Google Maps has evolved far beyond a simple navigation tool. For millions of users, it serves as a powerful, automatic diary, silently logging the locations they frequent, the routes they travel, and, most importantly for many, the diverse array of restaurants and eateries they visit. This comprehensive location data is consolidated into a private, personalized feature known as the Google Maps Timeline (formerly Location History), offering a rich archive of past experiences that can be invaluable for recommending places to friends, writing reviews, or simply indulging in a bit of nostalgic culinary reflection.

However, accessing this history and specifically extracting a clean list of all the dining establishments you have visited can sometimes be less than straightforward. Google’s design prioritizes privacy and aggregation, meaning you often need to navigate through several layers of menus and filters to isolate your restaurant history from other tracked locations like work, home, or shopping centers. This guide will provide a detailed, step-by-step methodology, suitable for both desktop and mobile users, ensuring you can efficiently locate, filter, manage, and even export the complete record of your culinary journeys across the globe.

The process outlined here delves into the specifics of Google Maps’ interface across various platforms, teaching you how to utilize the built-in categorization filters, refine your search by specific dates, and manage the underlying privacy settings that govern what data is recorded. By the end of this tutorial, you will possess a complete understanding of how to transform raw location data into a polished, usable list of every restaurant, cafe, and bar that has been a stop on your personal gastronomic map.

Understanding Google Maps Timeline: The Foundation of Your Visit Data

Before diving into the steps, it is essential to grasp the mechanism that records your dining history: the Google Maps Timeline. This feature is reliant on Location History being enabled within your Google Account settings. When this setting is active, Google periodically records and stores precise geographic coordinates from your device, linking them to a database that attempts to identify the commercial establishment at that location and the duration of your stay.

The accuracy of the list of visited restaurants is directly tied to the fidelity of this location data. Google uses several cues to determine a “visit,” including how long you stayed at a recognized Point of Interest (POI) and whether you physically entered the building. It then assigns a category label—such as “Food & Drink,” “Shopping,” or “Travel”—to the location. It is this crucial category label that we will exploit to filter for only restaurants, distinguishing them from all the other places you may have visited on a given day.

The Timeline offers a chronological view of your movements, plotted on a map and summarized in an itinerary for any given day. If Location History has been consistently enabled for years, this archive can stretch back to the very beginning of your Google account usage, providing a surprisingly comprehensive account of your past activities. It is important to note that this data is private and only accessible to you, serving as a powerful, personalized tool when harnessed correctly. However, users must first ensure they are logged into the correct Google Account associated with the travel history they wish to explore.

Prerequisites for Accurate Tracking

To ensure you have a robust and detailed history of visited restaurants, a few settings must be verified on your device:

Location History Must Be Enabled: This is the fundamental setting. If Location History was disabled at any point, there will be gaps in your Timeline, meaning any restaurants visited during that period will not be recorded. Users must manually check and verify this setting in their Google Account Activity Controls.
Device Location Services: Your mobile device (Android or iOS) must have its global location services turned on. Google Maps relies on GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular data to pinpoint your location accurately, ensuring the visit is correctly mapped to the specific restaurant business listing.
Web & App Activity: While not strictly necessary for basic location recording, having Web & App Activity enabled helps Google cross-reference your location data with your search history and app usage. This synergy often improves the accuracy of the location identification, reducing generic “Street Address” entries and assigning a proper restaurant name instead.
Correct Google Account Login: Always confirm you are logged into the Google Account that was actively used on your device during the time period you wish to review. Many people have multiple accounts, and the Timeline data is unique to each individual account.

Step-by-Step Guide to Accessing Your Visited Restaurants on a Desktop

The desktop interface for Google Maps provides the most powerful and comprehensive set of tools for navigating, filtering, and managing your Location History. It offers a larger screen area, which simplifies the task of scrutinizing daily itineraries and applying advanced filters, making it the preferred method for generating a detailed list.

Phase 1: Navigating to the Google Maps Timeline

The first and most crucial step is accessing the Timeline portal. You cannot do this directly from the main Google Maps interface; you must go to the dedicated web page.

