Rating System

Components of my Rating System

Taste – This is the most obvious one – how did the food taste?

Service – This is pretty subjective – I scale the level of service depending on the price associated with the food (obviously I don’t expect the same level of service at a ramen shop that I would at a fancy French restaurant). Was the staff efficient? Friendly? Knowledgeable? I won’t judge this at small restaurants or if I’m grabbing food to go (unless the experience was particularly terrible).

Ambiance – Did the atmosphere of the restaurant help to enhance the food? I only plan to use this for higher-end restaurants.

Value – Was the food worth the price that I paid? Would I be happy to go back and pay what I paid again?

Overall – This is probably the most subjective score. Rather than taking an average of the scores above, I will post whatever number comes to mind when I think of the dining experience (so take this score with a grain of salt!). If a certain dish is particularly noteworthy, I will likely increase the overall score for just that dish.

Disclaimer: If it seems like the majority of the scores I give are quite generous (7-8), it is because I am a Yelp-aholic. I never go to a restaurant without checking out reviews on Yelp, and rarely go to restaurants with 4 stars or fewer. Thus, the chances of me going to a restaurant that is a 1-2 is slim to almost none!

Explanation of Overall Score

Score	Description	Searchable Tag
0-4	Foul, bordering on dismal	Foul
4.5-6	Sub-par	Subpar
6.5-8	Worth another try (or two)	Worth it
8.5-9.5	Cooked to (almost) perfection	Almost perfect
10	Holy grail	Holy grail