My wife and I enjoy eating out to explore new methods of preparing and presenting food. To facilitate discussion and comparison of different restaurants, we have developed a 5-point rating system.
We have defined five key criteria: ambiance and vibe, wine by the glass options, presentation and plating, the overall “yummy quotient,” and dessert quality (See image below).
We then assign a numerical value to each criterion from 1 to 5, reflecting different levels of satisfaction, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest; 25 is a perfect score; zero is not.
1 – Poor: The experience did not meet expectations; major issues occurred.
2 – Fair: The experience was below average; some aspects were unsatisfactory.
3 – Good: The experience was satisfactory; met basic expectations.
4 – Very Good: The experience was enjoyable; many positive aspects.
5 – Excellent: The experience exceeded expectations; exceptional service and quality.
Here it is all put together:
The 5-star rating is computed as the mean: add the total of the star-rating values and divide by the total number of star ratings received. Here is an example:
Example Restaurant:
Ambiance, vibe, service: 3
Wine options: 4
Presentation and plating: 3
Yummy quotient: 4
Dessert quality: 5
Bonvivant365 Avg. Star Rating: 3.8
This would mean that overall our experience was above average.
3 Stars: We see 3 stars as “okay” or “average.” It was neither great nor bad. 4 Stars: This means we had a good experience and were satisfied with everything. 5 Stars: This is our top rating. It means we loved it and had a fantastic time. Anything below 3 stars is considered below average.
There is no right or wrong in this discussion. As French culinary school graduates, we consider these factors essential. I encourage you to create your own list. Below is an explanation of each criterion we use.
Ambiance, vibe, and service quality
In our view, the overall energy and atmosphere of a restaurant are determined by its ambiance, vibe, and quality of service.
Ambiance refers to the overall look and feel of a space, including lighting, background music, table arrangement, temperature, and decor. There is no single correct approach. In our experience, a restaurant’s genre—its cuisine and service model—shapes its atmosphere. We look for coherence, with lighting, music, and decor thoughtfully aligned with the food, as this greatly influences the dining experience.
Vibe denotes the overall energy or atmosphere of the restaurant. It arises from the intersection of decor, clientele, and prevailing mood. For example, we might characterize a restaurant as lively, romantic, trendy, relaxed, or bustling.
Service represents the human element of the restaurant and encompasses how staff interacts with guests. In our experience, this includes the warmth of the initial greeting, staff’s familiarity with the menu, the promptness of food delivery, and the responsiveness to requests. We value service that is seamless and attentive, ensuring guests feel appreciated and comfortable.
We ask “What is the overall energy and atmosphere?“
Wine options
We love to drink wine, but we don’t always want to order a whole bottle. In fact, our preference is to order by the glass or a pairing, allowing us to have different wines with each course. Better yet, a wine pairing thought through and provided by the restaurant is our preferred solution.
First, we ask, “What are the wine by the glass options?” because we like to select and pair our wine with each course. Some restaurants offer few selections, some just a “red” and a “white,” others have an expansive list from which to choose.
If wine by the glass is not available, we next ask, “Does the restaurant offer wine pairing as an option?” When executed well, food and wine pairings enable chefs and sommeliers to collaborate on selecting wines for individual dishes and enhancing the overall experience.
Then, if neither wine by the glass nor wine pairings is a good option, we ask, “What are the wine by the bottle options?”
Finally, the wine glass is essential. For instance, my wife and I traveled by train from Bordeaux to Paris yesterday to spend the day in the Montparnasse area before heading to Cyprus for seven days via Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Last night, we dined at “Le Dôme Café,” a “Paris Institution,” open since 1898, 127 years. They offer a decent selection of wines by the glass, priced from €8 to well over €22 per glass. I ordered two glasses of the higher-priced wines.
So, how does “Le Dôme Café,” a “Paris Institution,” quote unquote, serve me my wine? They give it to me in a commercial wine glass, similar to what you’d find at a pub. You know the kind that you can drop on the floor, and it does not break; it bounces.
In my opinion, the wine glass should match the wine served. Lower-priced wine, commercial wine glass. Like THE WALL in Lyon’s Croix-Rousse neighborhood, where you can drink wine for 3,50 euros a glass. Hey, for 3,50 euros a glass and outdoor seating, I would drink from a paper cup or take a swig straight from the bottle, for that matter.
But for higher-priced wine, they should bring out the RIEDEL glasses. You’d expect a place like Le Dôme Café, with 127 years of history, to know that by now.
We ask, “What are the wine options?”
In terms of aperitifs, digestives, or even beer pairing options, we do not address.
Plating and presentation
Ultimately, a good meal comes down to taste. What we call its “Yummy quotient.” However, taste is not just a single sense as we have been taught: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. It encompasses sight, smell, and touch as well.
The way food is plated and presented can turn a simple meal into a full sensory experience. When food looks appealing and is presented well, it signals culinary skill, stimulates the appetite, and convinces us the dish is tastier and of higher value.
For example, we see our food before we taste it, and as the saying goes, “the first taste is always with the eyes.”1 The foundation of food presentation and plating is to enhance visual appeal. Even simple visual cues, such as the color of a food or drink, have been shown to influence our overall experience of it.2 “
Taste is a combination of all our senses and our past experiences. This is why skilled chefs dedicate considerable time and resources to making food look appealing.
We ask, “How was the food plated and presented?“
Yummy quotient
The term “yummy quotient” refers to the deliciousness of food. Many restaurants beautifully present and plate meals, but they often lack authentic flavor—what we call “yummyness.”
Yummy food is essential to us. For example, during our time in Toulouse, we visited several one-star restaurants where the dishes were beautifully presented and plated—a true vision to behold. However, the taste did not match the presentation. As a chef once said to me, “Often, MICHELIN star flavor is on the bill.” So, after each meal, we hurried over to “Fufu Ramen Toulouse” to satisfy my craving for genuinely delicious food (To learn more about Fufu Ramen, check out my post titled “Casual Dining Restaurants in Bordeaux“).
In fact, I watched a YouTube video last week hosted by Thomas Keller, chef-owner of “The French Laundry,” a MICHELIN 3-star restaurant in Yountville, California. He emphasized the importance of the plate not only looking appealing but also tasting delicious, or its “yummyness.”
On a related note, the same applies when rating people. If you know someone who is not “yummy,” you know what I mean. Yumminess is key.
We ask, “Is the food YUMMY?“
Dessert quality
We are not big dessert people, but we have come to learn that a well-executed dessert is the “memorable conclusion to the dining experience.” A necessary element, if you will, to tie it all together. In fact, according to the GOOGLE ORACLE, “Scientifically and culturally, a sweet course provides a signal of ‘completeness’ to the brain and palate, making it a vital component of the dining experience.
We’ve visited many restaurants that excel in their entrees and main courses but fall short when it comes to delivering quality desserts. It’s as if we’ve entered the Twilight Zone, where we are transported to a mirrored universe, and a version of the restaurant exists, but it sucks.
Frankly, if a restaurant can not make quality desserts, I would prefer that they partner with the best local pastry chef or pâtisserie and outsource.
We ask, “What is the dessert quality?
References
- Spence, C., Levitan, C. A., Shankar, M. U., & Zampini, M. (2010). Does food color
influence taste and flavor perception in humans? Chemosensory Perception, 3,
68–84. doi:10.1007/s12078-010-9067-z. ↩︎ - Zellner, D. A. (2013). Color-odor interactions. A review and model. Chemosensory
Perception, 6, 155–169. doi:10.1007/s12078-013-9154-z. ↩︎