watch the whole thing, but first skip ahead to 7:49 minutes into the video ... : https://youtu.be/17ollavKuNM?feature=shared I wish we could still use emoji's imagine ROFL multiple times. Wait! Here! https://em-content.zobj.net/source/microsoft-teams/363/rolling-on-the-floor-laughing_1f923.png

YES to asking a local or the hotel staff for recommendations.. it’s usually great advice

Turn the question: Would you trust travel recommendations of a michelin star cook?

"Maybe" depends on which one.

I went to a very local (Budapest) party a few months ago. A birthday party. The wine was served from recycled 2 liter coke bottles. The appetizers were dang good sushi and the Main course was KFC.

I think I would have the same answer to this question about both restaurants and lodging. On my first trip, it was comforting to have adequate food and lodging vouched for. After that, I felt like I could make my own decisions based on my own research and criteria. I don’t particularly feel like trusting Rick for restaurant recommendations - i feel like his suggestions are safe, but maybe I want something else.

These days, I tend to look at, and evaluate, mostly reviews on Google Maps. After some practice, I can usually tell what reviews to weed out and which ones place more value on what is important to me. And since I travel with data, I no longer feel the need to have it all planned out before I leave on my trip. I might choose based on where I am when I am hungry or when I have exited a museum, or in the morning before I leave, or the day before. But I am also not someone who travels for food - I enjoy good food while traveling, but it rarely changes anything else about my schedule. Sometimes I lose, but mostly I win.

I will say, if I ask my hotel for a recommendation, I want to be very specific. Otherwise, I feel like I get very safe, and somewhat expensive, suggestions. If I can be specific, I get results that are better for me.

I used to spend a lot of time researching restaurants in the cities we were visiting.

Either the places were too expensive or we didn't like the menu's once we got there. I finally realized I was just wasting time.

We often will ask our hotel front desk the most popular places to eat. And we're not above eating American fast food either. We're not hung up on eating the local foods.

But I still find it strange to eat Chinese food in Florence. And Berlin is full of Vietnamese restaurants--and not so many German restaurants. We found that KFC was the busiest restaurant in Dresden.

TripAdvisor is looked down upon by many "experienced travelers," yet we've found that a restaurant that ranks highly there usually has very good food. Google reviews also let you see where the reviewers come from, which helps as well in identifying local vs. nonlocal reviewers. I don't mean to diminish Rick Steves's (or anyone else's) suggestions, but the real-time reviews of many users seem more contemporaneously reliable to me.

All in all, I've gotten better results using TripAdvisor and Google than most other sources. As for "avoiding tourist places," guess what? I'm a tourist. I want to get the local tastes (generally), but avoiding other tourists isn't really high on my priority list.

Its really an impossible task for a travel guide to say a restaurant is good or bad. It was most likely good when Steves visited, but then its like a year before the book gets published and things changed. We don't use Rick on any of this. There is a simple rule though. Find any family run restaurant, two streets off the main path, that the locals eat at. We've asked many a hotel clerks, "Where do you go to dine?" And have never been disappointed. Just know as a custom, that the locals do "OWN" this place. You are the "Guest," so your table might be the end table.

jphbucks i use TA and Google a lot too. But you have to do your own filtering. Its like with hotels, the Number 1 hotel on TA could just as easily be a 3 star as a 5 star. So it only means the number 1 of the 3 star hotels. Same with restaurants. The number 1 might be a dive ..... dives are good, but for a celebration dinner I want the number 1 elegant restaurant.

Three things to avoid "In Europe" Dont care how many stars they got.

Bacon Cheese Burger (and most Hamburgers in general)
Steak (unless its imported U.S. Angus beef - butchered in the US)
Texas Barbecue

Twenty years ago, we seldom used Rick’s recommended restaurants. Often they were unsatisfying. Since then, his recommendations have had more and more reliably good food, with service and atmosphere as well.

things to avoid "In Europe" Dont care how many stars they got. Bacon Cheese Burger (and most Hamburgers in general)

With respect, Mr E, I've had wonderful burgers in England, Scotland, Ireland and France. One of the best ever was in Lyon. Just don't expect the beef to be corn-fed as we get in the US. My wife likes her burgers rare, though, and you can't get them rare anywhere we've been in Europe.

