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An eyebrow-raising new website is using artificial intelligence to rate restaurants — not for their food or service, but for the physical attractiveness of their customers.
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The site, looksmapping.com, was created by 22-year-old programmer Riley Walz, who fed an AI model millions of Google review profile photos and asked it to rate the faces on a 1-to-10 scale. The average of those ratings then gets assigned to the restaurants themselves, producing a “hotness” score for each establishment based on who eats there.
If that sounds absurd, reductive, and wildly flawed — it is. Walz told The New York Times he built the site as satire: “It’s making fun of A.I.,” he said. The homepage of the site leans into the criticism: “The model is certainly biased. It’s certainly flawed. But we judge places by the people who go there. We always have.”
Still, flawed or not, the data is out there — and so are the rankings. Here are some of the highest-rated restaurants on the Upper East Side, strictly in terms of customer attractiveness:
- Koo Thai at 1758 First Avenue (10)
- Armani/Ristorante at 760 Madison Avenue (9.8)
- Tha Phraya at 1553 Second Avenue (9.2)
- Grata Thai Cuisine at 1099 First Avenue (9.2)
- Hutong New York at 731 Lexington Avenue (9)
Meanwhile, several neighborhood favorites didn’t exactly impress the algorithm. Restaurants with some of the lowest-rated customers (according to this bizarre metric) include:
- Quatorze at 1578 First Avenue (1)
- Cafe Evergreen at 1367 First Avenue (1.6)
- Gracie’s Diner at 1633 Second Avenue (1.7)
- Finnegan’s Wake at 1361 First Avenue (1.8)
- Due at 1396 Third Avenue (1.9)
Of course, it’s all nonsense — and a bit of a roast. But like any mirror held up to society, it reflects back some uncomfortable truths, even if it’s funhouse-shaped. Whether you’re a 10 or a 1 (or just hungry), these ratings are best taken with a grain of salt — and maybe a stiff drink.
Here are the ‘hottest’ restaurants on the Upper West Side.
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