Scoring Explained

For my restaurant reviews I have devised a system that works well for me.  But in all fairness to any restaurants that comes here to read a full review from my TripAdvisor posting I thought it would be nice to explain my point system in detail.  So here we go.

Web visibility.  10 points in this area are earned as follows:

Is the website up to date?                             0 to 1.25
Is the menu online & current?                     0 to 1.25
Are they on Facebook?                                  0 to .625
Are they on other social media?                  0 to .625
Are they using OpenTable?                          0 to 1.25
What is their rating on TripAdvisor?        0 to 5

How are the following handled:

Allergy issues?                         0 to 10 (if no gluten free bread automatic loss of 5 points)
Not liking something?            0 to 10
Asking about suggestions?   0 to 10

Services.  This for me is easy.  Before I walk in the door I assume and budget that I will leave a 30% tip.  This drops by 5% with any service related issues.  Points earned are based on the tip percentage that I leave.  My reviews will always state what the 5% mark downs are.

30% 10 points

25%   8 points

20%   6 points

15%   5 points

10%   4 points

5%     2 points

0%     0 points 

Food.  For each item I take notes and any issues cause at least a 1 point deduction.  0 to 10.

Drinks. Same as food 0 to 10.

Value.  This is the one that is a little complicated.  I figure out what an average dinner for one person would cost.  This dinner would be a cocktail, starter, entree, glass of wine and dessert.  I average the menu prices in each of these areas to come up with an average cost per item.  Add each of these averages to come to a total.  I then take the overall score from the review less the value to determine a score to rate the value (0 to 90).  So using the chart below you can see that a $$$ ($51-$75) restaurant with a score of 75 would get a score of 7, but a $ ($15-$25) would get a 9, a $$ ($26-$50) an 8 and a $$$$ ($76 or more) a 6.  As you can tell I am tough on $$$$ places, as I should be.

Value Points           $         $$      $$$      $$$$

              1-10           0          0         0           0

            11-20           3          1         0           0

            21-30           4          3         1           0

            31-40           5          3         2           0

            41-50           6          5         3           2

            51-60           7          5         4           4

            61-70           8          7         5           4

            71-80           9          8         7           6

            81-90          10        10       10         10

Decor/View.  This really depends on what my expectations are based on the price of the place.  A $$$$ and even a $$$ is going to get knocked down for having creased table clothes.  That is just a no brainier to me.  If you are a $$$ and you are going to have table clothes, get them pressed right or don't have them at all.   Things like fresh flowers & candles are points up.  This is the one area that I start at zero and work my way up as I notice things that fit the atmosphere.  0 to 10

Cleanliness.  $$$$ get knocked down for not cleaning the table in between meals as an example.  I include bathrooms when I can as well. 0 to 10.

So what do each of the scores mean:

Single Score/Overall Score                    TA-SFV       /      TA-OA 

1   /   01-10    RUN!!!                                   1                         1 

2   /   11-20  Take your enemies               1                         1

3   /   21-30  Not so good                           2                         2

        4   /   31-40  Needs improvement              2                         2          

5   /   41-50  Average                                    3                         3   

6   /   51-60  Good                                       3                         3

7   /   61-70  Really Good                           4                         4 

     8   /   71-80  Excellent                                4                         4       

9   /   81-90  Exceptional                          5                         5 

10 /   91-100 Memorable                         5                         5

Lastly is how I determine the 1 to 5 stars that I will give on TripAdvisor.  There are 4 ratings that you give on TripAdvisor and you can give 1 to 5 in each of these areas.  Service, Food, Value & Overall.  Above under TA-SFV is how I determine the Single categories of Service, Food & Value which receive a score of 0-10 and under TA-OA is the Overall score which is 0-100.

Hope this explains my thought process and answers any questions you might have.  As you can tell I am the analytical type and love numbers that help me come to conclusions.

Cheers & Ciao.