The best ramen restaurants in Tokyo according to Artificial Intelligence

With the publication of the Michelin Guide to Tokyo 2020 and confirmation of the city’s status as the most Michelin starred city in the world it is clear there is a massive amount of choice for people looking to eat out.

With a population of some 14 million people, there is a virtually immeasurable amount of different tastes and preferences. Add to that the fact that as much as one in seven online reviews is fake and it can be a tricky business trusting reviews.

Michelin can most definitely be trusted for the high-end fine dining restaurants, but what about the thousands of street food vendors and tiny ramen shops?

A Japanese company has compiled a list of what they claim are the best ramen restaurants in Tokyo using Artificial Intelligence.

TDAI Lab, an AI algorithm solution development start-up, created Wise Review, a technology that sifts through thousands of online reviews to define an objective ranking.

More than 4000 online reviews were analyzed. To be included in the data set, the restaurant had to have a minimum of 100 reviews on Google and the reviewers had to have posted a minimum of five reviews since the beginning of the year.

"It automatically detects unreliable reviews such as 'anti' (ill-willed reviewers) or 'sakura' (hired applauder), and AI proposes the true values of things," states TDAI Lab's press release announcing their findings.

The technology can also weed out suspect reviews such as those that use language too similar to menu descriptions.

Which is the best ramen restaurant in Tokyo?

The number one position was hardly a revelation as Aoshima Shokudou in Tokyo’s Akihabara area is famous for its ginger shoyu ramen. The restaurant already held the thirteenth position on Google, but came out on top after the AI analysis.

For a ramen restaurant to climb thirteen positions is hardly a drastic change, however, some other rankings shifted a lot more with the one that decreased the most dropping 336 positions.