Open the Dedicated Timeline URL: In your web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.), go to google.com/maps/timeline. Ensure you are automatically signed in, or sign in manually with the Google Account whose history you wish to view.
Confirm Location History Status: Once the Timeline loads, verify that the map is populated with your travel data. If you see an empty map or a prompt to “Turn on Location History,” you will know that the feature was either never active or has been paused, limiting the available data.
Select the Time Period: At the top of the page, you will see controls for selecting the current year and date. Use the drop-down menu to select the specific year or month you are interested in exploring. If you want to see your entire history, you may need to navigate through different time periods, or utilize the list view to see data aggregated over time.

Phase 2: Applying the Category Filter for Dining Establishments

This is the core action required to isolate restaurants from other recorded locations. Google Maps groups all potential dining locations under the “Food & Drink” category.

Locate the Places Tab: On the left-hand sidebar of the Timeline page, below the date selection, look for the “Places” tab or link. Click on this to open the aggregate view of all visited locations, not just the daily view.
Select the Food & Drink Category: Within the Places section, you will see a list of categories (e.g., Shopping, Hotels, Travel, Sports). Click on the category labeled “Food & Drink” (it may be represented by a fork and knife icon). This action immediately filters the entire Timeline database to show only places identified by Google as a restaurant, cafe, bar, or other dining spot.
Review the Filtered List: The page will now display a categorized breakdown of all the Food & Drink establishments you have ever visited, along with the total number of visits to each one. This list is invaluable, offering a ranked view from most frequent to least frequent visits, providing quick insights into your dining habits.
Examine Detailed Visit Records: Click on any specific restaurant name in the filtered list. A detailed pane will open, showing every individual date you visited that establishment. This feature is perfect for cross-referencing against personal notes, expense reports, or for jogging your memory about a specific meal or event.

Refining Your Search and Managing Privacy Settings

While the category filter provides a broad list, you may need to refine the results or manage the data for privacy reasons. Google Maps provides tools to ensure this large repository of data remains accurate and under your control.

Sometimes, a location may be incorrectly categorized. For example, a gourmet food market may be flagged as “Shopping” instead of “Food & Drink,” or a small cafe inside a museum might be categorized under “Museums.” If you know you visited a specific location that isn’t showing up, you can manually search for it on a specific day via the Timeline date selection, and then manually edit the category or the name of the place, thus correcting the database for future reference.

Editing and Deleting Specific Visits

The ability to manage individual location entries is crucial for maintaining accuracy and protecting privacy. This is an essential management step, especially if you want your list of visited restaurants to be flawless.

Identify the Visit: Navigate to the specific day on the Timeline where the incorrect or unwanted visit is recorded. The left-hand summary will show the locations you visited in chronological order.
Edit or Remove the Stop: Click on the specific location entry (e.g., “Stopped at Starbucks”). An edit panel will appear. You have two main options:
- Edit: You can click the name of the place and type in the correct restaurant name or, if the name is correct but the category is wrong, adjust the category from the drop-down menu (if available).
- Delete: Click the trash can icon next to the entry to remove that specific stop from that day’s itinerary entirely. This is irreversible and removes the data point from your Timeline.
Bulk Deletion Options: For broader privacy control, Google allows you to delete all data within a specified date range or delete all Location History entirely. This is done via the settings gear icon found on the main Timeline page. Use this option with caution, as deleted data cannot be recovered.

The option to auto-delete history is also highly recommended for privacy-conscious users. Within your Google Account Activity Controls for Location History, you can set a retention period (3 months, 18 months, or 36 months). Once set, any history older than this period is automatically and permanently deleted, preventing an indefinite log of your movements and ensuring your restaurant list only contains recent visits.

Accessing and Filtering Visited Restaurants on Mobile Devices

While the desktop interface is superior for bulk data management and filtering, the majority of users access Google Maps via the mobile app (Android or iOS). The steps are slightly different, focusing more on quick, chronological access rather than aggregate list views.

On Android and iOS (Google Maps App)

The process is nearly identical on both major mobile operating systems, as it relies on the Google Maps application interface itself.

Open Google Maps and Access Profile: Launch the Google Maps app and tap your Profile picture (or initial) located in the top-right corner of the search bar.
Navigate to Your Timeline: In the menu that appears, tap “Your Timeline.” This will take you to the same Location History data, presented in a mobile-optimized view, starting with the current day.
Apply the Categories Filter: On the mobile Timeline screen, look for the navigation bar or tabs, usually located near the top. You should see a “Places” tab. Tap this.
Select Dining Category: The Places tab presents the same category list as the desktop version. Scroll down until you find the “Food & Drink” category and tap it. The app will then generate a list of all detected restaurant visits, displaying the total number of locations and the overall number of visits to each location.
Explore Individual Locations: Tapping on any restaurant name in this filtered list will open a dedicated page showing the location’s official details (reviews, hours, photos) and a small timeline of your visits. This mobile view is great for quickly checking the date of your last visit to a particular spot.

