What influences your choice in terms of places to eat?

Word of mouth and generally somewhere that catches my eye. Only problem is Sheffield has such an eclectic mix of eateries that there isn't enough days in the week to try them all! Recently eaten at Summerhouse, Peppercorn, Piccolinos, Pieminister and Kitos and all but one were fabulous. I tend to take some of the Trip Advisor and 'independent' reviews with a pinch of salt though *excuse the pun

Price vs. Performance

The sense that what you paid versus how much you enjoyed it made it worth doing rather than eating at home.

As for how I find these places - a mixture of the usual places mentioned above, plus google, going to the website directly if possible, and word of mouth from friends and family - although I find this the least reliable.

We generally use trip advisor when going out somewhere other than Sheffield - mainly on holiday in France and Italy or weekends away over here - plus recommendations from owners of wherever we're staying, be it B&B, hotel, campsite, gite etc.

We're looking for good value for money and local / regional specialities and a decent wine list. We're both quite big so we like a bit of room, comfortable chairs, and appreciate friendly, professional service.

We're moving to France in a couple of months, and fortunately the restaurant in our local village has all the above in spades - 23 euro for 3 courses with an amuse bouche thrown in plus a good house wine at 3.5 euro for a big glass.