I mapped out the best restaurants in the world

[monty58]

I love travel. I love food. Naturally I spent the last few weeks compiling a list of all the best restaurants in the world: https://mapofthebest.com

A few advantages:

1. All ratings in one spot (Michelin, 50 Best, James Beard, etc.)
2. Granular filters (e.g. only show 4.9+ stars)
3. Easy to discover new restaurants and bars
4. Swanky design (in my totally unbiased opinion)

Still very much a work-in-progress but would love to get feedback.

https://preview.redd.it/3q8lff4wgul...bp&s=f32a70d692cb9eec99cb885ec6fd95279b22fe46

 

[joscar]

@monty58 Cool idea.

Just checked out Singapore. 2 observations:

1. the best restaurant in the area i checked out isn't listed and;
2. The Michelin Guide is truly a joke in Asia.

What do you mean by this?

Granular filters (e.g. only show 4.9+ stars)

4.9 stars where?

 

[monty58]

@joscar

the best restaurant in the area i checked out isn't listed and;

Which restaurant is this? I actually spend most of my time in Singapore and would love to know, both to calibrate this system + so I can try the restaurant myself.

The Michelin Guide is truly a joke in Asia.

Agreed, I haven't been impressed by any Michelin-rated restaurant in Singapore. How do you usually curate good restaurants, aside from trying each and every one?

4.9 stars where?

You can adjust the search filters on the website. If you're on mobile, you'll need to click the filters icon before you can adjust the filter. The star rating filter allows for increments of 0.1 stars (as opposed to Google Maps, where you can only set increments of 0.5 stars).

 

[joscar]

@monty58 This place https://maps.app.goo.gl/AVYkgFXj37oPnyyn7?g_st=ic

I take it the stars are from google maps? I asked because I have noticed an increase in astroturfing on google maps. Not so much in Singapore but definitely in touristy places in SE Asia.

How do you usually curate good restaurants, aside from trying each and every one?

Hard problem.

 

[karenwnc]

@monty58 The welcome popup is annoying and completely unnecessary. The logos on it grow bigger when mouse cursor is over them. This implies they are clickable, but they are not. This is very confusing. And every time I open the page, the same annoying popup shows up. Such as when clicking the website's logo.

The search feature's result sorting is odd. I typed in my home town Braga to the search and clicked Enter. This took me to some place in Indonesia that is not even a city. Why would that be the number one search result instead of the actual city of Braga in Portugal?

I was rather excited to find a new restaurant that looked good on your service (https://mapofthebest.com/pt/arcoense) but when I opened the restaurant's page on Google Maps, it says the restaurant is temporarily closed. I feel like your service should not list places which are closed for business.

Also, the per restaurant pages (such as the https://mapofthebest.com/pt/arcoense) seem rather empty. I really cannot see much benefit in using your service to view this page, compared to just using Google Maps to open this restaurant's page. In fact, Google Maps showed me this place is currently closed, and your website didn't. To add more value, you should show more data in the restaurant's page.

That being said, I think this is a pretty good idea and with some improvements, this could be very good.

 

[monty58]

@karenwnc Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback!

The welcome popup is annoying and completely unnecessary. The logos on it grow bigger when mouse cursor is over them. This implies they are clickable, but they are not. This is very confusing. And every time I open the page, the same annoying popup shows up. Such as when clicking the website's logo.

This should all be fixed now (you might need to do a hard reset to see the latest changes)

I typed in my home town Braga to the search and clicked Enter. This took me to some place in Indonesia that is not even a city

That's an interesting problem. I'm using Mapbox's Geocoding API and I'll see if I can tweak the API a bit to improve the results.

...when I opened the restaurant's page on Google Maps, it says the restaurant is temporarily closed

This is fixed now as well. I completely hide places which are permanently closed, and put a warning label for places which are temporarily closed.

I really cannot see much benefit in using your service to view this page, compared to just using Google Maps to open this restaurant's page

Agreed, for some spots I'm at the mercy of whatever little info I can gather online. I'm working on consolidating additional info + some features which are not available on any other platforms (e.g. notifications for open reservations for popular restaurants).

That being said, I think this is a pretty good idea and with some improvements, this could be very good.

Thanks again! I'll keep working on it