Much as we all love to hate Tripadvisor, it's still a pretty accurate benchmark for the top restaurants in London because it's the place where the most people post and it's easy to forget that a lot of people do look to Tripadvisor as a reliable source when deciding where to go next or when visiting a city, and it's certainly the most widely used review site in the UK.
The problem with Tripadvisor is as @Goodman_London observed a few days ago:
1. Petrus
The problem with Tripadvisor is as @Goodman_London observed a few days ago:
There could be a place with ten amazing reviews and a place with 500 amazing reviews and five ok reviews and due to the law of averages, the place with ten amazing reviews from some friends of that place would be higher up on the list. Shouldn't there be some kind of regulation? Should there be a system in place that only allows a restaurant to enter the 'Top Restaurants in London' list if they have a certain number of reviews, say 100?
I went through the top restaurants in London (I think to about 126) and eliminated all restaurants that have less than 100 reviews and came up with this list, which I think is much more accurate.
For the first time, a list that's unbiased, non-industry or PR influenced. Could this be the real top 50 restaurants of London?
2. Gordon Ramsay Restaurant RHR
3. The Ledbury
4. Le Gavroche
5. Goodman
6. Barrafina
7. Whits
8. Texture
9. Apsleys
10. Galvin la Chapelle
11. Meze Mangal
12. Marcus Wareing at The Berkley
13. Soho Joe
14. Chino Latino
15. The Promenade at The Dorchester
16. Laughing Gravy Bar & Restaurant
17. Zuma
18. The Foyer at Claridge's
19. Gordon's Wine Bar
20. Hawksmoor Seven Dials
21. Wahaca Covent Garden
22. Chettinad
23. Clos Maggiore
24. Chez Bruce
25. Rules
26. Gauthier Soho
27. Quilon
28. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
29. Tea at The Ritz
30. J Sheekey
31. Murano
32. La Trompette
33. Naga
34. La Petit Maison
35. Viajante
36. Sketch Lecture Room & Library
37. Cantina Laredo
38. Pied a Terre
39. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester
40. Chez Patrick
41. Kazan
42. Mildred's
43. tibits
44. The Square
45. JW Steakhouse
46. Dinner with Heston Blumenthal
47. Galvin at Windows
48. The Grill at The Dorchester
49. Cote Brasserie - St Martin's Lane
50. About Thyme
There are a few places I haven't really heard about but all in all, I think it's a much better list. Tripadvisor probably won't change but it will change the way I read the lists - if you can discount places that clearly don't have the volume of positive reviews, you can see what is really popular.
Maybe also knock off any reviews more than 5 years old?
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa. Spot on. This is one of the main concepts behind what we're doing at One Hundred Tables. No restaurant is allowed to secure a spot on the board in their city unless that have at least 100 Likes on their resto Facebook page. Reliability is driven by the actual diners that have been there. A thought - would you like to be one of the special guest bloggers on our blog covering something on the London scene or perhaps some other theme? If so, private message me on twitter at either @100Tables or @tonyakston - I already follow you on Twitter. Best - Tony Akston blog is at http://onehundredtables.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteI think you owe it to us all to blog the lesser known places on the list.
ReplyDelete