Work on online ratings: Here are the best restaurants in Switzerland

st. Gallen maintains its top spot

st. Gallen is the leader for the fourth time in a row. The food and ambiance are particularly positively highlighted in the reviews. Winterthur ZH followed closely in second place, while restaurant operators from Zurich took the podium with a third place. The worst performer is Lausanne, thus taking over the red light from Lugano TI.

What can make restaurateurs happy: The vast majority of reviews are positive. “83.6% of people give 4 or 5 stars. Alexander Zaugg (40) says only 6.7 percent are 1-star. He is the founder and CEO of Re:spondelligent. Food, quality, friendliness or service is most often cited in positive terms.

However, the long-term development is less pleasing for companies. The rate of criticism has increased greatly, causing the average ratings of restaurants to drop significantly. The price-performance ratio is especially often mentioned, which made it even worse for guests. “This is directly related to the level of service received,” says Zaugg.

The reason for this was quickly found: Hotels and restaurants are short of skilled workers. And if you don’t have enough staff, you have to throttle service. As a result, more guests feel they are getting less bang for their buck. The analysis shows that cities with the highest service scores also have the best value for money.

“Guests have become more stringent in their ratings overall, as evidenced by the increase in 1- and 2-star ratings,” says Zaugg. For example, missing vegetarian or vegan menus are severely penalized.

Handling ratings properly should not be underestimated: Hoteliers and restaurateurs are good at responding to customer reviews. And both negative and positive. “Otherwise you listen to the critics too much,” says Zaugg. “An apology is important in case of criticism. If what you’re going through is not normal, of course you can point to extraordinary situations,” he explains. In 2022, companies in Switzerland answered one out of every six assessments – slightly less than in the previous year. They also react to negative reviews more often than positive ones.