Our Restaurant Reviews
181 total reviews found
Leading Restaurants Reviews FAQs
Restaurants are awarded on a full 0-5 scale; 0 being terrible and 5 being outstanding (but not necessarily perfect). Although we have been told our reviews are more accurate than certain other review sites (make of that what you will), please don't be offended if your restaurant doesn't score a 5, we are perhaps slightly more honest than other review sites.
Our reviews are based on a number of factors; food, service, value, enjoyment and fulfilment of our expectations (based on current/expected restaurant guide scores) are key to the overall rating we award. It's this balance that allows us, for example, to award top marks to both a 3 Michelin Star world-class restaurant and a 2 AA Rosette bistro.
Yes! We believe this is absolutely critical in order to provide an honest assessment of a restaurant. Unlike a lot of restaurant reviewers who love to make themselves known upon visiting a restaurant, we purposely try and remain as anonymous as possible. We don't mention our arrival in advance nor anything about this site once we arrive, and we don't sit there taking pictures of each course (always a giveaway).
Why do we stay anonymous? Because this ensures we receive exactly the same meal experience as any normal restaurant visitor would; it can make a huge difference. And unlike a lot of restaurant review sites, we do of course pay for all meals out of our own personal pockets (to confirm, despite many offers we never accept invites nor any form of incentive to provide a review).
Yes, in order to give a fuller perspective of what a restaurant offers, often we'll review restaurants whilst with children.
For our child friendly Michelin Star restaurants section, the restaurants we list as child friendly were child friendly and held Michelin Stars when we personally visited them; that of course may have changed over time.
Generally we visit restaurants with children for lunch rather than dinner; in some instances Michelin Star restaurants may allow children at lunch but not at dinner. When we say children, we mean young children (typically 12 years and under) who can sit on a normal chair; most restaurants are fine with older children regardless. Much as we love tasting menus, we'd never expect our children to sit through one, so generally we're unlikely to visit a tasting menu only restaurant with children.
The restaurants we list as child friendly are based purely on our personal experience; it doesn't mean the many other restaurants we have visited definitely wouldn't welcome children.
Yes, in keeping with our site ethos, we do give our view on the awards held by a restaurant at the time of our visit, and if we think these are still valid. We're absolutely not guide inspectors, but our assesment is based on our personal experience of eating at restaurants of every level in the Michelin Guide (from standard listed restaurants to three star restaurants) and the AA Guide (from one rosette to five rosettes), including international restaurants in the case of the Michelin guide, which of course we don't review for this site.
Standards can change over time and inspectors will often not revisit a restaurant for as long as two years (sometimes longer) for both guides. In addition, sometimes guides can be a little too eager to give our higher awards than a restaurant merits, or conversely, be reluctant to recognise a restaurant with a higher award due to internal politics. You can read much more around this on our Michelin Guide vs AA Guide comparison page.
Our reviews of Michelin Guide rated restaurants
| Statistic | Number |
|---|---|
| Total Michelin Guide restaurants reviewed | 114 |
| Restaurants holding 1-3 Michelin Stars | 58 |
| Restaurants holding a Standard Michelin Listing or Bib Gourmand | 56 |
| Restaurants where we agreed with the current Michelin Guide rating | 91 (79.82%) |
| Restaurants where we thought the current Michelin Guide rating was too high | 14 (12.28%) |
| Restaurants where we thought the current Michelin Guide rating was too low | 9 (7.89%) |
Our reviews of AA Guide rated restaurants
| Statistic | Number |
|---|---|
| Total AA Guide restaurants reviewed | 146 |
| Restaurants holding 3-5 AA Rosettes | 57 |
| Restaurants holding 1-2 AA Rosettes | 89 |
| Restaurants where we agreed with the current AA Guide rating | 96 (65.75%) |
| Restaurants where we thought the current AA Guide rating was too high | 36 (24.66%) |
| Restaurants where we thought the current AA Guide rating was too low | 14 (9.59%) |
All guide comparisons above are based only on restaurants that held awards from the relevant guide at the time of our visit. For example if a restaurant held no AA Rosettes, but we felt it would achieve one AA Rosette if inspected, it will not be included in the above table.