The Rating System

Some of my posts include ratings of food and restaurants. These ratings are by necessity highly subjective, and are also a reflection of the time and place. My visit might have been on a “good” or “bad” day (for the restaurant or for me), my dining companions might have been delightful or grating. All restaurants evolve over time, so a couple years can make a huge difference, for better or for worse. And there is a limit as to how well a single meal can “evaluate” a restaurant, which is why professional reviewers generally make multiple visits.

Dishes and restaurants are rated on a 1-20 scale. At the top end, the scale mirrors Michelin's ratings system:

20 = food that utterly blew me away
19 = exceptional 3-star Michelin
18 = 3-star Michelin
17 = 2-star Michelin
16 = strong 1-star Michelin
15 = 1-star Michelin
14 = very good cooking

Sometimes, I use "19+" as a rating, which is just a shorthand for "19, but really close to 20”.

To be clear, any meal rated at 15 or above will be very enjoyable, so a Michelin 3-star restaurant rated, say, 16 is not actually “bad”. However, it might not meet the expectations created by Michelin and the restaurant's price tag.

As a last note, I'm generally trying to rate “just” the food, and not the ambiance.