G’Day,
I lohve reviewing the places I visit and I take great pride in being a critic when the genuine service is lacking and try to be generous when it comes to small gestures. It totally surprises me at times when I see my friends haven’t started eating waiting for me to take a snap a great dish they were served or when my partner pulls over on a random lookout out of blue and says “honey, this would make a great review for your collection!” <3
Taking up a lot of interest on learning from top local guides, it didn’t take me a long time to figure out that people normally review in the rails of either consistent 5-stars or a one-lonely-star as a sign of frustration. Those poor 2, 3 and 4 stars truly deserve a home and kind warmth of a receiving owner who didn’t manage to knock your socks off or to make you go back to your car and smash the wheel and scream your heart out :). Even though they happen, they are pretty rare, trust me ( I am an engineer :P)
For me this is what every start rating means:
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5-Star: This place has genuinely wowed me. It made me lick my lips after I was done. Scrape for crumbs or ask for a doggy bag so excited to extend the depth of this amazing experience to one little more sitting. Left me dancing out of the shop and already thinking about why would I even go anywhere else to eat or visit and yeah! when we will be coming back again?
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4-Star: These beautiful four starts take a lot of room among my reviews. Not everybody does those things to you that I mentioned earlier, however, delivering a good service and handing a good meal is still quite a hard job and a four-start spot have done it well. If it wasn’t for a four-star place, no five-star hero could go above and beyond and still be recognised.
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3-Star: Sitting in the middle of the spectrum, these three stars say “not the best I’ve had but I will take this every single day of the week over those who failed to deliver”. Don’t hesitate to give somebody three of those beautiful stars when you had an OK meal and your second option would be to pick up a bow and arrow and go for a hunt.
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2-Star: This may be two starts but definitely is not one. Meaning, this place even though not too shabby, it still has the potential to do better. This is an example of that great restaurant that you went to with a waitress who slapped your food on the table and left before you asked for cutlery and the manager didn’t even care. Or a genuinely nice guy who just simply can’t cook. Once I remember I visited this lookout which would be beautiful enough if it wasn’t for all the rubbish and the lack of lights which might put you in serious harm if you visit past 5pm. Others deserve to know the truth. We all pay our hard earned money for the meals and/or services we purchase or walk miles to get to that not that great lookout.
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1-Star: Being a true critic, I might have given this lonely star a couple of times to places which are to be avoided at all cost. When I’ve accidentally stumbled upon a health hazard going past the left-open kitchen door to wash my hands or when somebody refused to serve me, my partner, my friends or in fact a total stranger among all others because of race, gender or pure ignorance. Every time, I was super frustrated, I have postponed my review and ended up giving more than a dim star to a business owner but after all, not everybody deserves the remaining four.
So, in whatever you review, please don’t be like an amp which hits the rails all the time, don’t be binary and don’t punish people for a bad burrito you thought you had after you crashed your car and was waiting to be picked up. And most importantly give fives sparingly and let those five to proudly shine where they truly belong.
Cheers,
Mehrad