Looking for a few good restaurants

So we decide tonight that we want to try out a restaurant.  I do my usual google map search, but thus far in this location it hasn't done me any good at all.  It doesn't know where anything is at, and it only knows of a few shops.  I don't know if google maps only captured data from 10 years ago, if google maps said that the few places it does pin are the only ones worthy of note, or if google maps just didn't care about mapping this area.

At any rate, I ditch Google Maps, and move on to Yelp.  I am looking for a good restaurant, so I figure that I should go to the mother of sites on this.  (Oh shoot - I guess I should start looking at Chowhound and some other non-usual places because Yelp is not helping either.  This is just a side note.)  I do a search on F'burg, and I think it pulls back like 20 places.  Really?  So, then I do a zip search.  Ok now we have more than a few pages.  Then I sort by ratings.  Good gawd.  I shouldn't be surprised, but I still am.  Who the heck gives McDonald's 4 stars?!  Where am I that people would give McDonald's 4 stars?!  Oh yeah, I'm at the same place that has a fast food place called, "Steak and Shake."

So, then, silly me, I do a filter of only looking at high ratings with $$ or more (i.e. not fast food).  Well, apparently, it's all relative.  Most of the places that were coming up were Chinese, Sushi (not the real sushi as you and I know it, but the sushi made by non-Japanese because we all look-alike), Thai, and Korean.  And actually, the Asian restaurants were considered expensive ($$$).  Maybe Yelp should put some dollar figures around what these symbols mean.  I guarantee you that these aren't high-end places like the ones we had in Danville, Alamo, and California in general that would warrant the $$$ or $$$+.

Anyway, we ended up doing what everyone else does here which is go to one of the chain places.  I suppose it doesn't hurt because you have some idea of what you are getting, sort of (hopefully quality does not vary, even if the menu stays the same).  I'm still trying to find the happy medium between mediocre chain (think Applebees) to high-end (which I'm hearing is "Old Towne Steak and Seafood").  Is there anything in between here??