LOCAL BENCHMARK · SPARSE
Restaurants in Duluth, MN.
Every business below was observed on Google Maps for "restaurant" targeted at Duluth. Review counts, ratings, and ranks are from the IMPIOUS benchmark snapshot (internal benchmark, Apr 2026).
MEDIAN REVIEWS — TOP 3
376
P25 — MIN TO COMPETE
103
AVG RATING — TOP 3
4.43
DENSITY TIER
SPARSE
TOP-3 MEDIAN REFERRING DOMAINS
100
TOP-3 MEDIAN DFS RANK
113
AI MENTIONS — TOP 3 CITED
0 / 3
AI PLATFORMS
none
| # | BUSINESS | REVIEWS | RATING | REF. DOMAINS | AI CITED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dubh Linn Brew Pub | 376 | 4.2★ | 207 | — |
| 2 | Alto Pino Duluth | 103 | 4.7★ | 49 | — |
| 3 | Sammy's Pizza & Restaurant - Downtown | 720 | 4.4★ | 100 | — |
| 4 | Cantonese House | 318 | 4.0★ | — | — |
| 5 | Lyric Kitchen · Bar | 771 | 4.1★ | — | — |
| 6 | Hanabi Japanese Cuisine | 1191 | 4.5★ | — | — |
| 7 | Pizza Lucé Duluth | 3204 | 4.5★ | — | — |
| 8 | Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant | 141 | 4.2★ | — | — |
| 9 | Thai by Thai | 479 | 3.9★ | — | — |
| 10 | Coney Island Deluxe | 799 | 4.6★ | — | — |
| 11 | Canal Park Brewing Company | 4546 | 4.4★ | — | — |
| 12 | Zeitgeist Restaurant & Bar | 413 | 4.6★ | — | — |
| 13 | Northern Waters Smokehaus | 1825 | 4.7★ | — | — |
| 14 | Fitger's Brewhouse | 1191 | 4.5★ | — | — |
| 15 | Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar | 1096 | 4.4★ | — | — |
| 16 | 310 Pub | 872 | 4.0★ | — | — |
| 17 | Toasty's Sandwich Shop | 375 | 4.6★ | — | — |
| 18 | Green Mill Restaurant & Bar | 1573 | 4.2★ | — | — |
| 19 | OMC Smokehouse | 4146 | 4.6★ | — | — |
| 20 | Cloud 9 | 985 | 4.2★ | — | — |
Market read
Duluth's restaurant market shows stalled growth despite modest competition. The top-3 median review count stands at 376 (internal benchmark, Apr 2026), yet review velocity across these leaders registers at 0/month—indicating either market saturation or engagement plateau. The avg rating of 4.43 masks a 33% spam rate among top performers, suggesting review authenticity remains inconsistent. At the p25 entry threshold of 103 reviews (internal benchmark, Apr 2026), establishments face a 3.6x gap to reach top-3 status. Profile completeness at 75/100 for leaders leaves optimization room. Critically, ChatGPT names none of Google's top-3 when prompted for Duluth's best restaurants, indicating zero AI citation penetration. For a p25 business targeting top-3 rank, accumulating authentic reviews while improving GBP completeness and earning third-party backlinks represents the primary path—not velocity alone.
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.