Mador report · November 2026
Restaurants in Germany: who AI assistants recommend
We asked 4 AI assistants where to find restaurants in 20 cities in Germany, with 5 questions per city written the way a resident would ask them. That makes 400 answers, collected on 4 November 2026.
91% of answers recommend at least one business
362 of 400 answers give at least one name to call. With the same method, the true share sits between 87% and 93%; the other answers explain how to choose and name nobody.
Gemini names the most, Claude the fewest
Gemini recommends a business in 100% of its answers, Claude in 75%. Showing up in one assistant does not mean showing up in another.
Takumi is recommended in 4 of 20 cities
5% of answers name at least one national network or chain. The other recommended businesses are independent, and they change from city to city.
Portals make up 31% of the sites read, business websites 5%
75% of answers link to a portal, 19% to the website of a named business. A site the assistant reads is a site it takes names from.
City by city
| City | Answers | With a business | Most recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin | 20 | 85% | Rutz, 893 Ryotei, Adana Grillhaus |
| Hamburg | 20 | 80% | Fischereihafen Restaurant, Haerlin, 100/200 Kitchen |
| München | 20 | 95% | Jan, Tantris, Giorgia Trattoria |
| Köln | 20 | 100% | La Société, Inci Fisch Restaurant, Lommerzheim |
| Frankfurt am Main | 20 | 95% | Lafleur, Seven Swans, The dune |
| Düsseldorf | 20 | 90% | Nagaya, Agata's, Takumi |
| Leipzig | 20 | 100% | Frieda, Auerbachs Keller, Kuultivo |
| Stuttgart | 20 | 80% | CUBE, Weinstube Fröhlich, Carls Brauhaus |
| Dortmund | 20 | 90% | Labsal, Vida, SchwarzGold |
| Bremen | 20 | 90% | Bremer Ratskeller, Das Kleine Lokal, Kleiner Olymp |
| Essen | 20 | 100% | Chefs Atelier, Hannappel, Teko |
| Dresden | 20 | 90% | Elements, Sophienkeller, Feine Kost |
| Nürnberg | 20 | 95% | Essigbrätlein, Albrecht Dürer Stube, Zum Gulden Stern |
| Hannover | 20 | 85% | Votum, Jante Studio, Handwerk |
| Duisburg | 20 | 90% | Villa Patrizia, Küppersmühle Restaurant, Mod |
| Bochum | 20 | 85% | Zum Grünen Gaul, Bratwursthaus, Franz Ferdinand |
| Wuppertal | 20 | 95% | Shiraz, Amalfi il Ristorante, Scarpati |
| Bielefeld | 20 | 85% | GUI, Schlichte Hof, Historisches Gasthaus Buschkamp |
| Bonn | 20 | 85% | Yunico, Strandhaus, Theodor's |
| Mannheim | 20 | 95% | Dobler's Restaurant, Eichbaum Brauhaus, Alter Simpl |
Download the data
Method
Cities: the 20 most populous municipalities, Destatis municipal directory at 31 December 2025. Each city has its own 5 questions, in the language spoken there, the same for every assistant.
Assistants: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, with the models of Mador's free scan and web search on. For each question and assistant the most recent answer counts.
An answer "recommends a business" when it names at least one real business in the category: headings, neighbourhoods, portals and public bodies do not count. The interval accounts for assistants answering the same questions (the same method as the Mador Index).
Since 4 November 2026, the order counts the answers that recommend first, then the mentions.
Names appear only where the assistants recommend them, never if an answer advises against them: national networks in the cities where at least one answer recommends them, independent businesses recommended in at least 2 answers in their city.
This data comes from the same work Mador does every day for businesses: it sees where assistants recommend them, writes and publishes the missing pages and measures again to see what changed.
See where your business shows upMador, "Restaurants in Germany: who AI assistants recommend", November 2026, mador.ai.