How to Choose a Restaurant

When you want to have a great time, driving afterwards can pose a real problem. So, get one that is close by where you can easily walk or where it is easy to get a cab. Another fifty bucks for a cab to go to a restaurant adds unnecessary expense. Of course, it is different when the location is truly superb: a lake, seaside, riverside or a spectacular view of the mountain or an architectural gem. Sometimes you have to work. For meetings where you need to discuss serious deals, go for restaurants that have private rooms.

There are evenings when you just want a particular cuisine. And if that restaurant is the only one available where you live, there is really not much choice. After coming back from Asia, many folks just go for that big chunk of beef. The revenge of the tidbits, they say. Other evenings, the menu has to be titillating to your taste buds. Especially when the restaurants are all clustered in an area and you have choices.

The wine list is also important. In some restaurants, the wine list consists of highly priced bottles of 6 wines all from France. Or overpriced bottles from you don't know where. But often, there are two or three choices for a particular cuisine. Check out if their chef comes from the country where that cuisine is from. You are more likely to get the real thing and not the stylized version of it. There is nothing wrong about stylized cuisine as some of the real ones are hard to take anyway.

When you are bringing a big group, look for one that will give you value for your money. This does not mean being cheap but getting a good meal that you feel happy about paying. You are satisfied for what you get.

As an example in Thailand, why would I pay $25 for a pad thai that tastes average in a restaurant when I can but a better tasting one in the street for a dollar?

You may just want to check out the restaurant before you decide to book a table. Have a drink first and check out the place. Go use the washroom.


This is my friend's standard procedure. Use the bathroom and when it is clean, chances are hygiene standards are followed in the restaurant.

Sometimes, the restaurant may be beautiful but the decor is not to your taste. It jars your senses. Go to a place where you enjoy the general atmosphere. Do they play music? How loudly? Check out the people who go to the restaurant. If you find it pleasant to be around these people as you eat your dinner, then go book a table. Maybe, a specific table away from the kitchen doors and not under the air conditioner.

However, for big events it is always helpful to go to places you have tried and tested. You are better able to focus on the evening when the place is familiar and where the staff know you. You can make recommendations, you know the wine list, and you are familiar with the way things are done. You don't have many things to worry about. Just enjoy the meal and the experience of good service and a happy environment.

Even for just a regular going out, there is comfort in places you know. Every Saturday, we go to FCC, a riverside restaurant here in Cambodia. We had been doing this for years so we have attended weddings of staff, we know their kids and families and their desires and dreams. We actually go back to get updates. Here, we can ask for what we want to eat even if it is not on the menu. Comfort food. How can it be better than this?