There is a particular register that local guides fall into. It sounds like this:
Nonna's Kitchen — A charming local favourite serving authentic Italian cuisine in a cosy atmosphere. Perfect for a romantic evening!
Every guest has read a thousand of these and discounts them completely, because nothing in that sentence could only have been written by someone who went. Swap in any restaurant name and it still works. That is the test, and it fails.
Here is the same place written by someone who eats there:
Nonna's Kitchen — Eight tables, no bookings, and a queue by 7.30. Go at six or go at nine. The menu is a single sheet that changes daily; if the ragù is on it, order it. Cash only, and the machine in the newsagent next door charges £2.
That is the same number of words. The difference is entirely in the kind of information.
The four things a recommendation has to carry
What it actually is. Describe the shape of the experience and skip the category label. "Eight tables, no bookings" tells a guest more than "intimate trattoria" ever will.
One specific thing to order or do. This is the sentence guests quote back to you. It is also the strongest possible proof that you have been there, because generic writing cannot produce it.
The constraint. Cash only. Closed Mondays. No children after 8pm. Twenty minutes uphill. Books out three weeks ahead. The constraint is the thing that ruins an evening when it is discovered at the door, and it is the thing recommendation lists most consistently omit.
Who it suits. "Good with kids at lunch, less so in the evening." "Not a place for a quiet conversation." Guests are trying to work out whether a place is for them tonight, with these people. Answer that and they will trust the rest.
Six rewrites
Before: A must-visit coffee shop with great coffee and friendly staff. After: Best flat white within walking distance, but it's four seats and a window ledge. Get it to go and drink it in the churchyard opposite. Shuts at 2pm.
Before: Beautiful beach, perfect for a relaxing day. After: Twenty-five minutes on foot along the seafront, or six minutes in a car with nowhere to park after 10am. Go left at the steps for the quiet end — most people stop at the first stretch. No shop, no toilets, so take water.
Before: A lovely local pub with a great selection of drinks. After: The Anchor is where you go if you want to talk. Low ceilings, no music, a fire in winter. The food is fine rather than good — eat first, then come here. Dogs welcome, and the landlord will bring one a sausage.
Before: Excellent museum with fascinating exhibits. After: Two hours if you read the labels, forty minutes if you don't. Free, but the good temporary show upstairs is £12 and worth it. Go on a Thursday — it's open until nine and nearly empty after six.
Before: A great market with lots of local produce. After: Saturday only, 8am to 1pm, and the bread stall at the far end sells out by ten. Bring a bag and cash. The cheese man will let you try anything if you ask.
Before: Highly recommended for authentic local cuisine. After: This is the one I send people to when they ask for "somewhere we couldn't have found ourselves". Family-run, menu in Portuguese only, and the owner will translate it for you happily. Ask what the fish is.
On honesty
The most persuasive thing in a recommendation list is a qualified one. "The food is fine rather than good" makes every other line in your guide more credible, because it proves you are not simply listing everything within a mile.
The same goes for admitting distance. Guests discover the twenty-minute uphill walk whether or not you mention it, and the only variable is whether they discover it before or after setting off.
Write fewer
Twelve restaurants is not a recommendation list. It is an abdication — the host has moved the choosing onto the guest, which is the work the guest wanted done.
Four to six per category is plenty, and they should cover genuinely different situations: the quick one, the good one, the one for a rainy day, the one that is worth the trip. If two entries serve the same occasion, cut the weaker one.
The sentence that makes a guide personal
One line, at the top, that no other property in your city could have written:
We've lived on this street for nine years. These are the places we actually go, including on a Tuesday when we can't be bothered to cook.
That sentence changes how every recommendation below it is read. It converts a list into a person's opinion, and an opinion is a thing a guest can trust, disagree with, and follow.
The maintenance problem
Restaurants close. This is the unglamorous half of local guides and the reason so many of them are quietly wrong. Put a reminder in your calendar twice a year, open your own list, and check each entry is still trading and still open on the days you claim. Twenty minutes, twice a year.
A guide with one closed restaurant in it is not 90 percent right. It is a guide the guest has stopped believing.