How we score

Most review sites blend the food, the service, the room and the price into one number. We think that hides the only question we actually care about. So we split every review in two.

Section 1: Just the food

Salt and Pepper each score every dish we tasted, out of 10, without comparing notes first. Each of us gets a food score, which is the average of our dish scores. The headline number is the average of the two.

• 8.0 and up: Damn good. We'd go back, or send you there.
• 6.0 to 7.9: Decent. Some good plates, some you can skip.
• Under 6: Don't bother. There's better food nearby.

Section 2: Everything else

Service, atmosphere, drinks, value, noise, parking and getting a table: these matter, so we write them down, but they sit in their own section and never change the food score. A great meal in a loud room is still a great meal.

Our rules

• We pay for every meal. No comps, invites or ads.
• We don't tell restaurants who we are.
• We show the month we visited, not the exact date, and round the bill.
• A review describes one visit. Kitchens have off nights, and we'll say when we've been back.
• Scores are our opinions of what we tasted. If we get a fact wrong, we'll fix it.