Restaurant guides are guides that review the restaurant even as they provide vital information like type of food, quality maintenance, handicap accessibility, proximity to popular places etc. The information is very helpful to consumers who will be able to base their choice on the recommendations made by the Restaurant guides. The first instance of restaurant guides is found in 12th century China in the city of Hangzhou, where signs could often be found around the city square giving a list of the restaurants in the area and local customer's thoughts about the quality of the food available there. References have been made to how these posters were the reasons for corruption to flourish and how they even perpetrated violence.

In Europe, the most popular contemporary restaurant guide is the Michelin series of guides which rate a restaurant and grant 1 to 3 stars to the ones they perceive to be of high culinary merit. Restaurants with stars in the Michelin guide are formal, exclusive establishments, almost institutions in their own right. In general the more stars awarded, the higher the prices of food served there are. The main competitor to the Michelin guide in Europe is the guidebook series published by Gault Millau. Unlike the Michelin guide which takes the restaurant décor and service also into consideration when publishing its rating, Gault Millau makes judgments based on the quality of the food. Its ratings are on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest.
 
In the United States, the Forbes Travel Guides which were earlier known as the Mobil travel guides and the AAA rate restaurants on a 1 to 5 stars or diamonds scale. Almost equivalent with the Michelin rating, if these guides were to award 3 or more stars or diamonds, then the restaurant is seen as a formal expensive establishment that serves great food in an up market ambience, while 1 or 2 stars might mean that the food and setting are of a more casual variety. In 2005, Michelin entered the US market and released a New York City guide, its first in and for the United States. The ever popular Zagat Survey also compiles individuals' comments about restaurants but it does not offer any "official" decisive assessment. In the United States Gault Millau is published as the Gayot guide, after the founder Andre Gayot. Its restaurant ratings use the same 20 point system, and are all available for viewing online.

The Good Food Guide, published by the Fairfax Newspaper Group in Australia, is the best guide to restaurants in Australia. Their unique feature are the Chefs Hats that are awarded to outstanding restaurants and range from one hat through to three hats. The Good Food Guide also incorporates guides to bars, cafes and suppliers. The Good Restaurant Guide is another Australian restaurant guide that has reviews on the restaurants based on the experiences of the public and provides information on locations and contact details. Any member of the public can submit a review making these reviews more of amateurish writing rather than professional views.
It is a popular practice for major American newspapers to make use of food critics and publish online dining guides for the cities that they serve. A few papers have gained a reputation for thorough and thoughtful reviews of restaurants equivalent to the standard of the good published guides. Others provide more of a listings service. In recent times, websites devoted to dining out have started to publish both professional food critic reviews and popular reviews by the common public. Their major contribution comes from bloggers, particularly publishers of food blogs, widely known as foodies. These writers and publishers represent the common dining enthusiast rather than the gourmet diner, and thus do not provide "official" reviews. However they can help a restaurateur to check on his quality and maintain his business very well.