I use these 10 ChatGPT prompts to find new places to eat — they’ve never failed me - Tom's Guide

Part of the joy of living in New York is finding new types of cuisine. Quality restaurants are abundant in my city and it always amazes me how many of them cover different cultures and the types of food they specialize in.

I’m always quick to scour my Instagram discovery page since it's filled with posts themed after “cool places to eat” and “unique foods you didn’t know existed.” A quick Google search also works wonders for me whenever I’m on the lookout for a new place to dine at and eventually keep on my list of the best restaurants in the city.

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Prompting new selections for lunch and dinner

When the time arrives for me to finalize a new restaurant pick to consider and do my background research on, I tap into one of these 10 prompts for specific situations instead of using the overly generic prompt What’s good near me?:

• Searching for a specific restaurant for date night: Find me the best cozy date-night restaurants near me with dim lighting, great wine, and a quiet atmosphere.
• Cheaper alternatives: What are the best affordable [price range] [type of food] spots near me that locals actually love and aren’t tourist traps?
• Hidden Gems: Show me underrated or lesser-known restaurants near me that have amazing food but aren’t widely talked about.
• Looking for a specific dish: Where can I find the best [type of food] near me right now? I want top-tier quality.
• After dark munchies: What are the best places near me that are open late right now and still serve great food?
• Solo dining selections: Recommend the best restaurants near me for a solo dinner where I can eat well and not feel rushed.
• Restaurant comparisons: Compare the top five [type of food] restaurants near me and tell me which one is actually worth it and why.
• Ignoring social media hype and looking for highly reviewed options: What restaurants near me have consistently great reviews across Google, Yelp, and locals—not just viral hype?
• Looking for good food and good vibes: Give me restaurants near me where the experience is as good as the food (ambiance, service, unique concept).
• Three Options, Three Vibes: Give me 3 can't-miss restaurants near me tonight—one casual, one mid-range, and one upscale.

Delicious results

With any of these 10 prompts, ChatGPT has more specific details to work with when it combs every corner of the web to find me my next food destination spot.

And for each of these requests, I make sure to follow ChatGPT’s responses with the question Which one would you pick and why? It’s always fun to see what my chatbot food assistant would want to dine at if it had the ability to physically enjoy the finest Thai cuisine in New York City.

As an example of some of the best restaurants I ended up choosing based on the results delivered by ChatGPT on behalf of the third prompt, the underrated spots I found near Bryant Park in Manhattan are Café China, DONDON KOREAN BBQ, Mitr Thai and Los Tacos No. 1.

ChatGPT did a fine job of finding the top options for that prompt by displaying a map with each option attached to its star rating, a summary of what it has to offer, contact details, and a direct link to its site. The chatbot also supplied me with bonus restaurant recommendations and general advice on how to spot the real hidden gems in my area (such as “the best underrated spots tend to have small interiors or odd entrances like upstairs spots”).

To narrow down my options even further, ChatGPT offered to find the best cheap lunch spots under $15, date-night hidden gems near Bryant Park, or the absolute best single dish to order in this area. And, of course, I asked the chatbot which one of those options it would ultimately choose on its own.

The takeaway

ChatGPT helps steer me toward restaurants I might not have known about before and helps me build a go-to list that I can bring up for future solo and group hangouts.

The 10 prompts I use aren’t just great for finding great places to eat in my hometown—they’re also great to use whenever I find myself in a location while on vacation.

If packing on a few extra pounds because of ChatGPT’s dining recommendations is the price I have to pay to keep my hunger at bay, then so be it.

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Elton Jones covers AI for Tom’s Guide, and tests all the latest models, from ChatGPT to Gemini to Claude to see which tools perform best — and how they can improve everyday productivity.

He is also an experienced tech writer who has covered video games, mobile devices, headsets, and now artificial intelligence for over a decade. Since 2011, his work has appeared in publications including The Christian Post, Complex, TechRadar, Heavy, and ONE37pm, with a focus on clear, practical analysis.

Today, Elton focuses on making AI more accessible by breaking down complex topics into useful, easy-to-understand insights for a wide range of readers.