10 Signs A Restaurant Is A Hidden Foodie Gem

Dining out is one of life's joys, and with menu prices soaring in the past few years, having an exceptional experience is more imperative than ever. It doesn't matter if it's a Michelin-starred restaurant or a laid-back, locally-owned hole in the wall — customers are after a delicious meal that's worth spending their hard-earned money on.

For some people, the process of testing out local joints can be invigorating. I've been on Milwaukee's Yelp Elite Squad since 2022 and have tried out my fair share of diners, dives, coffee shops, cafes, and eateries. While many have proven to be delicious, mediocre restaurants are a dime a dozen. So, it's important to know how to spot a good one in order to ensure the place you choose will be worth your while. Below are 10 signs a restaurant is a hidden foodie gem. Note that these aren't hard and fast rules — the best restaurants will have more than one of these green flags — but they are a solid starting point.

If you sit down at your table and the server hands you a restaurant menu thicker than the Bible, that's a warning sign that should send you running. This goes for places ranging from fine-dining institutions to neighborhood dives. A small menu indicates that a restaurant knows what it excels at and isn't trying to please every person who walks in the door with options ranging from burgers to sushi — two items that, if they're served by the same joint, are a major restaurant menu red flag. A more focused selection signals that whatever you order is likely to be delicious. Those dishes have been specially curated and carefully crafted by a chef and kitchen staff who are serious about making some really mouth-watering meals.

Concise menus also point to a more concrete brand identity, which will help establish expectations for what kind of restaurant you're visiting. While fusion cuisine abounds – and there are plenty of delicious restaurants out there — carelessly crossing cuisine can result in a confusing, headache-inducing menu. The shorter the menu, the less decision fatigue you'll have, which is sure to lead to a better experience.

While it may be tempting to visit an eatery that allows you to doctor up your entree with a slew of different protein options, upgrade a side, or swap out one ingredient for another, some of the best restaurants actually restrict substitutions and make note of that on the menu. If a chef is conscious of that fact and wants customers to enjoy the dish just as it's listed on the menu, you may have found yourself a hidden foodie gem.

The best restaurants don't just throw a menu together all willy-nilly, the dishes are thoughtfully composed. A no-substitution institution can signify that the chef knows that what they're putting out is going to delight your taste buds. You'd rather be consuming a meal made by confident kitchen staff than one you can edit so many times it barely reflects the original menu listing.

True hidden gems capitalize on local ingredients and flavors to bring their dishes to life. So, while ordering oysters in South Dakota might not be the best idea, going for a bison burger would be a much safer bet. Take it from Anthony Bourdain — many of his favorite hidden gems around the U.S featured local delicacies, like beef on weck from Buffalo, New York and regional takes on barbecue.

Local ingredients don't only reflect the region's landscape, but they're also often fresher too. And, well, everyone knows that fresh ingredients from area farmers are better than those that have been transported across a thousand miles over many weeks before getting to your city. So, when you're looking for a foodie hidden gem, try to find a restaurant that sources ingredients from local farmers and uses those ingredients to create dishes that highlight the local culinary culture and the region's traditional flavors.

There are a few things that can put a damper on your experience when dining out, and a disinterested server is near the top of that list. Your server should be a familiar face throughout your trip to a restaurant, taking orders, checking in, and delivering the bill. With service being such an integral part of any dining experience, be on the lookout for staff who are eager to chat about the food. That's often a good indicator that a restaurant is a hidden gem. If your server has actually tasted the items on the menu and is excited to offer recommendations, you've likely found a winner. Disengaged staff is one of many signs of a bad restaurant you shouldn't ignore.

Still, when you're asking for a recommendation, be sure to cross reference what the server says with the dish that's listed on the menu. If the server is giving descriptors for a menu item that feel a bit too general (for example, "yummy" or "great" instead of more specific phrases such as "somewhat tart" or "offers floral notes"), they might not actually have tried that dish. You should also be on alert if the server consistently points you toward the most expensive items when you ask for suggestions. That's a sign that they might not be as passionate and knowledgeable about the food as they let on.

If you're serious about locating hidden foodie gems, consider dining out during the work week. You'll be able to get a sense of whether or not a restaurant is a local treasure depending on how busy it is when it's not the weekend. If an eatery is bustling on a random Wednesday night, that's usually a good sign. This means it's built up a loyal customer base that seeks out a spot at the table even when it isn't Friday or Saturday — the most common days for dining out.

