6 Red Flags You're About To Eat At A Tourist Trap Restaurant

For those who travel to eat, meals while away from home are precious. A marquee meal can be the most memorable highlight of a trip, and when you only get so many per day with no do-overs, there is literally no room for mediocre food. And even harder to stomach is when it’s expensive, inauthentic, or — even worse, in a world with such diverse cuisine — boring. In other words, a tourist trap restaurant.

What is a tourist trap restaurant?

According to a study by online passport photo service provider PhotoAiD , the top three criteria that make a place a tourist trap are above-average pricing, amenities tailored for tourists, and a lack of cultural authenticity. But these traits aren’t always immediately apparent, so we asked a diverse panel of culinary research-driven travel tourism pros and chefs to add more perspective.

From a publicity standpoint, Taryn Scher ( “The Sparkle Boss”) of TK PR considers a tourist trap “a spot that has a lot of buzz but doesn’t really have the flavors to back it up.” Sadly, this can also include famous institutions.

“There are long-standing restaurants that exist on buzz, simply for the sake of ‘You have to go to X if you’re visiting Z.’ Some of these are even places you might want to say you visited, even if the food is second-rate,” she said. Based on 15 years of representing destinations such as Greenville, South Carolina , and The World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida, she’s found that, while there are exceptions, “these aren’t really the place for serious food lovers who travel for food.”

Executive pastry chef Claudia Martinezand “Top Chef” contestant Hector Santiago— both James Beard semifinalists — feel that intentis what defines a tourist trap.

“To me, it’s a place that