How Cue Scores

Every review on this site carries a number. Here’s what it actually means.

The score breaks into four parts — Food, Service, Ambiance, Value — each rated 1 to 10, then averaged. No secret formula, no comparison to some imagined perfect restaurant. Just one guy, paying attention, tracking the same four things every time so the number means something when you stack one review against another.

Rough bands, for context:

9–10 is rare — the kind of meal that reorders your mental map of a cuisine or a neighborhood.

7–8 means go, with eyes open. Real strengths, real flaws, worth your night.

5–6 is mixed. Something’s working, something isn’t, and the gap between them is usually the most honest part of the review.

3–4 means I’d steer you elsewhere unless you have a specific reason not to.

1–2 is a warning, not a review.

A 6.3 isn’t a failing grade. It’s “good food, frustrating edges” — read the review, not just the number, because that’s where the actual verdict lives.

No restaurant pays for a score. Every number here is one visit, one set of eyes, one appetite.