Check the restaurant's website to see if it offers a way to make reservations online. If it does, click on the different weekdays to determine how many spots have been snatched up. For those who live in a city, take a stroll and peek in restaurant windows after work one night. Truly delicious joints, longstanding institutions especially, won't feel like a graveyard on weeknights. When the food is quality and the service is superb, people will have a hankering for it any day of the week.

Sign spinners, dudes donning wearable sandwich boards, and employees hawking restaurant menus all in an attempt to get you to stop in for a bite to eat are red flags. Eateries shouldn't need to entice potential customers with the promise of a good meal in order to get them in the door. Besides, these marketing ploys can be a little awkward, and feeling uncomfortable isn't a great way to start your meal. If you're feeling like you're stuck in an episode of "Shark Tank," maybe look for another place to dine.

A menu posted outside, a host waiting to greet you or open the door, this should be the most advertising a restaurant is doing at its front door. Anything beyond that can be a reason to be on alert. If no one is dining at that restaurant, there's probably a valid reason why. The food should always speak for itself, and a scrumptious spot won't need to post an employee outside to flag customers down.

If you're an American traveling to Spain, it might feel like a good idea to seek out restaurants with English menus and English-speaking staff. Try to resist that temptation. Oftentimes, you'll get a more authentic, higher quality experience at a joint that doesn't cater to tourists with well-lined purses. This might mean veering away from tourism hot spots like Piazza Navona in Rome or Las Ramblas in Barcelona, but for the higher quality food, it's worth it. And if you spot something delicious that all the locals are feasting on, do as Bourdain did and try it for yourself.

But if you're stateside, there's still a way to sniff out a touristy joint that might not be worth your while: license plates. They're an easy way to spot a tourist trap restaurant. Obviously, there are some places where you're going to see a mix of license plates throughout the area (think the DMV — District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), but if you're traveling to Wisconsin you might want to avoid a restaurant where customers from Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, and Tennessee have parked their vehicles. Instead, opt for a supper club with a parking lot of Badger State plates.

Be it a pianist, a jazz trio, or a singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar, live music has the ability to enhance a dining experience, but think twice about a restaurant with a jam-packed weekly schedule of performances and activities. A genuinely good Irish pub shouldn't need a lively troupe of Irish dancers performing nightly in order to keep the lights on, just like a delicious local diner shouldn't need trivia one night, bingo the next, and a pie-eating contest the night after that in order to bring customers in the door.

Gimmicks are an indicator that an eatery might be more focused on the fun and fanfare rather than the food. When you're seeking out a restaurant, be sure to check their website to see if it advertises being known for something other than delectable dishes. If it does, you might want to lower your expectations. A true hidden gem won't hide behind over-the-top entertainment. The food will take center stage.

Imagine this: you're poking around a new city for a lunch spot and you peer through the window of a busy restaurant. Young adults are perched at every table, vigorously snapping photos of their food and of the decor with their iPhones. At first glance, that might seem like a place you'd want to stop in and grab a bite. This obvious popularity means it's got to be good, right? Not necessarily. This scenario could indicate a joint that's put more emphasis on social media marketing and capitalizing on the latest trends than the actual food it makes.

You're better off looking for a restaurant that's patronized by people of all ages. Patrons ranging from twenty-somethings to retirees can signal a restaurant has become popular by means other than strictly social media — think word of mouth or the local newspaper. There's also a chance those older customers have been frequenting that spot for years, and they wouldn't do that if the food wasn't up to par.

Though simply typing the name of a restaurant into the search bar of any given social media app might turn up dynamic photos and interesting videos, be wary of any reviews that aren't from a professional food critic. It's better to research the local publications and brush up on the dining section. And don't just take it from me — it's Andrew Zimmerman's pro tip for finding the best restaurants in any city.

Be careful not to confuse food influencers with professional critics. While that creator you find on TikTok might post an entertaining video with a shot of a heavenly cheese pull, there's a good chance they're not giving you an unbiased review. Some restaurants entice social media celebs with free food and special treatment. If you're going to investigate what the online foodie community has to say, keep an eye out for these not-so-objective creators. And if the reviews are full of influencers, you shouldn't order from that restaurant.

The food critic for an area newspaper, on the other hand, has a stricter code of ethics, and you can trust their judgment. While you're likely to find they review some of that city's more high-end restaurants, plenty of them also cover more budget friendly spots like local dives and food trucks.