An Expat's Guide to Trolling Dianping

With almost 600,000 reviewed eating establishments as of the end of last year, Dianping.com is a great way to discover new restaurants, but its all-Chinese interface can be an unfortunate barrier to hungry Mandarin-challenged expats. We're here to help. Our new "How To" series will have you plumbing the depths of the review site in no time at all.

Dianping, which means "review" in Chinese, has often been referred to as the Chinese Yelp, but, actually, it predates the US website by more than a year. Last quarter, the site attracted a whopping 600 million monthly page views. Since its launch in April 2003, the company has built out its platform, adding support for social- and location-related trends like check-ins and group-buying.

One would expect Dianping's own regularly-updated "Best of" list, which takes into account flavor, environment, service ratings, volume of reviews and number of page views, to be a good place to start our wanderings, but, in fact, the list is hardly helpful. For instance, the current top-rated restaurant, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, lists an average per-person price of RMB 1,413. Few of us are baller enough to ever put that to the test.

Let's get you started on a more populist note. I'm sure some of you have been rolling on Dianping for years now, but for those of us who need a little help, here's a screenshot of Dianping's search page with translations in red:

One of my favorite sorting options is the "Number of reviews." It won't reveal any secret finds since it'll only show you what's popular, but it's a convenient way to get a feel for what's trending with local diners. The most-reviewed restaurant in Beijing is the Sichuan restaurant Spice Spirit (Mala Youhuo, 麻辣诱惑) with an average rating of 4 1/2 stars.

The Mudanyuan location of Haidilao Hot Pot takes second. Though the hot pot chain has been renowned for its dutiful service for years, Haidilao became a Weibo meme last year after a company representative paid a visit to a customer who had complained of food poisoning and paid her medical bills. Meanwhile, Xidan Chiku (西单翅酷), known for their wings, has attracted the third-highest number of reviews.

Lest we overwhelm you all at once, we'll leave off here for now, but you can look forward to future posts, where we'll delve deeper into the intricacies of the site. In the meantime, try playing around with the filters to see if you can dig up any hidden gems. Do let us know in the comments section if you find something worthwhile.

Photo: Wikimedia