In Search of the Perfect Restaurant Ratings System
I’ve found myself thinking about magic a lot lately. This article about The Amazing Randi is a great read. I just had a conversation with one of New York’s hottest restaurant operators, who is planning to unveil a magic show at one of his venues this spring (who, also, currently uses magic as a sideshow at his massively successful flagship). I went back to J. J. Abrams fantastic Ted Talk about “the mystery box.”
When we talk about the Resy product, I am always challenging the team to find ways to make the experience feel like magic, because I believe more than anything in our lives, we crave experiences that are magical. That can apply to anything from transportation to teleportation, too.
The other thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is restaurant ratings. I’ve always been thinking a lot about restaurant ratings, actually. At NBC a few years ago, I led a team that tried to build a perfect restaurant ratings system, wherein we culled thousands of reviews to form a meta-score for the restaurant, which we dubbed the “Feast Rank.” It remains a holy grail idea for a lot of restaurant junkies, this notion of a crystal clear measure to validate, or invalidate, a restaurant’s existence. I once had a summer job as a restaurant critic and I tried, and failed miserably, to use a Go/Don’t Go system, because, again, I wanted something universal and clean.
The third thing I’ll say by way of preamble is that people always ask me, “What is your favorite restaurant?” It’s such a “hard” question for someone who finds himself down the rabbit hole of restaurant commentary and critique as a matter of profession. How can I possibly pick just one?
These mental story lines — Magic, Ratings, Why We Love the Restaurants We Do — that have been cohabiting in my brain are starting to co-mingle and I’m realizing that we’re profoundly overcomplicating how we think about restaurants. We don’t care if this place has three stars according to that critic on account of its exquisite bone marrow and perfect roasted corn tortillas. It’s 4 out of 5 stars? So what.
The more we try to codify and calibrate restaurants relative achievements, the worse we do. So, I want to suggest a new system. Next time you’re about to tell someone how much you loved or hated a restaurant, forget about assessing with questions like, How good was the food? Skip, Was the value proposition right? Avoid, How was the crowd? All of these questions detach us from the one real question we want to answer, which is, Is something magic happening here? A ‘yes’ to that question is the only rating that matters.
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My favorite restaurant is Balthazar, where there is plenty magical happening, always. I’ve come to realize it’s my favorite, though, because it’s always the first place that pops into my mind when people ask me the question. Other restaurants that are on the short list: Matsuhisa, La Heulla, and Houston’s.
You with me? Hit recommend if so!
