Our first column began with a little biography, background and food information that we wanted to share with you here at Let's Eat! What we essentially would like to continually do is to keep you, the readers and the food service professional community, informed, educated and entertained. We would also like to consider all of our new readers as a part of our Ohana. We believe food is a personal and very intimate part of our lives. We receive nourishment and grow from the foods we eat and we also highly trust the people preparing and handling our foods that we consume each day.
Understanding this importance of food in all of our lives, we would like to now provide a comprehensive restaurant and local eatery review in each of our columns. These food reviews or critiques will allow us to pass along our unbiased educated opinions and observations based on professional criteria. The content of these informative pieces will be exercised on existing and new foodservice facilities here in Hawaii.
The "what" and the "why" best explain how an establishment should be reviewed. Here are all of the review criteria step by step:
Overall Experience. This is a general overall rating from A-Z. A general rating will usually give you a good first impression if that establishment is somewhere you have not been to but you might want to try, as it will also indicate our intentions to return. Sometimes certain criteria may be higher or lower individually, but with an overall rating; it gives a sense of an average. As understood in sports, however relevant that may be, averages are everything.
Value. Does this establishment prove to us that it is worth its prices dollar for dollar? Mostly everyone here in Hawaii can partially boast to being a decent judge of value. In that respect, we hope to try to re-enforce that. Nowadays with everything being so expensive, how far your dollar will take you is more important than ever. Quality and sometimes quantity are some common things people associate with value as well. A good example of an extreme value, depending on consumption, is an all you can eat buffet.
Price Point. Aside from an establishment's food to dollar value, what is its comparative base price point to other food vendors? The importance of understanding price point will be a helpful tool that allows people to understand if that facilities prices are conducive to their respective budgets. For this criteria in particular, the higher the rating, the lower the price point. This means more of the general public will be able to afford frequenting this establishment on a regular basis. Sometimes we may come across places that offer the same or similar product, but have a huge price point deviation. This may be indicative of something very superficial like the popularity of the establishment's namesake. Indicators of these common popular eateries are if you see them frequently being advertised on television or periodicals.
Service. Or "front of the house." This is huge on the criteria checklist. No one likes bad service, i.e. water glasses not refilled, plates not being bussed promptly, menus not dropped, orders not taken in a timely manner and lack of a pleasant professional demeanor by your server or retail agent. Just to name a few. Most establishments base their service philosophies that "the customer is always right." If this is exercised and expressed magnanimously, the customer and service agent should enjoy a pleasant mutual respect for each other throughout any type of food service transaction. Remember, everyone loves respect.
Ambience. This is the total feel of the establishment's environment. For some people this is very important. Especially when you might be going somewhere and pay $50 for a complete dinner per person not including drinks. Then you're definitely paying for some well-deserved ambience. What can I assume is good ambience? When you walk into an establishment, you should be able to feel somewhat of an intentional theme. For instance, is the lighting relatively tasteful? Or is it too dark for its own good, and you can't see your food? Another key observation is before you sit in any furniture, does it look pleasant and moderately stylish? How does the place smell? Is the restaurant filled with wonderful aromas of its menu content, or does it smell like Lysol trying to cover-up an indistinct foul odor? Does the establishment look clean? When you first walk in to the place you should feel comfortable and confident that you don't need to question their sanitation methods.
Comfort. This is similar to ambience, but we feel this specifically goes a little deeper, and its importance can definitely be elaborated. If the chairs look nice but feel like you're sitting on a big rock, then that's not good. Or if the air conditioning is busted, and it's stuffy and hot, then that's not good either. Makes sense right? The key point of this is that looks can be deceiving. Even if the intentions of the total ambience are good, it still might not feel right. That's comfort, or lack thereof.
Capacity. This might affect you if, say, you don't have a reservation. Can you just walk in and be confident to get a table or be helped? Or is the size of the establishment either too big or too small? Is that a factor that might dissuade you from deciding to go there? Capacity also impacts some of the other criteria like how good is your service based on how many tables per section a server has to handle. Capacity can also affect the level of intimacy for a dining experience. The more seats in the house, even if the atmosphere is generally quiet and refined, can still generate unintentional and unpleasant noise "clouds." On a romantic dinner, this might ruin any secret little intimate whispers you might make to your date... that is if you're into doing that kind of stuff.
Parking. This is a big thing for lots of people. If there isn't any convenient free parking, than that's one big strike against the establishment, especially for us. We have personally dealt with many issues regarding parking on both sides of the coin. In the foodservice industry, there is nothing worse than the helpless feeling when customers complain that there is no parking, or about spending extra money on stalls or valet. On the flip side, there is nothing worse than spending more money on parking especially when its just for an ordinary lunch or dinner. Unfortunately everything adds up, so for a lot of people, parking is very important.
Last but very much not least, Culinary Execution. This is something very important to us, and should equally be important to anyone when purchasing food. Also this is something that may not be observed and critiqued as much as necessary. Sometimes this area of complex criteria can be simply labeled under "food." We feel that we must specify the intricacies of this critical point. As the food travels from the kitchen to your table, how quickly is the order being processed and expedited? Expediting is relative to the front of the house service as well, but in some cases, if an order must come back to the kitchen after being fired (prepared/cooked) and dropped, then it may be an issue with the culinary execution. Also each order must be checked for doneness, garnish, consistency, proper plate up and maintained temperatures. Taste however, is up to the discretion of the customer. How does your food taste? Is it properly seasoned? Is it cooked to doneness as it was initially ordered, and was that checked? Is your food as hot or cold as it is intended to be for optimal enjoyment? If you ordered the same dish before, is it consistent to what you are hoping to enjoy again? Comprehensively, although it may seem complex, understanding culinary execution can be used for improving dining experiences and for other comparative and consumer purposes.
Like some similar rating systems, we will gauge specific criteria by using a five star system. This is simple to understand. We will also add in and try to articulate our personal experiences and opinions. So when it comes to making the grade, a one star rating will be the lowest or "below average," two stars will be "average," three stars will be "good," fours stars will be "great" and five stars is "excellent." However, there will be no ½ star increments in our ratings, because each successive star represents a specific classification increase in its incremental performance level.
We want to try to influence a high standard for the industry in general, and for you the readers more importantly. If a food service establishment receives a coveted excellent rating, it will be held in the highest regard by our standards as fellow food service professionals. So we look forward to our new culinary journey with you the readers, and wish the best of luck to our fellow colleagues out there.
If anyone would like to recommend to us any additional restaurant review criteria, we more than welcome any comments and or opinions about our column content.
Aloha,
The Chef Crew - Let's Eat!