The primary advantage of the mobile interface is its immediacy. If you are standing outside a restaurant and can’t remember if you’ve been there, a few quick taps can bring up your personal history instantly. This real-time access to past data significantly enhances the utility of the feature for daily decision-making, such as deciding where to eat lunch or suggesting a novel dining experience for a date.

Advanced Data Utility: Leveraging Your Visited Restaurant Data

Once you have mastered finding and filtering your list of visited restaurants, the next logical step is to utilize this data in advanced ways. This can range from writing helpful reviews for the community to downloading and exporting the raw data for personal data analysis or backup purposes, granting you true ownership over your information.

Contributing Reviews and Photos to Specific Locations

One of the most immediate uses of your visited restaurant list is to contribute back to the Google Maps community as a Local Guide. A visit recorded in your Timeline acts as a verified confirmation that you have been to that place, allowing you to easily contribute.

Here is how your history simplifies the process:

Open the Contributions Tab: In the Google Maps mobile app, tap your Profile picture and then select “Your Contributions.”
Locate “Unreviewed Visits”: Google Maps often highlights a list of places you’ve recently visited but have not yet reviewed. This list is sourced directly from your Timeline.
Quickly Add Ratings and Photos: By tapping on a restaurant from this list, you can immediately add a star rating, write a short review, and upload photos you took while you were there. This connection between your Location History and the review mechanism makes it frictionless to share your dining experiences with the public, helping other users make informed choices.

This process of contributing reviews and photos not only benefits the public but also earns you points as a Local Guide, which can unlock minor perks and recognition within the Google ecosystem. The visited restaurants list acts as a powerful reminder queue, ensuring you don’t miss the opportunity to document any noteworthy dining experience.

Exporting Your Complete Location Data via Google Takeout

For users who want a permanent, offline record of every single location they have ever visited—including all the restaurants—Google provides a comprehensive export tool called Google Takeout. This is the only official method for downloading your raw Location History data for external use or long-term archiving.

Follow these steps to generate a complete backup of your restaurant history:

Navigate to Google Takeout: In a web browser, go to takeout.google.com and sign in with the relevant Google Account.
Deselect All Products: The page defaults to selecting all your Google data. To speed up the process and focus on the map data, click “Deselect all.”
Select Location History: Scroll down the list until you find “Location History” (or “Google Maps Timeline”) and check the box next to it. This ensures only the geographic data is included in the export.
Choose Data Format: Click the “Multiple formats” button next to Location History. The format will be JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), which is a standard, structured text file that can be easily parsed by various programming tools or converted into a spreadsheet.
Customize Archive and Create Export: Click “Next Step.” You will then set your file type (ZIP recommended), archive size, and delivery method (usually a link emailed to you). Click “Create export.”

Google will then begin processing your request, which can take a few hours or a few days, depending on the volume of data accumulated over years of use. Once the export is complete, you will receive an email link to download a ZIP file containing a JSON file named “Records.json.” This file contains every single recorded latitude and longitude data point, which can be analyzed with external tools to regenerate your full list of visited restaurants.

The Detailed Breakdown of Raw Data Analysis

The JSON file exported via Google Takeout is essentially a massive list of time stamps and coordinates. While it is raw, it holds the most accurate record of your movements. To extract only the restaurant names, external tools or simple programming scripts are necessary, as the JSON file does not come pre-filtered with the “Food & Drink” category label. The complexity of this data is why utilizing the in-app filters described earlier is much easier for casual users.

