Google assuming location of search versus stated in inquiry…

Has anyone figured out when google uses location data vs when it does not?

It’s like Google has a back end list of things it will assume location.

I can search for “steakhouse” and get similar results as “steakhouse in (my town)”.

Yet other searches, the generic search term vs city specific search term yields vastly different results.

Has anyone cracked this code?

I am guessing a lot of people searching for items type in what they are looking for and assume google will use their location to provide the most accurate results… but this isn’t always the case.