Your opinion matters more than a 4.6-Star average

I just want to care about my own opinion of a restaurant. I have been to highly acclaimed restaurants that left me disappointed. A Michelin-starred restaurant once made me realize I do not care for tasting menus. I have been to hole-in-the-wall places that I loved. One of my favorite taco trucks ever wasn’t even on Google Maps. My opinion is part of the experience. What I like, what I remember, and what I choose to revisit. Blindly trying new places has risk, but that risk is also what can make the experience vivid.

The easier alternative is to hand some of my agency to the internet. Anonymous Google Maps reviews. Fancy food critic lists. The latest TikTok food trend. They can be helpful, or maybe… someone paid them to say that, or they just care about clicks, or they’re an AI bot… who knows. Google Maps says 4.6. Yelp says 4.4. A critic says it is essential. TikTok says it is worth the line. After a while, it’s all an abstract blur.

But food isn’t abstract. It is one of the least abstract things in life. I sit down. I smell what is cooking. I talk to whoever came with me. I am tired, hungry, excited, distracted, homesick, sunburned, or happy. Then the food arrives. My opinion, whether good or bad, matters way more than whatever I read online from a bunch of strangers.

Those are some of the reasons why I built Memolli. It is a private journal for reviewing all the food, drinks, and restaurant experiences that matter to me. It is a place to remember what I actually thought, not just what the internet said.

Ratings only tell you so much

Public reviews can help you avoid obvious places to avoid. Most places on Google Maps trend toward the same range of 4.0 to 4.7 stars. Reading reviews will of course tell you much more, but they are not a substitute for your own experience. I still use Google Maps all the time. It is great for finding what is nearby, checking hours, looking at photos, and getting directions.

Is the line worth the wait… or is it just marketing?

I once waited about two hours in line for a top-rated ramen place in San Francisco. The ramen was good, but what I remember most is the water. They put mint and lemon in it. On the same trip to San Francisco, I went to another restaurant (Eat Americana) that I remember much more fondly. It was not some impossible reservation. It was unassuming and not packed. The food was good. I tried Vietnamese coffee for the first time. My partner thought the bread pudding was delicious. Nothing about it needed to be optimized. It was just a nice meal in a nice moment.

I have had the same feeling while traveling. In Honolulu I waited about an hour in the hot Hawaiian sun for a Japanese cafe-style ramen place. Again, good food. Again, not really worth the wait. But I remember a roadside Mexican food truck better. We went after spending six hours hiking in the rainforest. I was tired in the best way. The food tasted good and the setting was relaxing.

The internet can help me find the ramen place, the cafe, or the food truck. But it cannot know what the meal will become once I am there. It does not know who I was with, how hungry I was, whether the line made the food worse, or whether a simple glass of lemon and mint water became the thing I remembered most.

That is the gap Memolli is meant to fill. Not replacing the internet for discovery, but giving me a place to capture what actually happened after I chose the place. The rating might explain why I went. My own note explains why it mattered, or why it didn’t.

Recommendations are better from people who know you

There is a reason a recommendation from a friend can beat a thousand anonymous reviews. It is not just that I trust my friends more than random internet strangers. It is that people who know me can recommend restaurants, food, and drinks with my actual life in mind. A friend might know I like sitting at the bar. My sibling knows I care more about dessert than the main course. A coffee friend can tell me which cafe is worth trying.

That is why sharing in Memolli is built around people you know, not broadcasting polished opinions to strangers. You can keep your reviews private, share a public link when that makes sense, or invite friends directly into a list so they can see your recommendations or add their own.

That makes it easier to turn your own notes into something useful for the people around you. A list of favorite coffee shops for a friend visiting town. A set of restaurants your parents would like. A shared list for a trip, a date night shortlist, or places you and your partner want to remember together.

A demo of sharing a list of restaurant reviews with a friend inside Memolli.

Build a guide that belongs to you

The most useful restaurant reviewer in your life is your past self. I have tried many coffee shops, bakeries, taco spots, and restaurants. The problem is that those opinions disappear into camera rolls, text threads, and vague memory. I built Memolli because I wanted a better place for that: a private food journal where I can remember what I ordered, what I thought, who would like it, and whether I would go back.

Your opinion is worth keeping track of. Your friends’ recommendations are worth remembering. Your favorite places should not disappear into public ratings that were never really about you. If you want a private place to remember the restaurants, drinks, dishes, and food experiences that matter to you, sign up for Memolli and try it for free.

I’ve also written more about why Memolli is the ultimate app for foodies, Memolli versus Yelp and Google Maps, or Memolli versus note-taking apps.