However, for technical users, this raw data offers unparalleled control. It includes:

Timestamp (milliseconds since epoch): This high-precision time data allows for incredibly accurate chronological sorting and timing analysis of every visit. You can calculate the exact duration of your stay at any restaurant down to the second.
Latitude and Longitude Coordinates: These are the physical data points recorded by your device, which can be plotted directly onto any mapping software for visualization purposes. This is the foundation from which all other analysis is built.
Accuracy Data (Hedgehog Data): This value indicates the radius of accuracy, often measured in meters. A smaller radius (e.g., 10m) means the device was very confident in your precise location, while a larger radius (e.g., 50m) suggests a more estimated location, which is useful for filtering out unreliable data points.
Activity Segments: Inferred activities (e.g., walking, driving, standing still) are sometimes included, helping to differentiate between a simple drive-by and an actual, prolonged visit. A “STILL” or “WALKING” segment followed by a long duration is a good indicator of a purposeful visit.
WiFi and Cell Tower Information: For historical data, this information was sometimes recorded, offering a means to locate the device when GPS was weak, providing a secondary layer of verification for the accuracy of a recorded restaurant visit.
Velocity and Altitude Data: These fields, while less critical for restaurant finding, allow for the computation of speed and elevation changes, helping to further refine the context of the recorded movement around the dining establishment.
Inferred Place IDs: Crucially, some modern data points contain Google Place IDs, which are unique identifiers for known businesses. These IDs are the key to efficiently linking the raw coordinates back to the known name and category (e.g., “The Best Cafe”) by querying the Google Places API (though this requires development knowledge).

Extracting this data is a powerful exercise in personal data management, but for the vast majority of users, sticking to the in-app “Food & Drink” category filter is the faster, more practical method for viewing their visited restaurant list.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting for Location History

Maintaining an accurate list of visited restaurants requires proactive management and understanding of common issues that can lead to missing data or miscategorization.

Addressing Missing or Inaccurate Visit Data

If you know you visited a restaurant that does not appear in your filtered list, the issue is almost always one of three factors:

Location History Was Disabled: As mentioned, the most common culprit. The data simply wasn’t recorded during that period.
Poor GPS Accuracy: If you visited a restaurant in a basement or a highly dense urban area (surrounded by tall buildings), the GPS signal might have been too weak. Your phone may have only recorded the nearest cell tower or Wi-Fi network location, leading to a generalized address that Google Maps fails to associate with a specific business POI.
The Location is Unlisted or Misidentified: Small or new restaurants may not yet be officially registered with Google Maps, or the recorded coordinates may have been mistakenly linked to a neighboring business (e.g., the shop next door). In this case, you must manually correct the entry via the Timeline date view on the desktop or mobile app.

To fix misidentified places, simply go to the specific day on your Timeline, click the incorrectly named location, and use the search bar within the edit box to look up and select the correct restaurant name. Once you select the correct business, Google will update the entry and its associated category, ensuring it appears correctly in your “Food & Drink” filter going forward. This continuous correction helps train Google’s system and improves its accuracy for everyone.

Tips for Enhancing Future Location Tracking

To maximize the fidelity of your future restaurant visit lists, consider the following best practices:

Keep Wi-Fi Enabled: Even when not connected to a network, having Wi-Fi scanning enabled significantly boosts location accuracy, as Google uses the location of nearby access points to triangulate your position, especially indoors where GPS signals are poor.
Open Google Maps on Arrival: When you arrive at a new restaurant, intentionally open the Google Maps app and allow it to pinpoint your location. This action creates a strong, accurate data point that helps the Timeline confidently assign your visit to that specific Point of Interest.
Contribute Directly: The best way to ensure a restaurant is correctly listed and categorized is to become a Local Guide. If you encounter a new or small place, consider adding it to the map or correcting its information, directly benefiting both yourself and the community.

By diligently managing these settings and occasionally reviewing your Timeline for errors, you ensure that the automatic record of your dining adventures remains a precise and comprehensive resource. The Timeline is more than a list; it is a meticulously kept digital record of personal history, providing detailed, factual data about your movements that you have the power to control and utilize.

Conclusion

The ability to find, view, and manage a historical list of visited restaurants in Google Maps is a powerful, yet often underutilized, feature of the Location History service. By understanding that this information is aggregated under the private Google Maps Timeline and filtered specifically by the “Food & Drink” category, users can quickly access a comprehensive and chronological record of their dining experiences across both desktop and mobile platforms. While the desktop interface offers the best tools for detailed filtering and bulk management, the mobile application provides essential, instantaneous access to this data for on-the-go verification and review contributions. Ultimately, whether you are seeking a forgotten favorite, aiming to write community reviews, or looking to export your complete data archive, mastering the Timeline is the key to unlocking the full potential of your personal location intelligence.