How to Keep Track of Restaurants You've Been To
The best way to keep track of restaurants you've been to is a dedicated restaurant tracker app — it puts every visited place on a map with your own ratings and keeps a separate wishlist of places to try. Free alternatives like Google Maps saved lists, Google Maps Timeline, a notes app, or camera-roll albums also work, each with trade-offs in effort and retrieval. This guide compares all five systems.
"Where was that amazing taco place?" is a question with a two-week shelf life. After that, the name is gone, the street is a guess, and the only evidence is an unlabeled photo of a half-eaten taco. If you eat out regularly, you need a system for keeping track of the restaurants you've been to — and the ones you keep meaning to try. Here are the five approaches that actually work, from zero-effort to full-featured.
1. Google Maps saved lists (the zero-setup start)
The fastest system is the one already on your phone. In Google Maps, tap a restaurant → Save → pick a list ("Favorites", "Want to go", or a custom one). Your saves show as icons on the map, and you can share a list link with friends.
- Good: free, instant, works everywhere, no new app.
- Bad: a star is all you get. No personal rating, no record of what you ordered, no separation of "been" from "loved", and lists become unmanageable past a few dozen places.
2. Google Maps Timeline (the automatic logbook)
If Location History is on, Google Maps Timeline already knows which restaurants you've physically visited — open Maps → profile picture → Timeline. It's genuinely automatic, which makes it a good archaeology tool for "what was that place near the hotel in Lisbon?"
- Good: retroactive — it logged places before you decided to track them.
- Bad: it records presence, not opinion. Nothing about the food, the dish, or whether you'd return — and it requires being comfortable with continuous location tracking.
3. A notes app or spreadsheet (the manual classic)
Plenty of serious eaters run a single running note or spreadsheet: name, city, date, what was ordered, a score out of ten. It's infinitely flexible and you own the data forever.
- Good: free, flexible, future-proof.
- Bad: no map, no photos worth scrolling, all discipline. Most spreadsheet systems die within two months — usually mid-meal, when typing into a grid loses to dessert.
4. Camera roll albums (the visual diary)
Some people make an album per city or a "Food" album and rely on photo metadata for the where and when. Modern photo search ("ramen", "Lisbon") makes this better than it sounds.
- Good: you're already taking the photos.
- Bad: retrieval is the weak point — photo search finds a ramen, not the ramen you rated highest, and there are no ratings at all.
5. A dedicated restaurant tracker app (the system that sticks)
Restaurant trackers exist because the four systems above each miss a piece: opinions, automation, maps, or retrieval. A dedicated app puts everywhere you've eaten on a map, attaches your ratings and notes, and keeps a separate wishlist of places to try.
Crumble is our take on this (yes, this guide lives on Crumble's site). It's a social food map with three opinions baked in:
- Rate dishes, not just restaurants. Half-star ratings per dish mean your history answers "what should I order here?" — not just "was it good?"
- Keep the wishlist honest. Places you want to try sit on a separate list that auto-clears when you log a visit. No stale entries, no manual housekeeping.
- Share with friends, not the internet. Your circle's spots appear on your map (filtered to places you haven't been); strangers see nothing. Friends-only by default, EU-hosted, no ads.
It's free and runs as a web app on any phone or laptop — no app store needed. Other good dedicated trackers include Beli, Yummi, and Truffle; our full comparison of restaurant tracking apps covers when each is the better pick.
Tips that make any system stick
- Log before the bill arrives. Thirty seconds at the table beats reconstruction from memory. Make it part of paying.
- Separate "been" from "want to try". Mixing them is how wishlists rot. They are different lists with different jobs.
- Record the dish, not just the place. Future-you wants to know what to order, not only where to go.
- Lower the bar. A rating and one line ("get the ramen, skip the gyoza") is a complete entry. Systems that demand essays get abandoned.
Frequently asked questions
What is the app that keeps track of restaurants you've been to?
Dedicated restaurant trackers include Crumble (per-dish ratings on a private map shared with friends), Beli (ranked lists with a large community), and Yummi (a photo-first food diary). Google Maps saved lists also work as a basic free option.
How do I check restaurants I visited on Google Maps?
Open Google Maps → tap your profile picture → Timeline. If Location History is enabled, Timeline shows the places you visited, including restaurants. It logs automatically but records nothing about what you ate or whether you liked it — that part needs manual notes or a tracker app.
How do I remember restaurants I want to try?
Keep a dedicated 'want to try' list that's separate from places you've already been. In Crumble this is the wishlist — it even removes a place automatically once you've visited and reviewed it, so the list never goes stale.
Should I track individual dishes or just the restaurant?
Dish-level tracking is more useful in practice. 'That place was a 4' doesn't help you order next time; 'the ramen was a 5, the gyoza a 2.5' does. Apps with per-dish ratings, like Crumble, capture this; restaurant-level apps and saved lists don't.