Our Grading Criteria

We want to let you know how we will be grading the restaurants we review. Here's our chosen criteria. Note that this criteria only applies to dine-in restaurants. (We'll be using a different set of criteria to grade fast-food restaurants, for instance.) Feel free to provide any suggestions, comments, or questions.

A) Service:

- Speed (how fast the food arrives depending on its type)

- Facilities (everything from the bathroom to the tables)

- Staff (how efficient the staff are in doing their jobs, and how friendly they are)

b) Presentation

- Temperature (we want our steaks steaming hot and our ice cream freezing cold)

- Visual appeal (tasting good isn't enough, our perfect meal has to look the part as well)

- Scent/aroma (we won't eat a Shawarma that smells like flatulence)

- Hygiene (the cleanliness of the facilities in general)

c) Atmosphere

- Design/decor (we want to feel like we're in Venice when we're eating at an Italian joint)

- Suitable dishes (in accordance to the type of restaurant- if we see a Bahraini restaurant selling apple pie, we won't be impressed)

- Other details (the AC isn't set to five degrees below zero, nice lighting, etc.)

d) Food

- Variety of menu (caters to vegetarians and all tastes without straying too far)

- Balance of ingredients (things like sauce : steak ratio)

- Quality (frozen food is NOT acceptable)

e) Pricing

- How expensive are the dishes with respect to the portions?

- Are we getting are money's worth in terms of facilities and staff treatment?

Other miscellaneous aspects to consider:

- Location of restaurant (We won't be too keen on visiting a restaurant after one million twists and turns in the tight alleyways of Umm Al-Hassam. We're looking at you, Al-Arisha)

- The targetted customers for the restaurant.