Tips for Reviewers

1. You can add restaurants as well as review them.  To add a restaurant simply click on "Write a Review" and follow the prompts.  Don't worry if the information is not complete, but whatever information you do have please ensure it is as accurate as possible.  The important thing is to get the name and spelling of the restaurant accurate and make sure you register it in the correct suburb.

2. You only need to have the name and the postcode (or suburb) of the restaurant to start an entry, so be bold and start a new entry even if you do not have all the details.  This website is open source, so others can come in and fill in the omitted details later.  The important thing is to add a restaurant as soon as you find a good one in your neighbourhood.  If a suburb is not listed (or is not listed in the right regional area) please contact us via email so we can update our database.

3.  "Average main price" means average price of a main meal at the restaurant (or some equivalent to a "main meal" at a grocery store or deli).  Please do not include starters or desserts or drinks in your calculation.  We believe this is the key price measure and makes comparison between venues much easier and less confusing. To determine the average price, simply scan the prices of the main meals section of the menu and make a rough estimate.  If the prices vary greatly (or if the restaurant has one very expensive offering, such as lobster at $70), average the price of the three cheapest main meals to calculate the average price.  We focus on outlets where the average main price is $25 or less, so please avoid adding "high-end" restaurants to this website.  We would prefer you review the local kebab place rather than a "high-end" restaurant. 

4.  The "Summary" box is intended to objectively describe the restaurant and can be edited by anyone.  It is not intended to contain a detailed review of the restaurant itself.  It is intended to be a short summary of the restaurant's "offer", with any unique features highlighted (such as vegetarian offerings, or organic specialties etc).  It can be positive, but please don't use it as a promotional device.  If you want to write a review, you must enter a review separately on the restaurant after completing the summary information as objectively and neutrally as you can. 

5.  Restaurant owners are welcome to add their own restaurant onto the website and upload photographs and other relevant information and keep this updated.  However, it is (of course!) against the terms of use for a restaurant to review itself.

6.  You can vote for the outlet as having the best food, the best first date venue or the best local "hang out" ("local gem") in its area.  Number of reviewer votes determines the winner so please don't forget to vote when you review the outlet.  "First date venue" is obviously a place that has great service and a special something that would impressive that special someone.  It could be the food or the interior or the service.  It's unlikely to be the local kebab outlet, but it also can't cost the earth either.  "Local Gem" simply means the place that is most popular with the locals.  It's the place you go to most regularly.  It's likely to be a low-key venue that serves great takeaway or great cheap meals.  It's not a place for a big date or a big night out.  It's the place you would tell a newcomer to your area, "Go there for great take away or regular meals when you can't be bothered to cook for yourself." 

7.  Your rating should be based on similar outlets in the same category.  A takeaway kebab outlet can obtain five stars, just as much as an upmarket restaurant.  When rating an outlet, rate it compared to its peers.  There should be some five star outlets in every category (even for takeaway pizza, kebab and pie shops!).   

8.  We are not against reviewing well known fast food outlets - they rarely are reviewed elsewhere so we think it's important that they are reviewed.  But please put the street address in the "name" of the restaurant to distinguish it from other fast food outlets in the same suburb (e.g. "Subway, Williams Road").  We have found some fast food systems have surprising variations in service and standards from store to store and if you can highlight a good outlet that can be helpful to our community.

9.  Excessive negative language and denigrating attitudes to other reviewers or restaurants is bad form.  Review a restaurant negatively if it's warranted but never go overboard.  The score will be a sufficient sign to everyone that this is not a place you liked.  Focus on sharing the hidden gems in your area, and try to play nice. 

10.  If there are any suburbs that are missing, please notify us and we can add any new suburbs in as soon as you email us the information (see "Contact Us").  If you see any information in the outlet information panels that is incorrect, please feel free to click "edit" and correct the information immediately!  Anyone can correct the restaurant data so please feel free to get your hands dirty and edit anything that is incorrect about the restaurant.  And please simply put in the summary box "Ceased Trading" if any restaurant appears that subsequently closes down.

11.  Please put as much information in your own profile as you feel comfortable with, and update it.  We want this to be a forum where people "find each other" with common interests and perhaps even meet up to compare favourite restaurants.  This is intended to be a (fun!) social website as well as a place to find new restaurants to visit.  Please feel free to use this site as a way of meeting up with like-minded, food-loving people.  When we say we intend to develop an on-line community of people passionate about food, we really mean it!  We want debates, we want your user page to be filled with interesting comments from interesting people.  Use your profile to tell people "This is who I am".  It's also very useful for readers to come to know and like particular reviewers, so they can follow the reviewer's likes and dislikes and try out restaurants on that basis.  So, please, don't be shy, tell us about yourself!

12.  Our primary source of income to sustain this site is the revenue we obtain from restaurants sending out special deals to our community, so please tick the box to receive email deals if you can.  We run a very tight ship and want to keep ads and sponsorships to a minimum.  The cost to restaurants in sending an email through us is kept as low as possible so they save on wasteful paper and start using this site as a more efficient way of promoting their venue (we cannot stand environmentally wasteful junkmail.  We've seen so many paper menus thrown into the gutters around our place it drives us crazy!).  If this website eliminates the need for pointless paper menus even marginally we feel we've done some good, so please tick this little box if you can.  And remember, you will receive great deals in your area and may find a new hidden gem you can review!

13.  Have fun!  This site is for food-lovers who love to go out and eat out regularly, and love to identify those hidden gems in their own neighbourhoods.  You can use your Profile to hyperlink to your Facebook page or other sites of interest (e.g. to link to your Facebook page, use "[insert http address My Facebook Page]"), talk to other reviewers on their discussion pages, or even find new friends to go out with!  Please share your hidden gems with us!