Updated: December 12, 2023
Today, it’s virtually impossible to exist as a successful restaurant business without having a presence on online review sites. Potential diners are likely to check out your business’s rating on multiple restaurant review sites before they make a booking.
In fact, 33% of US diners would never eat at a restaurant with less than four stars. Review sites give potential customers ways of measuring social proof and helping customers decide where to eat, when, and for what type of occasion.
Restaurant review sites also amplify your business’s visibility in Google search results. High rankings are vital for helping new customers discover your business.
In this post, we’ll explore how customers use reviews to find new restaurants and the top ten restaurant review websites you should pay attention to.
Top 8 best restaurant review sites
Ensuring your restaurant has an online presence on multiple review sites is a good idea. First, take some time to check if your restaurant is listed on the following sites. If you haven’t already done so, you should then make sure to claim your restaurant listings as your own.
Claiming your restaurant listings will then enable you to optimize your profile and increase your chance of ranking well in search and being discovered by your target customers.
1. Google
Google is unsurprisingly the number 1 site in terms of global internet traffic. With 3.5 billion searches made per day, listing your restaurant on Google My Business opens it up to a huge potential audience.
Registering your restaurant here boosts your business’s chance of appearing in relevant search results. In fact, reviews account for 15.44% of how Google ranks a local business. They’re an important ranking factor for how Google chooses to show restaurant businesses to the relevant audience.
For instance, if someone searches for “taco restaurants in Miami”, Google Maps displays three high-ranking options at the top of the search engine results pages:
Having a high number of top-quality reviews would increase your restaurant’s chance of landing one of these three top spots.
Taking the time to improve your customer experience and therefore boost your ratings will ultimately enable more customers to discover your business and result in more conversions.
Locations that move their Google My Business profile’s rating from 3.5 to 3.7 stars experience conversion growth of 120%.
- Business details and contact information: Accurately list your restaurant’s details, like contact numbers, website URL, and business hours. Remember to update any changes, which may take up to 3 days to reflect on your GMB profile.
- Adding menus: GMB now allows restaurants to add and edit their menus directly in their listing. This feature supports multiple sections like appetizers, entrees, drinks, etc., and includes item titles, descriptions, and prices.
- Reserve with Google: This feature enables customers to book tables directly from Google Search. You can simplify the booking process by including a reservation link on your profile.
- Google Q&A: Actively participate in the Google Q&A section of your listing to answer customer queries. This builds trust and can attract new customers.
- Managing reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews and respond to all feedback. Keep in mind that 50% of customers expect a response at least some of the time from businesses.
Learn more: How to reply to reviews + free templates
Guide: Confidently Reply to Customer Reviews
2. Yelp
Yelp has more than 178 million unique monthly visitors across mobile and desktop devices.
29.2% of people reading restaurant reviews are most likely to read them on Yelp. For those reasons, Yelp is one of the top sites to focus your review strategy on.
Yelp’s advanced search brings up top-ranking restaurants that are close to the searcher’s location and brings up a map:
Here’s why it’s important for restaurants to have a presence on Yelp:
- Advanced search and location-based results: Yelp’s advanced search functionality ranks top restaurants near the searcher’s location, accompanied by a map, making it easier for potential customers to find restaurants.
- Detailed and unique reviews: Yelp is known for longer, more in-depth, and sometimes snarkier reviews. This distinct style encourages potential customers to spend more time browsing and reading reviews, offering deeper insights into the dining experience.
- Responsive review management: Restaurant managers can directly respond to reviews on Yelp, showing engagement and appreciation for customer feedback and addressing any concerns publicly.
- Community engagement with UGC: The “ask the community” feature allows user-generated content (UGC) to answer common customer queries, enhancing social proof and community engagement.
3. Facebook
As the most widely used social media platform, Facebook has more than 175 million monthly active users in the US alone.
You may already be using a Facebook Business Page to promote your restaurant business on social media channels.
The top benefit of Facebook is that you can easily interact with users who leave reviews and feedback. Given that it’s a social media platform as opposed to a dedicated review site, it’s much easier to directly interact with your customers.
Here’s why its review and rating system is important for your restaurant business:
- Online visibility: Facebook reviews influence two critical factors – affinity and weight – in Facebook’s algorithm, increasing the likelihood of your business appearing in potential customers’ News Feeds. More reviews can lead to greater visibility on Facebook.
- SEO: Facebook reviews contribute to your business’s visibility on search engines. Google values authentic customer opinions, and reviews on authoritative sites like Facebook significantly affect local search ranking.
- Recommendation system: Facebook shifted from a star rating system to a recommendation system. Customers are asked a straightforward question: would they recommend your business? This system assigns a positive or negative ‘point’ based on their response, influencing your overall recommendation rating.
