Restaurant rating
Encyclopedia
Restaurant ratings identify restaurant
s 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 newspaper
s, lifestyle magazine
s and webzines. Websites featuring consumer-written reviews and ratings are increasingly popular, but are far less reliable.
In addition, there are ratings given by public health
agencies rating the level of sanitation
practiced by an establishment.
which accord from one to three stars to quality restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit. The Michelin Red Guide is regarded the most important of sorts, awarding up to three stars. One star indicates a "very good restaurant"; two stars indicate a place "worth a detour"; three stars means "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."
Most bigger newspapers employ restaurant critic
s and publish online dining guides for the cities they serve, such as the Irish Independent
for Irish
restaurants.
With the advent of Web 2.0, new types of review websites have come about. These websites have empowered regular people to generate non-expert reviews. This has sparked much criticism from restaurant establishments about the non-editorial, non-professional critiques. Those reviews also turned out te be falsified or faked by some website exploitants and competitors.
A top restaurant rating can mean success or failure for a restaurant, particularly when bestowed by influential sources like Michelin. Still, a good rating is not enough for economic success and many Michelin starred and/or highly rated restaurants have met the same fate as the Dutch
restaurant De Swaen
.
In 2004, Michelin came under fire in some quarters after bipolar
chef Bernard Loiseau
committed suicide
after he was rumoured to be in danger of losing one of his three stars. However, the Michelin guide had stated he would not be downgraded. Most news reports attributed his suicide to the downgrade carried out by the rival Gault Millau
guide.
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. 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.
Embarrassed by this report, Los Angeles County, with the Board of Supervisors
, quickly copied a letter grading system already some years in California's San Diego County and Riverside County. 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. More specific information about how restaurants actually receive these grades is found at this official reference page.
These ratings are given from a numerical scale, with 100 being a perfect score and points deducted for each violation, such as keeping food at the wrong temperature, Cockroach
/vermin
/rodent
infestation, failure to use certified equipment, or improper food storage. From that, a letter grade is often assigned.
As a result of restaurant grading, sanitation has improved. Two Stanford University
economics researchers found that higher lettered restaurants scored a rise in revenue, while lower lettered restaurants have seen their revenues decline. The quality of restaurants in the entire county became more equitable, with the average score going up from about 75% to nearly 90% in the year after restaurant grading was implemented. The researchers concluded that the results were not explained solely by consumers switching to higher quality restaurants, and that some of the effect had to do with restaurants making changes due to grade cards. Another study estimated a 13.1% reduction in hospitalization for food borne illnesses in the year following implementation of the program, suggesting that implementing a restaurant grading program could improve public safety.
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s 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 newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, lifestyle magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s and webzines. Websites featuring consumer-written reviews and ratings are increasingly popular, but are far less reliable.
In addition, there are ratings given by public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
agencies rating the level of sanitation
Food safety
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards....
practiced by an establishment.
Restaurant guides
Restaurant guides list the best places to eat. One of the most famous of these is the Michelin series of guidesMichelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
which accord from one to three stars to quality restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit. The Michelin Red Guide is regarded the most important of sorts, awarding up to three stars. One star indicates a "very good restaurant"; two stars indicate a place "worth a detour"; three stars means "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."
Most bigger newspapers employ restaurant critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s and publish online dining guides for the cities they serve, such as the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
for Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
restaurants.
