How Restaurant Listings on OpenTable, Yelp and Delivery Apps Affect What AI Says About You

Which listings feed AI answers about restaurants?

BrightLocal's analysis of 1.9 million AI citations for local questions found Business Profiles were the most cited source, at 28.5%. SE Ranking found that about 36% of Google's links to its own pages in AI Mode pointed to Business Profiles. For restaurants, the profile is the first thing to get right.

Why do AI answers get restaurants wrong?

Almost always because two sources disagree, or one is stale:

• Delivery menus that differ from the restaurant menu in items, names or prices.
• Old hours on one platform, especially after seasonal or holiday changes.
• Closed locations still listed as open on a delivery app or directory.
• Virtual brands and delivery-only kitchens listed under different names at the same address.
• Menus only as PDFs or images on the website, so answers use a delivery app's menu instead.
• Wrong categories, such as "café" instead of "Italian restaurant", which change which questions you appear for.
• Old reviews describing a previous chef or concept.

Restaurant founders auditing whether delivery menus match DoorDash and Uber Eats

A delivery menu audit takes an hour per location and prevents most menu errors in AI answers:

1. Start from a master menu: one spreadsheet with every item, its description, the in-restaurant price, the delivery price, dietary and allergen labels, and whether it is available for delivery.
2. Open each delivery store for each location, on DoorDash, Uber Eats and any others, and compare line by line.
3. Check names and descriptions. "Nonna's lasagne" on the menu and "Beef lasagna" on the app look like two dishes to an answer.
4. Check prices. Many restaurants charge more for delivery to cover commission. That is common and legitimate, but say so on your website: "Delivery prices are higher than dine-in prices." That way an answer quoting the app's price is not presented as your menu price.
5. Check dietary labels. A dish marked vegan on one app and not on another is a real risk. Assistants repeat these labels.
6. Remove discontinued items and seasonal specials that have ended.
7. Check hours and delivery areas for each store.
8. List virtual brands clearly. If you run a delivery-only brand from the same kitchen, make sure its listings are distinct and accurate. Google's Business Profile guidelines allow delivery-only brands under specific conditions, including distinct branding.
9. Record the date and what you changed, and repeat monthly, plus after every menu change.

How should restaurants optimize OpenTable and Resy for AI dining searches?

ChatGPT now books through these platforms using their real-time availability, and their profiles describe you to anyone searching. Google's AI Mode does the same: since November 2025 it checks real-time availability on OpenTable, Resy and Tock in the US, and since April 2026 it books UK tables through OpenTable, TheFork, SevenRooms, ResDiary and other partners. ChatGPT's booking covers the US and Canada only, so outside North America your Google booking partner matters most. Fill them in as if an assistant will read every field:

• Cuisine, neighbourhood and price band, chosen to match how diners ask, such as "Sichuan", "Shoreditch" or "mid-priced".
• A description with specifics: signature dishes, the chef, the setting, what occasions you suit. "Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, natural wines, 40 seats, good for groups of up to 12" answers questions. "A culinary journey" does not.
• Features and tags: outdoor seating, private dining, accessibility, dietary options, dog-friendly, corkage.
• A current menu, not last season's.
• Photos of the room, the food and the entrance.
• Availability. Release real tables to the booking channel. An assistant asked for "somewhere we can book tonight at 8" can only offer restaurants with availability to show.
• Review responses, since review text becomes the assistant's description of you.
• Consistency with your Business Profile: the same name, address, phone, hours and categories.

If you use Resy or OpenTable but not both, that choice matters less than keeping the one you use complete. Yelp matters too, since its data now reaches ChatGPT. Claim your Yelp page, keep its details current and respond to reviews there as well.

How a restaurant can appear in Google AI Overviews without paid ads

Ads do not buy a place in the answer itself. Google shows ads above, below or within AI Overviews as labelled ads, and says advertisers get no special treatment in its results. AI Overviews now appear on most restaurant searches. BrightEdge tracked the share rising from about 10% to about 78% during 2025. To be named in them organically:

• Complete your Business Profile: primary and secondary categories, hours including holidays, the menu through Google's menu editor or a menu link, order and reservation links, attributes and fresh photos. You can mark a preferred online ordering provider in the profile.
• Ask every guest for an honest review where the platform allows requests, and let guests choose their own words: Google does not allow businesses to request specific content, and Yelp asks businesses not to solicit reviews at all. Reviews that happen to name dishes can help with dish-specific questions, but that has to come from the guest.
• Publish your menu as text on your website, with dish names and descriptions. A PDF-only menu gives answers less to quote.
• Get into local guides and press. Answers to "best [cuisine] in [city]" cite local listicles and food writers heavily, as covered in what kinds of local listicles, city press and niche blogs AI engines cite.
• Add Restaurant structured data with servesCuisine, menu, priceRange and acceptsReservations, matching the page.
• Keep every listing consistent, since conflicting hours or addresses weaken all of them.

The broader approach to directories and review sites for local businesses is covered in how local businesses can use Angi, Yelp and Thumbtack to improve AI visibility.

How do you check what AI says about your restaurant?

Each month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google:

• "What are the opening hours of [restaurant] in [area]?"
• "What's on the menu at [restaurant], and is there anything vegan?"
• "Best [cuisine] restaurants in [area] for a group of eight."
• "Can I book [restaurant] for Saturday night?"

Record wrong facts and the source each answer used. A wrong price usually traces to a delivery app. Wrong hours usually trace to a directory or an old profile. A wrong description usually traces to an old review or article. Fix the source, then check again the next month.

What might an illustrative case look like?

Consider an illustrative two-site Lebanese restaurant group that noticed ChatGPT telling diners its second site closed at 9pm, an hour early. It also described a mezze platter that had left the menu. The audit found the second site's Uber Eats hours had never been updated after a change. DoorDash still listed the old platter, and the website menu was a scanned PDF. The team corrected both delivery apps and published the menu as text. It completed the OpenTable profile with private dining details and aligned the Business Profile hours. Over the next two months, answers gave the right hours and began mentioning the private dining room for group questions.

What do people ask about restaurant listings and AI?

Should we leave delivery apps to avoid wrong prices in AI answers?

Not for that reason alone. Keep the listings accurate and state on your site that delivery prices differ.

Does paying for Yelp advertising affect what ChatGPT says?

There is no evidence of that. Yelp's arrangement with OpenAI covers reviews, photos and business information.

Do we need both OpenTable and Resy?

No. A complete, accurate profile on one booking platform, plus Google and Yelp, covers the main routes.

How quickly do corrections show up in AI answers?

Search-based answers can change within days or weeks of a listing update. Licensed data updates on the partner's own schedule.