Of the 20 coffee shops someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, not one had answered any of its recent reviews. That is the plainest fact in this snapshot. Those same shops carry a median of 114.5 Google reviews and a median rating of 4.65, and the most-reviewed among them carries 522.
The dental practices in the search look very different. Among the dentists we read, Forest North Dental and Ross & Durrett Family Dental each answered 10 of their last 10 reviews, and Lake Forest Smiles answered 9 of 10. Among the orthodontists, The Smilelist, Lake Forest Smiles and Forest Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry each answered 9 of 10. Lake Forest Smiles appears among both the dentists and the orthodontists named here. The median dentist we read carries 53 reviews; the median orthodontist carries 65.
In food and drink, the replies we can see come from a few named listings. Among the restaurants we read, Deer Path Inn answered 9 of its last 10 on a listing of 1,037 reviews, the most-reviewed restaurant we read, and Francesca's answered 9 of 10 on 879. The Lantern Of Lake Forest answered 3 of 10, and it appears among the restaurants, cafés, bars and bakeries named here. Among the food trucks, Full Moon Family Restaurant answered 10 of 10 on a listing of 2,501 reviews. The median restaurant we read carries 282.5 reviews; the most-reviewed food truck listing carries 7,874.
Elsewhere, among the nail salons we read, Top Spa & Nail answered 10 of 10 on 280 reviews and Astra Nails & Spa 6 of 10. Among the gyms, Performance Factory Training answered 10 of 10 on 170. The hair salons we read carry a median of 28.5 reviews, and the most-reviewed carries 77; Studio North Men's Hair Design answered 2 of its last 10. The benchmark measured here, across 25 businesses, puts the share of recent reviews a typical measured business answered at 58%.
What to do about it
If you run a coffee shop, the figure to beat in this snapshot is 0: none of the 20 coffee shops we read had answered a recent review. Start with your newest reviews and answer each one, positive or negative, in a sentence or two that responds to what the customer actually wrote. You do not write the review, but you do write the reply.
For every other trade, the named businesses give you a concrete figure to measure yourself against: Forest North Dental and Top Spa & Nail answered 10 of their last 10, Deer Path Inn 9 of 10, and the benchmark measured here is 58%. Open your own listing, count your last 10 reviews, and count how many carry a reply. That one number tells you where you stand next to them. Then answer the ones still waiting, and keep answering each new review as it comes in.
Food & drink in Lake Forest, IL
Among the coffee shops someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, not one of the 20 we read had answered any of its recent reviews. That is the plainest fact in this section. Across their whole listing history, the median review count for those coffee shops is 114.5 and the median rating is 4.65; the three most-reviewed carry 522, 365 and 352 reviews.
The restaurants we read look different at the top. Deer Path Inn answered 9 of its last 10 reviews, on a listing of 1,037, and Francesca's answered 9 of 10 on 879. The Lantern Of Lake Forest answered 3 of 10 on 766. Over the whole listing history, the median restaurant we read has 282.5 reviews and a median rating of 4.6.
| Trade | Median reviews | Median rating | Answers reviews best | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 282.5 | 4.6 | Deer Path Inn | 9 of 10 |
| Cafés | 118 | 4.7 | The Lantern Of Lake Forest | 3 of 10 |
| Coffee shops | 114.5 | 4.65 | — | |
| Bars | 114 | 4.7 | Deer Path Inn | 9 of 10 |
| Bakeries | 121 | 4.5 | The Lantern Of Lake Forest | 3 of 10 |
| Food trucks | 466 | 4.5 | Full Moon Family Restaurant | 10 of 10 |
Hair, nails & barbering in Lake Forest, IL
Among the nail salons someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, Top Spa & Nail answered 10 of its 10 most recent reviews, on a listing carrying 280 reviews, the most of any nail salon we read. Among the hair salons in the same search, the business answering the most of its recent reviews, of those we could measure, answered 2 of 10.
We read 20 hair salons. The median one carries 28.5 Google reviews and a median rating of 4.75; the three most-reviewed carry 77, 62 and 54. Studio North Men's Hair Design answered 2 of its 10 most recent reviews, on a listing of 62 reviews, and OriMay Salón answered 1 of 10, on a listing of 54. Those are the hair salons we can name as replying. It says nothing about how the other hair salons we read handled their reviews, so we claim nothing about them.
| Trade | Median reviews | Median rating | Answers reviews best | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair salons | 28.5 | 4.75 | Studio North Men's Hair Design | 2 of 10 |
| Nail salons | 42 | 4.5 | Top Spa & Nail | 10 of 10 |
See every hair, nails & barbering business we read in Lake Forest →
Fitness & wellness in Lake Forest, IL
Among the gyms someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, Performance Factory Training answered 10 of its last 10 Google reviews. Every one of the reviews we checked on that listing carries a reply from the owner, and the listing holds 170 reviews in total.
We read 20 gyms in this catchment. The median gym we read carries 36 Google reviews, and the median rating is 5. The three most-reviewed listings carry 282, 223 and 170 reviews. Those are totals across each listing's whole history; they show where the middle and the top of this set sit, and nothing about when those reviews were written.
| Trade | Median reviews | Median rating | Answers reviews best | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gyms | 36 | 5 | Performance Factory Training | 10 of 10 |
See every fitness & wellness business we read in Lake Forest →
Dental & orthodontics in Lake Forest, IL
Among the dental and orthodontic practices someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, the ones we could see answering the most each replied to 9 or 10 of their last 10 reviews. Among the dentists we read, Forest North Dental answered 10 of its last 10 reviews, Ross & Durrett Family Dental answered 10 of 10, and Lake Forest Smiles answered 9 of 10. Among the orthodontists, The Smilelist, Lake Forest Smiles and Forest Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry each answered 9 of their last 10. Lake Forest Smiles appears among both the dentists and the orthodontists named here.
Those reply figures cover each practice's most recent 10 reviews only. The review totals below are whole listing histories, a different measure. We read 20 dentists and 20 orthodontists. The median dentist we read carries 53 Google reviews; the median orthodontist carries 65. The three most-reviewed dentists carry 592, 434 and 419 reviews, and the three most-reviewed orthodontists carry 592, 464 and 434. The named practices sit on listings of their own size: Forest North Dental at 419 reviews, Ross & Durrett Family Dental at 362, Lake Forest Smiles at 434, The Smilelist at 464, and Forest Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at 319.
| Trade | Median reviews | Median rating | Answers reviews best | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dentists | 53 | 4.9 | Forest North Dental | 10 of 10 |
| Orthodontists | 65 | 4.85 | The Smilelist | 9 of 10 |
See every dental & orthodontics business we read in Lake Forest →
Method
Every figure comes from public Google listings — the businesses and owner replies any customer can see — read on 2026-09-24. Counts describe the businesses someone searching in Lake Forest, IL is shown, which is the competitive set a customer actually chooses from, not a register of businesses inside the city limits. A business is named only where we read at least eight of its recent reviews, and only the ones answering the most are named; the rest of a market appears as a distribution with its denominator. Chains are counted but never named. Nothing is ranked on star rating. Lake Forest, IL has a population of 19,190 and a median household income of $228,120 (US Census) — context for the town, not a predictor of its reviews.