Restaurant Listing - Ambiguous Real-World Problem Discussion

Requirements: An open-ended, ambiguous product/systems discussion tied to a real Zomato feature: how would you design/improve the listing of restaurants shown to a user (e.g., ranking, filtering by cuisine/distance/rating, handling restaurants that are temporarily closed or out of delivery radius)?

Design: Since the question is intentionally ambiguous, the interviewer is evaluating how you scope the problem: clarify constraints first (ranking by relevance vs distance vs promoted placements, how 'closed' restaurants should be excluded/deprioritized, how frequently listing data refreshes). Discuss a retrieval + ranking pipeline: a geo-indexed store (e.g., using geohashing or an R-tree/quad-tree) to fetch nearby restaurants quickly, followed by a ranking stage blending distance, rating, past order history/personalization signals, and business rules (sponsored placement). Call out caching strategy for popular areas, and how you'd handle real-time restaurant availability toggling without stale listings.