Europe
| Name | Working area | Type of rating | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| The people's UK Restaurant Guide | United Kingdom | 1 to 5 bolls | Public reviews |
| Gault Millau Gault Millau Gault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed... |
Europe | 1 to 20 points | inspectors of local agents |
| Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with 35 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually. Its primary education focus is on hospitality management and the culinary arts... |
France | ? | ? |
| Georgina Campbell | Ireland | ? | Public reviews and inspectors |
| Smulweb.nl | Netherlands | ? | Public reviews |
| Egon Ronay's Guide | Ireland and United Kingdom | 1 to 3 stars | Inspectors |
| Lekker | Netherlands | ranking 1 to 100 | ? |
| Knoopjelos.nl | Netherlands | 1 to 10 points | Inspectors |
| White Guide | Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
? | ? |
America
| Name | Working area | Type of rating | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michelin Guide Michelin Guide The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars... |
United States (partly) | 1 to 3 stars | Professional inspectors |
| Mobil Travel Guides | United States | 1 to 5 stars | ? |
| American Automobile Association | United States | 1 to 5 diamonds | ? |
| Zagat | United States | 30 point scale | Public reviews |
Elsewhere
| Name | Working area | Type of rating | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Good Food & Travel Guide | Australia | Total: 1 to 5 Crossed Spoon & Fork Symbols Food: chef's hat with max. 20 points |
Inspectors |
| Miele Guide Miele Guide The Miele Guide is a regional guide book to restaurants in Asia. The 2008/2009 edition which was published at the end of October 2008, launched the first in an annual series, which ranked and showcased the top 20 restaurants in Asia, as well as categorised restaurants according to the city and... |
Asia | ? | ? |
With the advent of Web 2.0, new types of review websites have come about. These websites have empowered regular people to generate non-expert reviews. This has sparked much criticism from restaurant establishments about the non-editorial, non-professional critiques. Those reviews also turned out te be falsified or faked by some website exploitants and competitors.
Rating criteria
The different guides each have their own criteria. Not every guide looks behind the scenes or decorum. Others look particularly sharply to value for money. This is why a restaurant can be missing in one guide, while mentioned in another. Because the guides work independently, it is possible to have simultaneous multiple recognitions.Ratings impact
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
restaurant De Swaen
De Swaen (restaurant)
De Swaen is a former restaurant located in Oisterwijk, Netherlands. The quality restaurant, under the leadership of head chef Cas Spijkers, was awarded one or more Michelin stars. In the period 1984-1991 it was awarded 2 Michelin stars. The restaurant was awarded one star in the periods 1981-1983,...
.
In 2004, Michelin came under fire in some quarters after bipolar
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
chef Bernard Loiseau
Bernard Loiseau
Bernard Loiseau was a French chef. He committed suicide by firearm in 2003 when newspaper reports hinted that his restaurant might lose its 3-star status.-Early life:...
committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after he was rumoured to be in danger of losing one of his three stars. However, the Michelin guide had stated he would not be downgraded. Most news reports attributed his suicide to the downgrade carried out by the rival Gault Millau
Gault Millau
Gault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed...
guide.
Sanitation
Many countries have a thorough system of checks and inspections in place for sanitation. Only a few countries, amongst others the United States and Canada, create and publish restaurant ratings based on this.Los Angeles
Restaurant ratings for sanitation are not new but have been the subject of greatly increased interest in recent years in the United States. In 1997, a KCBS-TVKCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
sweeps news story called Behind The Kitchen Door focused attention on problems in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
'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. 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.
Embarrassed by this report, Los Angeles County, with the Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...
, quickly copied a letter grading system already some years in California's San Diego County and Riverside County. 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. More specific information about how restaurants actually receive these grades is found at this official reference page.
These ratings are given from a numerical scale, with 100 being a perfect score and points deducted for each violation, such as keeping food at the wrong temperature, Cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
/vermin
Vermin
Vermin is a term applied to various animal species regarded by some as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included will vary from area to area and even person to person...
/rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
infestation, failure to use certified equipment, or improper food storage. From that, a letter grade is often assigned.
As a result of restaurant grading, sanitation has improved. Two Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
economics researchers found that higher lettered restaurants scored a rise in revenue, while lower lettered restaurants have seen their revenues decline. The quality of restaurants in the entire county became more equitable, with the average score going up from about 75% to nearly 90% in the year after restaurant grading was implemented. The researchers concluded that the results were not explained solely by consumers switching to higher quality restaurants, and that some of the effect had to do with restaurants making changes due to grade cards. Another study estimated a 13.1% reduction in hospitalization for food borne illnesses in the year following implementation of the program, suggesting that implementing a restaurant grading program could improve public safety.