Restaurant rating

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Restaurant ratings identify restaurants according to their quality, using various notations such as stars or other symbols, or numbers. Stars are a familiar and popular symbol, with ratings of one to four or five stars commonly used. Ratings appear in guidebooks as well as in the media, typically in newspapers, lifestyle magazines and webzines. Websites featuring consumer-written reviews and ratings are increasingly popular.

In addition, there are ratings given by public health agencies rating the level of food safety practiced by an establishment. These ratings are given from a numerical scale, with 100 being a perfect score and points deducted for each violation, such as keeping food too hot or cold. From that, a letter grade is often assigned, from A through F.

1 Restaurant guides
- 1.1 Rating criteria
- 1.2 Ratings impact
2 Public health
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Restaurant guides

Restaurant guides list the best places to eat. One of the most famous of these, in Western Europe, is the Michelin series of guides which accord from one to three stars to restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit. The Michelin Red Guide is the Holy Grail of sorts, awarding up to three stars. One star indicates "interesting"; two stars indicate a place well worth visiting if one is in the vicinity; three stars means "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey." Stars are awarded strictly for cuisine and service; a separate scale of 1 to 5 denotes luxury, and is symbolized by a crossed fork-and-spoon icon. Aside from certain scandals, Michelin recently came under fire when a chef committed suicide after he was rumoured to be in danger of a downgrade by Michelin from three to two stars. However, most news reports attributed this suicide to a downgrade by the rival Gault Millau guide, the Michelin guide having stated he would not be downgraded.

In the United States, the Mobil Travel Guides and the American Automobile Association rate restaurants on a similar 1 to 5 star (Mobil) or Diamond (AAA) scale. Three, four, and five star/diamond ratings are roughly equivalent to the Michelin one, two, and three star ratings while one and two star ratings typically indicate more casual places to eat.

In 2005, Michelin released a New York City guide, its first for the United States- and was roundly criticzed for favoring French cuisine restaurants while ignoring other excellent establishments. The popular Zagat Survey compiles consumer comments rather than relying on professional food critics, and rates restaurants on a numerical 30-point scale. Their reviews cover over 70 major markets worldwide.

Nearly all major American newspapers employ restaurant critics and publish online dining guides for the cities they serve. American newspaper restaurant critics typically visit dining establishments anonymously and return several times so as to sample the entire menu. Newspaper restaurant guides, therefore, tend to provide the most thorough coverage of various cities' dining options.

[edit] Rating criteria

Ratings may be based on food quality alone, or include other factors, such as service and ambiance. What is known about the Michelin Red Guide is that one star=interesting, 2 stars=worth visiting if in the vicinity, 3 stars=make the effort to visit that particular establishment for the best dining experience.

On Wednesday 21st June, 2006, BBC America aired a current episode of Chef Gordon Ramsay's show, "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares". Ramsay invited an inspector to sample the cuisine at a restaurant in Inverness, Scotland. Later Ramsay invited the former president of Michelin Red to dine at the same restaurant. Though both inspectors were satisfied, Ramsay pointed out the conscientiousness of their inspections but also that inspectors' criteria are carefully guarded secrets. Ramsay stated that no one but the inspectors have the foggiest idea exactly how restaurants are rated.

Ultimately, the restaurant Ramsay went to assist was encouraged to use Scots produce and local ingredients-- and was later reported to have earned a Michelin star. (There are claims that this restaurant is not currently the best in Scotland. Two other restaurants in Scotland currently listed in the Red Guide serving far better food are Martin Wisharts and Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles.)

Ramsay's show and the current controversies surrounding Michelin's guide have perhaps sharpened and improved inspection criteria. For more information, see Michelin Guide or visit Chef Gordon Ramsay's website.

[edit] Ratings impact

A top restaurant rating can mean success or failure for a restaurant, particularly when bestowed by influential sources like Michelin or the New York Times. Three stars in the Times' four-star system denotes excellent, and is a class unto itself, considerably harder to get than two- or one-stars, while its rare four-star "extraordinary" rating is typically held by fewer than a dozen of New York's 20,000 restaurants. The influence goes beyond business success; writing about former Times chief dining critic Ruth Reichl, a US food columnist noted that Reichl's reviews and star-rating "made and broke reputations and fortunes and generally influenced the direction of the city's—indeed, to a lesser degree, the country's—restaurant scene."^[1]

Michelin listed only 54 three-star restaurants for worldwide in 2005. The Mobil listed 14 five-star and 140 four-star ratings restaurants in the US and Canada in 2005.[2]

[edit] Public health

Restaurant ratings for public health are a relatively recent phenomenon. In 1997, a KCBS-TV sweeps news story called Behind The Kitchen Door focused attention on problems in Los Angeles's top restaurants. The station used hidden cameras to catch restaurant employees practicing unsafe food handling practices such as picking up food from the floor and re-serving it, vermin crawling near food to be served, or mixing uncooked meat and vegetables. [3] The report also reviewed inspection reports, which have always been public but were available only on request and required a personal visit to the health department, and found that many problems were already noted in the inspection reports but were not adequately publicized.

Public outrage resulted in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to pass the world's first "restaurant grading" ordinance. Instead of only listing violations in a report, the restaurant inspection system was changed to a standardized scale ranking with a certain number of points deducted for each violation. Letter grades were required to be prominently posted at all establishments selling food, and all establishments were required to provide a copy of the inspection to any customer on request. Grades are also available at the County Public Health Department's web site. Public health grading has spread to many locations around the world since then.

As a result of restaurant grading, public health has improved. Stanford University researchers found that only 25% of restaurants were performing at the "A" level in 1996, before grading was implemented. In 1998, after the report aired and the posting of grades were required, over 50% of restaurants were performing at an "A" level. In 2006, 88% of restaurants were performing at the "A" level. [4] Correspondingly, revenues at "A" rated restaurants increased by 5.7%, and "B" rated restaurants had increased revenues by 0.7%, while "C" rated restaurants experienced a drop in revenue by 1%. The introduction of grade posting resulted in a 20% drop in the number of patients admitted to the hospital for food related illnesses. Finally, the quality of restaurants in the entire county became more equitable, with the average score going from 74.5 to 89.8 in restaurants located in areas below the median county income, compared to 78.8 to 89.5 in restaurants located in areas above the median county income, in the year after restaurant grading was implemented. [5]