Do you try out local restaurants when you travel?

We try to eat exclusively at local places and not chains, and not tourist traps. I want to eat where the locals eat as much as possible. I always look on Google or Yelp for places with good reviews before we travel.

(We are foodies and are fortunate not to have any food allergies or major restrictions in the family. I get that not everyone is as lucky.)

Oh yes. DH and I have a rule when we travel of no chain restaurants. We have found quite a few hidden gems, and very rarely get a meal that is just ew.

No DH has family that will only eat at chain restaurants when they are away from home. Completely unadventurous and want everything to be familiar and "just like home". In that case, why travel at all?

Trying new restaurants and new foods is a huge part of the adventure of travel.

We may hut a chain or two, but it isn't the norm

When we road trip we take breakfast for every day with us.

Usually one meal a day is fast food like Starbucks or Taco Bell.

If we are going somewhere that has a specific local specialty attached to it (examples: Chicago deep dish pizza, New York style pizza), we will try that.

We have life threatening food allergies and we are vegetarians. It is easier to eat at chains where I can quickly look up corporate wide allergen menus and allergy protocols.

If there is a famous restaurant or local specialty we want to try, I have to contact the restaurant ahead of time to see if they can accommodate us.

We try to eat local as much as possible. It’s fun to find hidden gems. We have found some great places.

Local middle eastern places are top on my list. Next Indian. I would love to find African. I have a life threatening allergy and I can always find a local place.

I’m not opposed to eating at a chain if it’s one we don’t have at home, but I do try to eat local when I can. I have food allergies to work around so I can’t just eat anywhere and sometimes a chain is the safest option. I do a lot of research ahead of time so I’ll have a list of good options and don’t have to make a rash, poor choice.

One of the main points of traveling is to eat at local restaurants. It seems dismal to me to eat at chains. We don't eat at fast food or chain restaurants unless it's all that's available, like stopping at a rest stop when traveling by car.

We search out and eat at local places.

We don't tend to eat at chain restaurants any way, so we don't look for them when travelling. The exception for me was our last trip to the US - I really wanted to eat at Cheesecake Factory, as I had heard a lot about it! We will also stop at McDs or Starbucks when driving for a coffee break - at the roadside stops, chains are what you get mostly, so there's not a lot of choice. But if we're staying somewhere for a few days/ a week, then we eat at local restaurants.

We mostly eat local, but we're not averse to chains, although it is usually ones we don't have here. On a trip to New York several years ago there was always a huge line outside Shake Shack so we braved the it one night, and have eaten at a couple of other outlets since then. My DH really wanted to got to Wahlburgers, so we did that while in Vegas then discovered one in London that opened up a couple of weeks before we arrived so ate there one night as well.

Mostly though we go for local, either relying on recommendations from our hotel staff, or my SIL who is a major foodie, or just wandering in based on the menu. We've had some great meals, and some that were definitely forgettable, but for us that's part of the experience.

Always. The only time we do chain places is when we're still on the road and need to keep going. If it's a multiple day road trip, when we stop for the night, we look for a local place, not the local Applebee's. We also prefer the small inns over the Holiday Inn and other chains whenever possible.

We try to eat local all the time. At home and traveling if we can. Sure, there’s the occasional fast food, but I think 80% of the time we are local eaters.

I don’t look up too much stuff, I just ask the hotel or locals where to eat. I’ve rarely been pointed in the wrong direction!

It depends on what’s available. I love to eat, so trying out new restaurants and local specialties is a big part of a vacation for me. But we’ll also do food carts, food trucks or regional chains that we don’t have here (I’d love to try In-N-Out, for example). We don’t care to spend every meal sitting down in a restaurant.