I had the pleasure of taking my sweet little family away over the weekend to Carmel. If you haven't been there, make it a trip. Carmel-by-the-Sea, as it is officially named, is a California fairytale, maybe even a place comparable to the mysterious, adventures of Harry Potter. Most retail stores are cottages, some restaurants and bars are neatly tucked away in cavernous alleys, and all people are euphorically happy. The challenge is, there's too many places to eat. The same can be said about it's neighboring town, Monterey.
We took a day trip out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and after hours of site sea-ing along famed Canery Row, the troops got hungry. We didn't know where to eat. There were too many restaurants to choose from. The old, chain standards that we knew didn't tickle our fancy. And, too many unknown options popped up through my Yelp application on the iPhone.
Sure, lot's of friendly known and unknown folks Yelped about restaurants around us, but there were still too many choices, and when looking for a great Mexican place, most local haunts rated the same.
I finally decided to do the unthinkable, unsocial, unnatural thing. I asked a couple of locals where the best Mexican restaurant was around the aquarium. After a quick debate, they agreed on one that was 1.5 miles away. I hopped on Yelp! and sure enough, it was there, and one of the highest rated in the area, even if rated similarly among others.
But, I was with my wife and kids. Why does that matter? I just can't take them anywhere.
"Was the area safe?" I asked the locals.
"Yes," they replied.
"I've got an 8 and 6 year old with me. Can they walk there from here?"
"No."
We jumped into the car, and started on our journey. Yelp! mapped out the directions, but something was wrong. Aside from the kids being starving and me not having enough time to get lost, which I often do, I noticed that the streets around us were mostly one way.
I asked the parking attendant to help us navigate the best way to the restaurant, and he said, "up one street, make a left, through the tunnel, stay on the right, make a right at the light, then another, and it will be on your left." Funny that I can remember the directions now, but not the name of the restaurant.
We trucked up and around, got lost, of course, hung a u-turn, then found one of the best Mexican restaurants in Monterey.
The moral of the story. There are many determining factors when it comes to getting recommendations and making choices best for one audience vs. another.
I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble if I was alone. I wouldn't have checked in with the locals on the safety of the area or walking distance if we didn't have the kids with us. Food value was a big deal for the locals, and they said Papa Chano's was one of the best too. Though, that wasn't top of mind for me at the time because vacation food never seems to be of "value." It's either good tasting or not. What it costs is what it costs.
I think there is room for a local Yelp! run by locals for out-of-towners. There's probably, of course, applications that could serve this need, even those that would integrate nicely on Yelp, since I use it so much, along with OpenTable, when it comes to everything food, through my iPhone.
I'm just glad that in the end, it was so cute to see my kids gobble up their food at Papa Chano's. We've definiltey bookmarked this one, and will be back again.
