Ask Mario

[Pweaver1984]

Found this site, seems to be well up to date and with some very talented individuals on the team, just thought I'd let other Egulls know about the service.

Anyone know more about it?

AskMario.com

Paul

[Sturge]

Don't know about the service itself but you're right, the calibre is high. The contributing editor, Clarissa Hyman, is a good eater with a very fair and thoughtful approach to restaurants - I'd always give somewhere she suggested a try.

[sem]

Hi

I discovered it a few of weeks back and asked them for a couple of recommendations. Received emails back within 24 hours with some pretty good suggestions.

Sue

[marlena spieler]

Hi

I discovered it a few of weeks back and asked them for a couple of recommendations.  Received emails back within 24 hours with some pretty good suggestions.

Sue

←

What sort of recommendations? what sort of suggestions? is there a fee?

Marlena

[sem]

What sort of recommendations? what sort of suggestions? is there a fee?

Marlena

←

You can ask them for recommendations on restaurants, cafes and pubs.

You specify if you are looking for a top-end restaurant, informal restaurant, pub that serves food or a cafe. Then say what area of the UK you are after, in what price range and what style of food (if applicable).

You can also specify further criteria, such as child friendly, alfresco dining, romantic dining etc.

Then there is a further section where you can add additional requirements, such as 'must be non-smoking' or 'near Piccadilly Circus'

Then you enter your email address and submit your question.

Within 24 hours you should receive an email back with 1 or 2 suggestions that fit your requirements.

I asked them for a pub that serves food in West London and they suggested the The Angelsea Arms, which was exactly the type of place I was after. I also asked for an informal restaurant near Green Park and got an equally good suggestion.

And all of this for no charge!

[marlena spieler]

No charge to you? then how do they finance the site? do they recommend restos which are paying to be included in their service?

you seem to know a lot about the site.

Edited January 13, 2006 by Andy Lynes (log)

[Andy Lynes]

If you have a look at the site it very quickly becomes obvious that it's Mario's restaurant consultancy services that are the main revenue stream and not the restaurant recommendations. Mario is a member of eGullet (under his own name) so maybe he'll post something at some point on this thread. In the meantime, its well worth getting the free newsletter from the site.

[Andy Lynes]

Mario rather kindly name checks eGullet in his latest newsletter - good man!

[thom]

I know Clarissa who is a very good writer, and I recognise a couple of the other names involved too.

I put the site to the test early doors by requesting recommendations for informal eateries in Manchester. I have to say the list it came back with was pretty good, and I certainly felt confident that it offered a short but high quality list of reliable dining experiences for a novice to the Mancunian dining scene.

Having been a significant part of the difficult launch of www.therestaurantgame.com (which later successfully evolved offline to produce Restaurant magazine, Fourth Hospitality etc) I know how difficult it can be to secure adequate revenues from an online business.

I think they have made a good start and wish them well, and I shall watch developments with interest.

Cheers

Thom

[Gary Marshall]

annie schwab knows a thing or two about decent restaurants also!