Mental maps concept emerged in discussions among experts since the 1960s where the concept was combined using participatory in exploring the visualization of the city and spatial preferences. This study discusses the characteristics of popular eating places based on an evaluation of spatial products in the discussion of space. For comparison purposes, it takes participants who need to fill in the required form about the characteristics of the eating place based on their favorite places to eat and analyze the printed map and mental map. Universitas Hassanudin students are selected as research participants. They chose to map three of their favorite eating places in Tamalanrea Indah Village as a basis to determine their popular eating places while revealing their mental maps. In total, there are 10 participants which produced 18 names of favorite eating places. Ten respondents who were willing to fill in the map, and evaluate the mental maps, is compared. From the data obtained, the three most popular places to eat in Tamalanrea Indah Village that were successfully validated were Bokatana, Waroeng Dian and Warung Alhamdulillah. In general, the mental map produced is based on the variable length of stay and length of study at the Universitas Hassanudin which affects the accuracy of the mental maps, while for popular eating places students are selected based on the distance from the faculty to compare the distance of the residence.