Customer Reviews

Out to Eat San Francisco (Lonely Planet Out to Eat)

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For a city which makes its living from tourism and one claiming the highest number of restaurants per capita in the US, San Francisco is surprisingly under-represented when it comes to dining guides. So I am glad to find this (hopefully) regularly-updated series coming onto the scene. While it is by no means the ideal guide to dining out in the City (it is not comprehensive nor authoritative enough), it offers a wholesome alternative to those looking for dining options in San Francisco without resorting to Zagat, another recent but surprisingly successful entrant to the market, with its ridiculous and inconsistent point system. (The fact that the Zagat has become so successful here points(!) I believe to the lack of alternatives I alluded to above.)

So what do I like about the Lonely Planet? It's got pictures, for starters. Pictures convey their own information about a place's ambience, character, and clientele. Plus they make the guide more user-friendly and pleasant to flip through. (Why don't more guides include them?) Second, it devotes a good half-page to every establishment that it covers, doing it enough justice. Third, it doesn't dumb down by resorting to a point system, but gives properly worded descriptions, thereby allowing readers to arrive at their own conclusions rather than having it made for them. Finally, and this is the best part, it groups the reviews by neighborhood - with maps included. This just makes so much more sense than an alphabetical listing. After all, people don't generally make dining decisions based on the starting alphabet of a restaurant's name, but on where they are or want to be at a particular point in time.

Given that it is one in a global series, I was initially worried that the quality of the research wouldn't be up-to-par, especially vis-a-vis residents of the area. But the reviews and selections are surprisingly decent. I don't live in the city myself, so am not the best person to pass judgement on this, but I visit fairly often and find the descriptions to be generally reliable. Kudos to the authors and to Lonely Planet.

What kind of improvements would I like to see in future editions? Extend the coverage beyond the city to cover some of the greater Bay Area. But overall you're off to a good start. Keep the guide current.