Restaurant Reviews

Many of us have the opportunity to experience a meal from hundreds of food establishments/services in our lifetime. We have our favorites, the one we only do take out, others for special occasions and of course our bucket list.

There are several Apps and web browsers engine that lead you to their rating system, helping you to find the perfect spot for a fantastic or a horrible food and/or service experience.

Let’s keep in mind that there are several ways to rate a restaurant:

• By professionals, food critics, Chefs, Food Experts, etc. Normally on scale from one to 3 stars
  • Generally, these ratings are pretty solid and provide you with enough information to take the right decision on your next culinary experience.
• By State Health Departments (upon the State, rating can go from below 60 to 100 points scale or letters A,B,C)
  • In this category, the answer is very clear, DON’T EAT at a restaurant rated under 60 or with a letter C. In my opinion, there is no reason for a restaurant to not rate 100 or  letter A on their health inspection. I leave to your discretion any number or letter in between. 
• By customers reviews. Most common scale one to 5 stars

Unless we take the time to read each of those ‘starts’ reviews, especially when we rely on other customer opinions, we assume that 5 stars are our best/secure options. 

Not to fast! There are several articles online that explain why you should take a little more time to better understand:

1. ‘Why’ people rate a restaurant
2. Time of year, day, location, and reason that customer visited the restaurant
3. Was really the service, FOOD, ambience, layout, or the overall experience that the person liked/enjoyed?
4. Finally… the number of people in the party and/or the occasion

All these factors can mislead a good review.  Further more, we must ask ourselves about how these companies aggregate the information and average their rating system.