But I said bacon cheese burger. Naturally that would be hickory cured bacon and sharp cheddar cheese, red onion, 4 dill slices, a thin layer of mayo on the bottom to waterproof the lower bun, thin catsup on top because of the way it interacts with the flavor of the cheddar, bacon put on last while still hot to melt the cheese a bit. The whole thing no more than 1.75 inches tall so you can pick it up and it fits your mouth. Not the 6 inch tall over sauced, over lubricated tin tasting meat monstrosities you have to eat with a knife and fork, cause if you picked it up and tried to bite into it the meat would shoot out the back end like aunt Maggie's 7th son.

That having been said, Zing Burger in Budapest is pretty good.

It really depends on what you are looking for.

In my experience the Rick Steves suggestions are …fine. I haven’t had a bad one and if I’m choosing between two places with no other differentiating factors, I’ll go with the Rick one.

BUT my restaurant preferences go two ways which don’t always align with Rick. 1 is on days I’m busy sightseeing I might just want a good-enough place very close to where I am. I’m not searching out a special meal, and I don’t care if it’s over touristed if it’s good. A nice atmosphere (on a square or pretty street) might be touristy or slightly overpriced but in these moments it can be worth it. Usually I’m just walking around, it’s time for lunch, that place looks good, done.

The other is where food/atmosphere is a focus. Like for a specially planned evening out. This isnt every dinner but a few times on a 2 week
trip. In those cases I tend to like more modern and innovative food than Rick’s picks seem to be. I’m pretty adventurous food-wise, and like to see what a talented chef can do with the local cuisine in a modern style.
I find these restaurants by reading local reviews and trip reports/social media from travelers. Michelin stars/recommendations can also be helpful on this. It’s a balance because I also don’t want extremely formal or $500/plate!

Also I often travel with a family member who has celiac. When I’ll be eating with him, finding good restaurants that have gluten free options is essential. This isn’t Rick Steves area.

"Rick Steves Just Gave Us His Best Tips on How to Find a Great Restaurant on Vacation"
Here's how Rick Steves finds his favorite restaurants in Europe.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/how-to-pick-a-local-restaurant-when-traveling-according-to-rick-steves-7372822
- Step Away From the Sightseeing Streets
- Pick a Menu That Speaks to You — in the Local Language
- Locals Matter More Than Locale

The article said: Step Away From the Sightseeing Streets, Pick a Menu That Speaks to You — in the Local Language, Locals Matter More Than Locale

Sure, within reason.

Step Away From the Sightseeing Streets: We have a sightseeing street called Vaci utca. Yes, all the restaurants are tourist traps but some are not horrible. Vaci utca is in District V which is pretty much the most touristy district in town. It is also where a good number of the best restaurants of every price category can be found.

Pick a Menu That Speaks to You — in the Local Language: Which implies that you are in a city that is not a multicultural city. Here, you would be hard pressed to find a menu that doesn’t have English except it the most remote low income areas.

Locals Matter More Than Locale: Locals eat out for the same reasons you and I eat out at home. Follow the locals at noon and you are as likely to end up at a Burger King or KFC as any other place. Odds are where you end up is “okay” but not special because 30 minute or an hour lunch breaks mean proximity as much as quality. At dinner time if you follow a local you are likely to end up at a very nice top ten restaurant in the tourist district for aunt Margrit’s birthday party.

I will add one to the RS list. If you are from Middle Town, Oklahoma and you are dining out in NYC do you eat hot dogs? No, you realize you are in a multi-ethnic city, and you go look for the best of the food of the world. Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, Budapest are all world class cities and this is your chance to have Georgian Food, Ukrainian Food, French Food, Michelin Star Food, and yes, outstanding Hungarian/Jewish food.