Hi
This site is the back-end of @lucaseatsbig.
I'm Lucas, I live in Sydney and I love trying new food.
This site is a running record of every restaurant I've been to and my honest thoughts. It started as a Notion database and became this website that I could share with friends.
Every entry and rating is my personal opinion where I hope to help you in your search for great restaurants in Sydney. If something's on the wishlist it's because I want to go; if it's rated it's because I went.
How I score
I rate every visit out of 10, in half-points and the following guidelines. It's an overall feel for how good the meal was. Here's how it shows up on the cards:
Exceptional
I'd consider it to be one of the best restaurants in its category. Would go back and recommend to anyone.
Really good
Definitely worth a visit. This means I walked out happy with the experience overall.
A mixed bag
Likely had something that I didn't quite enjoy, maybe it was bad value or the food just was very average or poor.
If I've been more than once, the number you see is the average across visits.
Size rating
Each visit also has a size score from 1 to 10, relative to category. A 9-size burger means huge for a burger, not in absolute terms — 10 is hard to finish, 1 is barely a snack.
Would return
Every visit has a would return flag too. Sometimes a place rates a 6 but I'd 100% go back; sometimes an 8 and I'm done with it. The flag captures that separately from the score.
For example:
What you can filter on
Head to all places and you can slice the list by:
- Cuisine
One primary cuisine per entry. A few of the options:
Japanese Italian Thai Korean + more - Location
Pick a Sydney region or a specific suburb. For example:
Inner West Surry Hills Eastern Suburbs + more - Price
Five tiers, multi-select:
$$0–20 $$$20–50 $$$$50–100 $$$$$100–200 $$$$$$200+ - Vibe
Pick as many as you want. A few of the options:
Date spot Casual Upscale Loud Quiet + more - Top rated
One-tap toggle for anything 7 or above:
✓ Top rated (7+) - Visited vs wishlist
See only places I've been, or only ones on the list:
Visited Wishlist
Sort by best-first, most-recently-visited, or A–Z.
Got a place I should try? tell me.