50 Best FAQ
How come the 50 Best list only covers Halifax, Annapolis Valley, and South Shore?
It’s an issue of resources. We only have adequate resources (personnel and finances) to do a good job of covering the areas that we currently cover.
Where do you get your judges from?
Most of our judges are people we’ve known for years. They are known to have good taste and dine out frequently. They are the core of our judging team. On top of this, a small number of volunteer judges join our team every year.
How does one become a volunteer judge?
Once a year we put out a call for judges, where interested volunteer diners simply email us to offer their services. We then send each a brief survey to determine whether they are suitable for 50 Best judging and then recruit those who are.
What are you looking for in a volunteer judge?
Objectivity, experience, and tastes that are in line with what Curated Food & Drink Magazine stands for.
Do you pay for judges to eat at local dining destinations?
No, we do not. All judges choose their own dining destinations and pay their own way. Their role is simply to provide insights into their own dining experiences.
Do you rate dining destinations based on set criteria?
No, we do not. We instead rate dining destinations based on the expectation of a destination’s dining category. As an example, we will rate a pizzeria based on what one would expect from a pizzeria versus comparing it to a fine dining restaurant, as an example.
That said, we DO consider food, service, decor, cleanliness, etc, but always in the context of the expectations of a given category.
Do you include ALL types of dining destinations in your annual rating process?
Yes, but the key word is “dining”. What we’re looking for are destinations where you can go and sit down for a meal. If it’s a take-out joint, kiosk or food truck, there needs to be a significant amount of available seating. For cafes , we are looking for a significant food offering and some kind of policy restricting the use of laptops (aka. WeWork space) in the dining area.
How do you pick the restaurants that get rated for the 50 Best Places to Eat list?
Every year we use our list of destinations found in the previous year’s edition of The Curated Guide (culinary guide). Our editor-in-chief also adds dining destinations of interest, usually ones that have opened recently, plus our panel of volunteer judges is given the opportunity to nominate dining destinations for rating purposes as well.
How come your 50 Best list always mixes fine dining with casual dining, instead of segregating them onto separate lists?
We used to have two separate lists, but decided to move away from that for two reasons:
The majority of people enjoy dining at both casual and fine dining establishments.
By having two lists, some dining destinations were being excluded due to the competitive nature of their grouping.
More specifically, there are a greater number of casual dining establishments delivering very good to excellent experiences then there are fine dining ones. By combining both groups, we choosing to recognize everyone by their score (performance) alone.
How come you do not include scores on your 50 Best list?
The real issue is that the accepted norms for restaurant ratings (Google, Facebook, Trip Advisor, etc) are not compatible with ours. Our feeling is that folks will get confused because our scores are typically much lower than those found on social media platforms.
More specifically, Google, Facebook, Trip Advisor, etc. use a 5-star rating systems which fail to allow users to give ratings in a clear way and if we were to use the 5-star method, our rating system would look like the following:
5-star (perfect)
4-star (between very good and good)
3-star (between average and bad)
2-star (terrible)
1-star (n/a)
So, we instead offer our judges a more robust set of ratings based on what you see below.
10 - PERFECT
Theoretically possible, but EXTREMELY unlikely.
9.5 - EXCELLENT
A super high score reserved for small number of uncommonly exceptional dining experiences. This is the upper echelon of local dining.
9.0 - ALMOST EXCELLENT
Between excellent and very good. This is besties list territory.
8.5 - VERY GOOD
A high score reserved for experiences good enough to make recommendations to friends and family.
8.0 - ALMOST VERY GOOD
Between very good and good. Worth another look.
7.5 - GOOD
An overall positive experience, but not one resulting in a recommendation to others. You might go back, but probably not.
7.0 - ALMOST GOOD
Between good and average. There is little chance you will go back to that establishment again.
6.5 - AVERAGE
An uninspiring experience. There is no chance you will go back to that establishment again.
5.5 - BAD
Your experience was unacceptable and you are never going back to that establishment ever again.
4.5 (or less) - TERRIBLE
Your experience was downright awful. You feel violated, almost.