The hospitality industry has felt the wrath of the 21st century. The almighty internet has brought a new way of getting your point across. What used to be comment cards nestled neatly near the entrance of a restaurant or hotel has become a couple of taps on your smart phone and now the world has instant access to your point of view.

If you watch movies like ‘Burnt’ or ‘Ratatouille’, chefs work extremely hard to impress food critics who’s opinions are seemingly more important than life itself. Food critics instill fear in the eyes of restaurateurs and one bad review meant that your restaurant goes from celeb status to pauper. The power of the internet has led to the rise of opinion based sites like Zomato and HelloPeter that allow for the common person (like me) to share my experience. Do not doubt the effect of peer-based reviews.

Restaurants beware. This is the era of the #foodie.

With that being said, there is what I call, good and bad reviews. Now, I am not talking about if someone rates your restaurant 1 out of 10, I am talking about the effectiveness of a review. A good review rates their experience on 5 main areas and based on that, can give it a ‘out-of-ten’ etc. rating.

Food

This the most obvious. You go to a restaurant to eat food. So you can ask yourself the common questions: Was this what I ordered? Was it tasty? What didn’t I like about it? We can go on and on about the questions but the bottom line is, Did you enjoy the meal?

Service

There is no excuse for bad service. A good way that I judge a restaurant based on their service is if any waiter cleans up your table. So in case you don’t understand why, let me explain it. Each waiter has either a table of section of the restaurant for their shift. In a bad restaurant, waiters pass your table even when they see that you have finished your meal. In a good restaurant any waiter cleans up the table regardless if it’s their table or not. Also your waiter should be polite, get the order correct and it’s always nice when manager makes the rounds.

Wine List

Okay, this one I added in because I love wine and I have become rather pedantic with pairing the right wine with food. So my part of the review includes looking at the variety of wine available.

Ambiance

This is always a tough one. If a restaurant has the ability to turn my frown upside down, then they deserve a high score for this. Whether it’s the music, the people, the air con or even how much space is between you and the table next to you, score the restaurant high if it made you feel great.

Recommendation

Simple. Would you recommend this restaurant to someone else? Even if it’s for a regular dinner versus your parents 50th anniversary. Was what you experienced good enough to let anyone else come here.

So there you have it. Let this guide the #foodie revolution and make you the critique to feared or rather adored.

Let me know your thoughts below.