Methodology

Selection criteria

• Dine-in

  We focus on eating on site. Takeaway only, shops without seats, coffee-only and places without a fixed address stay out of the guide.

• Local relevance

  A place has to sit in the city (or its service area). Regional guide hits outside Amsterdam stay out.

• Signals, no paid ranking

  We combine editorial curation with public signals: Google ratings, Michelin/Bib, Gault&Millau, Parool/NRC. No paid slot on a list.

• Usefulness

  Where we can: address, opening hours, website, reservation link. Incomplete stubs stay in review until they are fit to publish.

Sources

• Editorial and blog sources

  Openings and hotspots from reliable food blogs and opening lists (including Bart’s Boekje). Those land first as a candidate, then review or promote.

• Guides and press

  Michelin, Gault&Millau, Parool reviews — authoritative fields (stars, scores, reviews) on existing or new restaurants.

• Google Places

  Address, rating, photos, phone, Place ID. Used to enrich a listing, not as the only reason to publish. Opening-soon places without a reliable Places match stay as a stub for manual review. Broad Places discovery for Amsterdam is off (a mature catalogue); new places come from harvesting opening sources.

• Open geodata (terraces)

  Sun hours per terrace from 3DBAG building heights, the Amsterdam tree register and licensed terrace polygons — specific to CityBiteGuide.

How lists work

Editorial lists start with hand-picked restaurants (seeds). Where it fits, we fill in with live active restaurants that match the list’s tags, sorted by relevance and rating. Each list shows when it was last updated. We do not claim an absolute “best in the city” — we publish a transparent, useful selection for a specific moment or cuisine.

Programmatic landing pages (cuisine or neighbourhood) show every matching active restaurant. Those are a directory, not a hand-ranked top 10.

Keeping it current

We follow new openings through food blogs and guides, and mark closures from Google Places status. Ratings and photos are refreshed periodically. Terrace sun hours are recalculated when the underlying geodata or the match changes. Monthly openings, closures and bookability are published in Amsterdam Food Pulse.