The Early Bird Guide to Early Dinners

We’re always looking for new places to enjoy an early dinner—not just restaurants offering special prices, but those that deliver good food, a pleasant experience, and fair value in today’s dining market.

Because we eat out frequently, we rely on restaurant reviews and recommendations from friends. Still, we can’t try every restaurant ourselves. That’s why, for our own use—and for anyone else who enjoys dining early—we’re creating The Early Bird Guide to Early Dinners: a curated list of restaurants we’d like to try.

If we haven’t made it to a restaurant yet, perhaps our readers can.

If you visit a restaurant featured in our guide and would like to share your experience, we welcome your review and will do our best to include it in our directory. If you’re interested in becoming an Early Bird Diner Correspondent, contact us and we’ll send you a simple guide for submitting early-dinner reviews.

In addition to personal visits, we research restaurants online and read reviews just like everyone else. To be included in our guide, restaurants must meet several selection criteria:

• It must be open for dinner by 4:00 or 5:00 PM

• Must have a minimum number of reviews on major review platforms.

• Reviews must be predominantly positive, based on standard rating systems

(For example, at least 4 stars on a 5-star scale)

We understand that no restaurant receives 100% positive reviews. There’s always the possibility of an off night—or simply a difference in personal taste. Our selection standards are based on our own experience using reviews to make dining decisions.

We’re starting with the areas where we live, travel, or have firsthand familiarity:

• Chicago Metro Area (our initial guide))

In the coming months, we plan to expand to:

• Phoenix Metro Area

• Palm Springs / Palm Desert

• Southeast Florida Coast

• Southwest Florida Coast

• New York / New Jersey (selected areas)

• Los Angeles (selected areas)

• And more to come

Our goal is simple: to make finding a satisfying early dinner easier, more enjoyable, and more reliable—for us and for you.