LOCAL BENCHMARK · SPARSE

Restaurants in Akron, OH.

Every business below was observed on Google Maps for "restaurant" targeted at Akron. Review counts, ratings, and ranks are from the IMPIOUS benchmark snapshot (internal benchmark, Apr 2026).

MEDIAN REVIEWS — TOP 3

620

P25 — MIN TO COMPETE

433

AVG RATING — TOP 3

4.50

DENSITY TIER

SPARSE

TOP-3 MEDIAN REFERRING DOMAINS

183

TOP-3 MEDIAN DFS RANK

187

AI MENTIONS — TOP 3 CITED

1 / 3

AI PLATFORMS

GPT

# BUSINESS REVIEWS RATING REF. DOMAINS AI CITED
1 Crave 1377 4.3 251 cited
2 The Lockview Restaurant 620 4.5 183
3 Eddies Famous Cheesesteaks And Grille 433 4.7 57
4 United States Potato Service 22 4.9
5 El Patron Tequileria 750 4.3
6 Lala's 0 0.0
7 United States Pierogi Service | Akron 5 3.8
8 Bar Phoenix & the Phoenix Room 41 4.2
9 The 1 Food & Spirits 103 4.7
10 The Plannerz Place Eatery 177 4.8
11 Akronym Brewing 369 4.8
12 Barley House 1378 3.6
13 Circle of 5ths 28 4.7
14 Chameleon Cafe Akron 336 4.7
15 Street Treats Grill 51 4.4
16 The Breakfast express by Mealionaire 0 0.0
17 Good Company (Akron) 384 4.6
18 Luigi's Restaurant 5522 4.5
19 Lock 15 Brewing Company 2187 4.6
20 Diamond Deli 1443 4.9

Market read

Akron's restaurant market shows zero review velocity among top performers despite median review counts of 620 (internal benchmark, Apr 2026)—suggesting saturation rather than active growth. The top-3 average 4.5-star ratings with 75/100 Google Business Profile completeness, yet carry a 33% spam rate that warrants scrutiny. Density remains SPARSE, indicating limited competitive clustering. Backlink authority concentrates heavily: top-3 median referring domains reach 183 with DFS rank 187, while AI citation data shows one top-3 restaurant named by ChatGPT for local searches. For a pack-entry business at 433 reviews (p25 floor), reaching top-3 status requires closing a 187-review gap while addressing profile completeness gaps and review authenticity—organic velocity appears blocked across the tier.

See "The Review Gap Is Smaller Than Everyone Thinks" for the cross-city pattern and "What the Top-3 Actually Have on Their Backlink Profile" for the backlink + AI-citation breakdown.