Refining Restaurant Search

Given the number of sites on the web, sifting through them for reliable restaurant reviews can be tricky. Hotspot Robot, a site that launched in beta last week, is tackling restaurant discovery with a new approach. It starts by identifying publications that have professional food critics and reviewers. Then it compiles restaurants on "best of" lists to come up with the best of the best.

The site covers restaurants in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. We tested Hotspot Robot's accuracy by putting its picks against the top ten restaurants in our list of the 101 Best Restaurants in America. Five out of the ten restaurants at the top of our list are within the cities covered by Hotspot Robot.

Per Se, which The Daily Meal ranked as America's 2nd best restaurant, ranked in the top 10 of Hotspot Robot's 14 best-of lists 10 times.

Le Bernadin, which The Daily Meal ranked as America's 3rd best restaurant, ranked in the top 10 of Hotspot Robot's 17 best-of lists 14 times. 

Daniel, which The Daily Meal ranked as America's 4th best restaurant, ranked in the top 10 of Hotspot Robot's 14 best-of lists 12 times.

Jean Georges, which The Daily Meal ranked as America's 8th best restaurant, ranked in the top 10 of Hotspot Robot's 13 best-of lists 13 times.

Citronelle, which The Daily Meal ranked as America's 9th best restaurant, ranked in the top 10 of Hotspot Robot's 15 best-of lists 14 times.