- Managing reviews: It’s crucial to manage and respond to reviews, which can be done by setting up real-time notifications for new recommendations and reviews. Responding to positive and negative reviews is vital for maintaining a positive image and addressing customer concerns.
- Promoting reviews: You can promote Facebook reviews both online and offline. Online methods include embedding review requests on your website and creating Facebook review links. Offline, you can use signage in your store or ask regular customers directly to leave a review on Facebook
4. TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor may be focused on travel-based experiences, but these days it’s well-known as a restaurant review site. You may notice that popular restaurants often showcase TripAdvisor badges and stickers on their premises to show their approval.
TripAdvisor has an average of 463 million monthly visitors, and some of the top keywords driving site traffic are “restaurants near me” and “food near me,” making it an essential review site to monitor and optimize.
- High traffic: With 463 million monthly visitors, it’s a key platform for restaurant reviews.
- Popular keywords: “Restaurants near me” and “food near me” are top drivers of site traffic.
- Review showcase: Restaurants often display TripAdvisor badges to signify positive reviews.
- Review filtering: Users can filter reviews by keywords for more relevant search results.
Take a look at these TripAdvisor restaurant reviews and how the platform enables users to filter them by keywords.
In addition to restaurant reviews, TripAdvisor also enables customers to book reservations online. Within the platform, restaurant owners can:
- Add photos
- Respond to reviews
- Customize their restaurant details
5. The Infatuation
The Infatuation, once known as Zagat, provides curated restaurant guides for millennials and Generation Z. A small group of writers, bloggers, and editors produce their restaurant reviews and guides.
It’s beneficial for restaurants to be featured on The Infatuation for the following reasons:
- Editorial-first approach: The Infatuation stands out for its editorial-first focus. It emphasizes honest and independent reviews, providing a trustworthy source of information for its readers. This approach can be particularly appealing to restaurants seeking credible recognition.
- Broad city coverage: The Infatuation serves 12 American cities, providing a wide reach within the United States. This geographical coverage can help restaurants in these cities gain visibility among a diverse and expansive audience.
- Varied content: The Infatuation not only publishes reviews but also offers guides like “The Hit List” for new restaurants and thematic lists such as “The Best French Restaurants” or “The Best Cocktail Bars.” This variety in content allows for different types of restaurants to be featured, from new openings to specialized cuisines.
- Strong social media presence: With a significant following on social media platforms and over 10 million tags on their #EEEEEATS hashtag on Instagram, The Infatuation has a robust online presence. This can be advantageous for restaurants looking to increase their visibility on social media.
- Interactive services: The Infatuation also operates an SMS-based restaurant recommendation service called Text Rex, providing a more personalized interaction with users. This feature could potentially drive targeted customers to participating restaurants.
6. OpenTable
Since its introduction in 2008, OpenTable has generated more than 97 million reviews by verified diners. And now, it’s one of the leading restaurant reservation platforms.
Here are its key features:
- Reservation platform: Simplifies finding restaurant availability for diners.
- User-friendly listings: Provides visual and easy-to-navigate restaurant listings.
- Customer review function: Offers basic review functionality with sorting by ratings, newness, and keywords.
- Response to reviews: Business owners or managers can respond to reviews both publicly and privately, showcasing customer engagement and responsiveness.
7. Gayot
Gayot is a restaurant review site that’s been around for 50 years. Named after a French food critic with the same name, it has a team of restaurant critics and foodies who write reviews for restaurants, bars, and cafes.
Gayot is a key restaurant review site that can benefit restaurants due to its:
- Wide coverage: It reviews restaurants in many US cities and internationally, reaching a broad audience.
- Focused rating system: Gayot uses a detailed 20-point scale that mainly assesses the food’s quality. Reviews also cover décor, service, and ambiance.
- Culinary expertise: Known for its culinary expertise, Gayot’s rating system is rooted in the Nouvelle Cuisine movement, emphasizing quality and creativity.
- Diverse audience: The site attracts both local and international visitors, providing exposure to various diners.
8. Foursquare
Starting out as a city guide, Foursquare is quite similar to Yelp in the way it enables users to leave reviews and ratings for different businesses, including restaurants. But it differs in the style of review and type or rating – Foursquare uses “tips” to help rank restaurants.
- Active user base: 50 million monthly users contribute to the platform.
- User engagement: Users can vote tips up or down based on helpfulness and relevance.
- Limited interaction for businesses: Foursquare doesn’t allow business managers to respond to tips, unlike other platforms.
4 Delivery app review sites
Many food delivery apps and sites now have a restaurant review system.
In the past, someone reviewing a restaurant might have gone directly to Yelp or Google without thinking about any other alternatives. However, with the increase in people ordering their meals from delivery apps, many customers will use these apps directly to write reviews.
The rise of food delivery apps also means consumers are now looking out for different attributes.
