Rate a Chicago Neighborhood Crawl With Friends

To rate a Chicago neighborhood crawl with friends, pick one street, eat one dish at each stop, rate each dish the same day, tag the friends who were with you and keep the stops in one shared list. Each friend can add their own rating of the same meal, so you end the day with several views of the same plate.

The method works on any street in the city: pick a stretch, split the plates and rate as you go.

How do you rate a Chicago neighborhood crawl with friends?

Agree on the route first. Choose a street or a train stop, name the stops, and decide who orders what, so the table is not duplicated. At each place, eat the dish the kitchen is known for, then rate it before you leave: a place and stars is all that is required, and you can add the dish by name, a tag and a few words.

Do the rating on the spot or on the platform, with the Mosey app open on your phone. Memory fades fast when you have eaten four times in a day.

What is a good Chicago food crawl with friends?

One with a theme and a limit. Three or four stops is plenty. The theme can be a cuisine, a street or a train line. Our guides to Devon Avenue and Argyle Street both work as single-street crawls, and each has a different mood. The Logan Square and Wicker Park guide suits a slower walk.

Keep the crawl on foot or on one train line, so nobody drives between stops and the group stays together.

How do you tag who you ate with in Chicago?

When you rate, the app asks who you were with. Tag people you follow, and they can add their own rating of the same meal. That means one friend's note on the soup sits beside yours, and a third friend can give the dessert a different score. You are not making a group score: each person rates for themselves.

Tag the people who actually ate. It keeps the record honest and lets them see the dish they shared.

How do you share Chicago food ratings after the crawl?

Two ways. First, a shared list: put the stops from the day in a list called Crawl, write a note on why each belongs and send the invite link. Anyone with the link can join as a collaborator, even if they are not on the app yet. Second, friends who follow you can see what you rated and saved.

Add a line at the top with the date and the route, so the list is a record of the day. A year later, you will be glad to see which street you walked and who came with you, and a friend moving to the city can use it as a ready-made weekend.

How this works in the app: Make a list and Rate a place.

What do Friends' picks and following do on the map?

Follow people to see what they rate and save. On the map, switch to Friends' picks to see places the people you follow rated or saved. It is a quick way to plan a next crawl from places your friends already like. The layer shows the people you follow, not a neighborhood, so the places that appear depend on who you follow.

Home also has a section called This week with friends, which shows what they rated and saved recently.

How do you plan a Chicago eating day with friends?

Start with the morning and work through the day. A pastry at nine, a lunch counter at noon, a snack at three and a sit-down dinner at six is a good rhythm, with a walk between each. Share the plan in a list the night before, and put a backup in each slot in case a place is full.

Decide who is in charge of the timing. Someone has to say it is time to move.

How do you keep the day from running long?

Set a limit before you start: three or four stops, a finish time and a place to end. Order small, share everything and leave a bite on the plate rather than clearing it, since the next stop is waiting. Drink water between stops, wear shoes that suit a long walk and carry a bag for leftovers.

If the group is tired, drop the last stop without guilt. A crawl that ends while everyone still wants more is a good one.

What if the friends disagree?

They will, and that is the point. One person loves a dish and another finds it dry. Because each friend rates for themselves, the disagreement is recorded rather than argued over. After a week, look at the ratings side by side and put the dishes you all liked into a new list for the next time someone visits from out of town.

A short note helps. "Broth was great, noodles soft" tells the next person more than a number.

The wider US food guides show how other cities lay out a crawl. If the train ride between stops is long, a daily food game fills the gap, and a run of crawls adds up to a Sampler badge.

Download the Mosey app, rate your first crawl stop by the dish and invite the friend who will argue with you about it.