I was very fond of my “smiley face” rating system.  However, J (and others) pointed out that it didn’t give much room to rate.  The old system didn’t allow us the flexibility to call out great food or service… or to point out a lacking ambience.  The new system is a simple 1 to 10 rating of Atmosphere, Service and Food.  The 1 to 10 scale is pretty standard with 1 being terrible and 10 being totally fabulous.

The overall score is the average of the three, and each criterion is scored using the average of all diners’ scores.  For instance, the other day, we took my parents to dinner.. and all four of us gave our numerical rating for each criterion.  In this case, my mom and J gave the food a score of 6, my dad gave a score of 7, and I said 5.  The final food score then is =(6+6+7+5)/4 = 6.

The new system allows for a bit more objectivity in ratings and helps us break ties and highlight subtle differences between dining experiences.  Also, the removal of smiley faces makes the site look a lot cleaner.

And, here is the key:

Scores of 8 to 10 = Fantastic!
Scores of 6 up to 8 = Good Stuff!
Scores of 4 up to 6 = Just OK.
Scores of 3 up to 4 = Meh.
Scores below 3 = Avoid.

Goodbye Smileys.. we’ll miss you.  You’ll always be 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 in my eyes.