What Spotlist Is (and Isn't)

When I introduce someone to Spotlist, I start with the problem: finding a great place to eat is harder than it should be. Multiple sources, hundreds of reviews, cross-referencing articles — and at the end of it, you still don't know if you'll like it. When I tell people Spotlist is trying to solve this, they often assume I'm building a map or a review app. I'm not.

I spent two years working on Google Maps. It's an extraordinary product — and Spotlist is actually a customer of their Places API. But Google wants every review from every person. Your opinion is one data point in a billion. The result: that ramen spot everyone's talking about has 3,500 reviews and a 4.3 average, but is it good? Will you like it?

Review apps aren't the answer either. If they're selling ads, the incentives are backward — you've seen the local taco search that serves up Taco Bell. If they're not directly selling ads, they're selling attention, which means the loudest reviewers win, not the most trustworthy ones.

Spotlist does something different. It's a playlist for food.

Keep track of the places you've been. Save what you loved. Build lists that represent you and the things you'd recommend to a friend or family — The Rainy Sunday Ramen Run, Spots Worth the Drive, Places I Keep Taking People Back To. Then share them, the same way you'd share a playlist.

Your list doesn't need to impress anyone. The greasy spoon down the street belongs in a list just as much as the taqueria on the corner and the French Michelin star spot across town. The only question is: would you recommend it? If yes, put it in. That's the whole point.

Spotlist is recommendations only — places you'd actually send a friend. No ads, no algorithmic rankings, no engagement bait. Just real people, real places, real reasons to go.

Whether you're the one everyone texts for a recommendation, or you're tired of wading through 4.3 stars to find a place worth going — Spotlist is for you.