Stop Losing Your Restaurant Recommendations: A Notion System for Foodies
Build a restaurant recommendations Notion database to track every food find. Export to maps, share with friends, and never forget a spot again.
A restaurant recommendations Notion database solves the universal problem of losing great food finds. Instead of scattered screenshots, buried texts, and forgotten Instagram saves, you get one searchable system that maps your spots and shares them instantly with friends.
Someone at a dinner party mentions an incredible Thai place on the east side. You make a mental note. A colleague shares their go-to spot for client lunches. You screenshot it. Your sister texts you three restaurants to try when you visit her city. You heart the message. A food blogger you follow posts about a hidden gem. You save the post.
Six months later, you're standing on a street corner, hungry, and you cannot for the life of you remember any of those recommendations. The screenshot is buried in your camera roll. The text is lost in a year of messages. The saved post has been archived by the algorithm. Sound familiar?
The solution isn't another app or a better memory. It's a simple system that takes thirty seconds to use and actually works when you need it.
A Restaurant Recommendations Database That Works Like Your Brain
Open Notion and create a new database. Call it something you'll actually remember, like "Restaurants" or "Places to Eat." The key property is Place, which stores the actual geographic location rather than just a text address. When you search for a restaurant and select it, Notion looks up the coordinates. This is what makes everything else possible.
Add a few more properties to make the database useful. A select property for cuisine type lets you filter when you're craving something specific. Another select for neighborhood helps when you're in a particular part of town. A multi-select for occasion covers the difference between a quick lunch spot and a special anniversary dinner. Finally, a simple checkbox for "visited" separates your wishlist from your tried-and-true favorites.
That's it. Five properties. You could add more, like price range or a rating system, but start simple. A system you'll actually use beats a comprehensive system you'll abandon after a week.
The Thirty-Second Capture
The moment you hear about a restaurant, open Notion on your phone. Create a new entry, type the restaurant name, and use the Place property to search for it. Notion will find it and capture the location. Add the cuisine type and neighborhood if you have ten extra seconds. Done.
This works because the friction is low. Once you're in the habit, it takes just a few seconds. The key is that you'll actually do it, which is the only thing that matters.
Over time, your database grows into something genuinely valuable. Every recommendation you've ever received, every spot you've discovered, every place you've loved, all in one searchable, filterable, mappable collection.
Finding the Right Spot
Friday night. You're meeting friends in a neighborhood you don't know well. You want somewhere good for groups, maybe Italian, definitely not too loud. Open your database, filter by neighborhood, filter by cuisine, filter by occasion. Three options appear. Pick one.
Or maybe you're visiting a new city and want to see all your saved spots on a map. With Notion to Maps, your entire database becomes an interactive map in seconds. Zoom in on the area you're exploring, and every recommendation you've ever saved for that city appears as a pin. Tap one to see your notes. This is the moment all that thirty-second capturing pays off.
Sharing Without the Hassle
Your friend is visiting town and asks for restaurant recommendations. In the old world, you'd spend twenty minutes typing out a list, trying to remember addresses, probably forgetting half the places you meant to include.
Now you filter your database by neighborhood or cuisine, connect it to Notion to Maps, and send them a link. They get an interactive map with every spot you've recommended, complete with locations they can tap for directions. You look like a hero, and it took you sixty seconds.
This works for any sharing scenario. Planning a bachelor party and need to show the group the bar crawl route? Map link. Writing a neighborhood guide for your blog? Embed the map. Helping a colleague find lunch spots near the office? You get the idea.
For friends traveling internationally, suggest they export to GPX for offline access when data roaming isn't an option.
The Compound Effect
The real magic happens over time. After a year of capturing recommendations, you have a personal food database that no app could replicate. It's curated by your taste, organized by your logic, and filled with context that only you would know, like which dish to order or which table to request.
When you visit a city you haven't been to in years, your past self has already done the research. When friends ask for recommendations, you have an answer in seconds. When you're hungry and indecisive, your database remembers what you've loved before.
Stop losing recommendations. Start building a system that works. Your future hungry self will thank you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I organize restaurant recommendations by cuisine and neighborhood in Notion?
Add two select properties to your database: "Cuisine" (Italian, Thai, Mexican, etc.) and "Neighborhood." When you're hungry, filter by both to find exactly what you want. For example, filter to "Japanese" + "Downtown" to see all your saved sushi spots in that area. The Place property ensures each restaurant appears correctly on the map.
Can I share my restaurant list as a map with friends?
Yes. Connect your Notion database to Notion to Maps and share the generated URL. Friends see an interactive map with all your spots, can tap markers to read your notes, and get directions to any restaurant. They don't need Notion to view it. For curated lists, filter your database first to share only specific cuisines or neighborhoods.
What's the fastest way to add a new restaurant to my Notion database?
Use the Notion mobile app. Create a new entry, type the restaurant name, and tap the Place property to search. Notion auto-fills the location with coordinates. Add cuisine type if you have five extra seconds. The whole process takes under thirty seconds, which is key to actually maintaining the habit.
How do I track which restaurants I've visited versus want to try?
Add a checkbox property called "Visited" or a select property with options like "Want to Try," "Been There," and "Favorite." Filter by this property to see your wishlist when exploring, or your proven favorites when you need a reliable choice. After visiting, update the status and add notes about what you ordered.
Can I use my restaurant database offline when traveling?
Yes. Before your trip, export your database to GPX and import into an offline maps app like OsmAnd or Maps.me. Download offline maps for your destination city. All your saved restaurants become navigable waypoints that work without internet, perfect for international travel without expensive data roaming.