As a result of reliance on delivery, customers may be more likely to rate their experience based on attributes like speed, efficiency, and whether the order was correct.
Apps may also showcase the most popular menu items and show customers their rankings. This is likely to encourage potential customers to order more of what previous customers have rated highly.
1. Grubhub
Grubhub is an online and mobile app food delivery platform, connecting diners with nearby restaurants. Grubhub had over 28 million active diners in 2022, positioning it as one of the world’s leading food delivery platforms.
Reviews tend to be short, with the main focus on the quality of the delivery service.
Customers can also say which dishes they ordered.
Business owners can reply to reviews within 14 days of the review’s publish date. They can also report reviews with inappropriate or inaccurate content to Grubhub.
2. DoorDash
DoorDash currently has over 34 million active users. A quick search on the app shows results for restaurants with the quickest delivery.
It also allows users to filter options based on their convenience, along with cuisines and food types.
Customers are encouraged to leave star ratings which DoorDash then takes an average from and displays within the restaurant’s listing.
Different from other delivery sites, customer feedback is private to the restaurant and not published alongside the listing.
Managers may respond, and customers will receive an automated email detailing your response. But customers themselves will not then be able to respond to this email.
Restaurateurs can see all customer feedback, known as a lifetime rating, for their restaurant in one place.
3. UberEats
2023 saw UberEats reach 137 million active monthly users, and the platform continues to outdo its ride-hailing counterpart.
The app’s interface shows users the top categories and most popular restaurants in their area:
UberEats has a fairly simplistic customer review and feedback process for such a widely used food delivery app.
Upon receiving their delivery, customers are prompted to give it a rating out of 5 stars on the app. They can then also leave a comment if they choose to.
These star ratings are then displayed next to restaurant names in the search. The comments, however, are not displayed publicly within the restaurant’s listing.
Business owners can view all of their customer ratings and feedback within the Reviews Page on the backend of the site. UberEats also compiles data on whether the customer is new or returning and their total number of orders.
You can also see tags related to compliments or areas for improvement.
4. Caviar
Owned by DoorDash, premium food delivery app Caviar is known for offering quick delivery times from a curated list of the best local restaurants.
With a flat delivery fee of $9.99, Caviar is on the premium end of the food delivery business:
Sticking to their theme of curation, Caviar presents users with their staff picks.
Caviar doesn’t currently display customer reviews or ratings on the app or website. They do, however, show each restaurant’s most popular dishes.
Combine Reviews with SMS Marketing
Use GatherUp to help manage your restaurant review presence
A strong presence on restaurant review sites will help potential customers better understand your restaurant’s offering and why they should choose you over competitors.
Implementing an effective restaurant review strategy will help you build brand visibility and help your restaurant appear in “near me” style searches.
Restaurants and retailers depend on getting a steady flow of new and repeat customers. There are traditional advertising and marketing tactics you can deploy, but to be truly successful, you need strategies that immediately engage customers — without burning through resources.
With GatherUp, you can extend the impact of SMS marketing by combining your text marketing strategy with your reputation management — gather and listen to customer feedback — such as reviews — then send targeted text campaigns, track performance, and glean valuable insights to drive better customer experiences.
Related reading:
- Should You Respond To Old Reviews?
- 10 Ways to Get More Reviews
- SMS Marketing Examples: Unlocking the Power of Text for Restaurants & Retail
- How Google Reviews Can Help You Successfully Launch a New Franchise Location
Restaurant review sites FAQs
What is the most popular restaurant review site?
The most popular restaurant review site varies by region and personal preference, but globally, Yelp and TripAdvisor are often considered the leading platforms. Yelp is widely used in the United States for its extensive collection of local restaurant reviews, while TripAdvisor is renowned for its global reach and travel-focused audience, which includes restaurant reviews. Both sites offer user-generated reviews and ratings, making them valuable resources for diners seeking authentic dining experiences.
What is the best restaurant rating system?
The “best” restaurant rating system can be subjective and varies depending on specific criteria and user preferences. However, the Michelin Guide is renowned for its rigorous and prestigious rating system, especially for fine dining. It uses a system of one to three stars, with three stars indicating exceptional cuisine worth a special journey. Another popular system is the Zagat Survey, which rates restaurants on a 30-point scale across various dimensions like food, decor, and service. Both systems are respected for their detailed assessment and have significant influence in the restaurant industry.
What is the most popular ranking system for restaurants?
The most popular ranking system for restaurants globally is the Michelin Star system, renowned for its rigorous evaluation and prestigious recognition in the culinary world. Michelin awards one to three stars based on the quality, mastery of technique, personality of the chef in their cuisine, and consistency of the food. One star signifies “a very good restaurant”, two stars are “excellent cooking that is worth a detour”, and three stars mean “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey”. This system is highly respected and sought after by top chefs and restaurants worldwide.
