Eat Random

The idea for this blog is to blog about everything I think about food and food culture. I'll tell you what I like to eat, where I like to eat it and if I thought it was good or if I thought it was crap. My thoughts about food could go anywhere. Hey if you don't like it go blog at methodicaldudereallythinksalotaboutthefoodhesgoingtoeat.blogspot.com

Random Dude Eats Random Food Indianapolis restaurants

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My Rating Scale

After reading the comment from Wibia (who has a pretty cool blog also btw) I thought it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and address the metrics that I use to rate the food I eat and review on this little corner of the web.  I have decided to go ahead and remove "randomness" as a rating and just throw little comments or asides into future reviews regarding this aspect.  As for taste and value and I think either one could be more than a little subjective.

What tastes good to me is most often times things that are hearty and rich and come in generous portions.  I can't think of a time at a restaurant where I've been upset that I recieved more food than I could eat.  I have particular proclivities towards seafood of all types, pizza, and Chinese food.  Most of all I like bold flavors and I'm not afraid to shy away from items that have spice or tang.  Other than that I guess figuring out why I liked or didn't like something is a reason to keep coming back here.

Value to me is basically the nexus of price, portion size, flavor and service.  On this blog value will always be graded on sliding scale comparing the meal/experience I had at a place compared to what I would expect to pay for a similar experience at another similar restaurant.  In other words a Chicken McNugget special from McDonald's might the get same good value grade that a good steak from Texas Roadhouse might get.  That doesn't necessarily mean that I think the two are similar in any way shape or form. 

I hope this explains what I'm trying to do a little bit and thanks for reading.

2 comments:

wibia said...

This is my first thought, What are they trying to be? Usually you can figure this out with marketing and menu design. Then I try to figure that out based on perceived perception.

For instance, the aforementioned Texas Roadhouse. Competitor to Outback and other casual steakhouses. Would it be fair to compare them to Ruth’s Chris…probably not. I never found a point in comparing things to the supermarket. You can get the same steak at Kroger for 1/3 price. However, you have to cook it and make sides. To someone that might be a lawyer and billing at $250 an hour…. It is more valuable to hit Texas Roadhouse. For me, I rather it cook it myself. Therefore, I try to compare value against other competitors only, instead of value to myself.

I constantly get comments about people giving me crap for giving Hardee’s a “yes” rating and a Michelin Star restaurant a “no.” I understand their point, but all of it is a relative scale. Just have fun dude. Thanks for the link.

Brent said...

Thanks for commenting wibia. My thoughts exactly. The concept of value only makes sense within context of comparing similar restaurants. I hold no pretensions about food. Nothing says you can't enjoy fast food AND fine dining. You just have to adjust your expectations accordingly.