This is such a hard area. How do you devise a scoring system that fits a Michelin star meal at £100+ on a curve that includes a fantastic pop-up food truck.

The solution currently eludes me so the scores are a gut feel for the category (both cuisine and cost). Each score is an average of myself plus any guests (I almost never eat alone) totted up as we leave the restaurant. If the scores between diners differ I take the average.

Roughly the scores translate into the following:

9.0+ – exceptional
8.0 – 9.0 – great
7.0 – 8.0 – good
6.0 – 7.0 – fine
6.0 – poor

We all have biases and I think mine is to grade inflate higher end meals and depress solid but less intricate or cutting edge cooking. As a result it is probably fair to subtract 1.0pt for meals costing < £60 per person (excl. drink) from the scale above (e.g. 8.0+ meals are exceptional if they cost < £50 pp).