How to rate food and restaurants, so the scores still mean something.

First rule

Rate the dish, not just the place.

A restaurant is a menu, a room, a night and a mood. A dish is one thing. If you only rate places, you remember that Café Mira was “a 4” but not that the shakshuka was perfect and the pastries were dry. Rate each dish you want to remember; if you want a place score too, make it a separate, simple one: would I go back?

Pick a scale

Stars, out of 10, or head-to-head?

Copy this

A ready-made five-star food scale.

Write these definitions on the first page of your journal or in a note, and check them each time you rate:

• ★ Never again. Something was wrong: cold, burnt, off.
• ★★ Disappointing. Edible, but you wish you had ordered something else.
• ★★★ Fine. Good, did the job, won’t think about it tomorrow.
• ★★★★ Would order again. You would recommend it to a friend.
• ★★★★★ Would cross town for it. You will be thinking about it next week.

If you prefer 10

A food rating scale from 1 to 10.

• 1–3: wouldn’t finish it, wouldn’t order it again.
• 4–5: forgettable; nothing wrong, nothing right.
• 6: solid — a fair version of the dish.
• 7: good — you would order it again here.
• 8: very good — you would recommend this place for it.
• 9: one of the best versions of this dish you have had.
• 10: the benchmark. Keep it rare: a handful a year at most.

Head-to-head

Ranking by comparison.

Comparison ranking skips scores entirely: when you add a new place, you decide whether it beats or loses to places already on your list, and it slots in. Apps such as Beli, which describes itself as keeping “ranked lists” of everywhere you have been, made this popular. It is great for a top-ten list of ramen shops. It is harder for a whole night with eight dishes, which is why many people use stars for dishes and a ranking only for their favourites.

Price

Price and “worth it”.

Keep price out of the stars. A brilliant street-food skewer and a brilliant tasting menu can both be five stars. Add a separate “worth it?” mark — yes, fair, no — and you get two honest answers instead of one muddled one.

Over time

When your ratings drift.

• Compare before you score. Ask: is this better than the last dish I gave four stars?
• Rate after the meal, not at the first bite — and not when you are starving.
• Re-rate on a return visit. Keep both scores; the change is part of the story.
• Check your spread once a year. If half your dishes are five stars, your five has lost its meaning.

In practice

Stars per dish, in your pocket.

In PlateDiary, the app we make, each dish from your table photo becomes its own save, and you can give each save stars (or not — every field is optional). Your four- and five-star saves are easy to find again: the map and the craving wheel both have a 4★+ filter, and each place page shows your usual and every dish you have had there. Stars stay private on your phone; nothing is posted as a public review.