Etymology of the word, restaurant: to “restore one’s spirit.”

We have visited over many years every restaurant reviewed, some quite often, nearly all more than once, and some, albeit a limited number, only 1-2 times, enough in our view to develop an opinion given the nature of the restaurant.  During each visit, we sampled dishes for which the restaurant is known or were recommended by servers.  Our review contemplates food, service, ambience, experience, and value, in that order, but not all of these factors are given equal weight.  The quality, flavor, taste, and presentation of the food is critical, but service and ambience are important, as is value, as you will observe in our comments.  And overall experience is important, as diners want to not just enjoy good food, but enjoy a good day or evening out. 

Our stars are a compilation of all of these factors, the award of which may guide your decision process.  Each factor can drive up or down the award of a star, so while the food may be delightful, the service and ambience, including overall experience may be poor, affecting the overall star award.

The award of stars is based upon the pool of restaurants comprising the beach towns in Delmarva, not in comparison to restaurants outside of the Delmarva beach community.  While there is no canonical manifesto of what warrants restaurant excellence, and no single definition, five stars merits outstanding in every category.  Delmarva counts plenty of culinary icons among its restaurant inventory, but no local restaurant warrants five stars.  Thus, while we are fair in our approach, we do not employ a curve system wherein a certain percentage of restaurants must achieve top status.  Again, we visit, eat, absorb, and comment.  The stars are a guide, and to warrant five, a restaurant needs to very special in every way, including fresh, flavorful, and curious ingredients in cooking, specials which tantalize, unique or patently relevant ambience, expansive and quality wine and drinks lists, professional, knowledgeable, and experienced service and servers, and other physical factors and cooking that express the area’s best dining experiences. There are only several four-star restaurants in Delmarva, and many that warrant no attention – yes, Delmarva, like most tourist-friendly resort towns, offers food options for all tastes, wallets, and preferences.

You may disagree with certain of our reviews, especially if you are an owner or manager of a restaurant whose comments you may want to challenge — tell us about our omissions and our inarticulate writing and educate us about something we missed.  You may even agree with our reports.  We encourage healthy discourse on our reviews, so write us with your comments, all of which will be kept private.

One final note: kitchens have off nights, servers have off days, and restaurants, like all of us, are fallible – they make mistakes.  No restaurant is penalized for a server’s error or kitchen’s mistake unless we find the issue is institutional and depicts poor training or inattention to detail, or is not even recognized or fixed when identified.  Most of us dine out not merely because we are too lazy to cook or want to taste another chef’s creations; many consider a reservation a special invitation to an event, and treat dining as a night out.  The experience often matters as much as the food, so our scale contemplates the experience, and if the restaurant is composed of a poorly trained staff or inattentive kitchen, let alone by the quality of food which is not worth the price, we bring it to your attention.

Happy dining!