How reviews work

Signature Dish shows public reviews from verified diners. These are the exact rules we use. They're the same for every restaurant, including ones that pay us. [[TODO(Adam): confirm this sentence once restaurant pricing is set]]

Who can write a review

Only the diner who made the reservation.
Only after the restaurant marks the party as seated. Booking alone isn't enough.
Within 30 days of being seated.
One review per visit (per reservation).
The account needs a confirmed email address. [[TODO(Adam): phone verification decision. The code also requires a phone-verified account, but texts are in console mode in production, so nobody can verify yet. Either turn on real SMS and say "and a phone-verified account" here, or drop the phone requirement in code]]
Accounts that were banned for breaking our guidelines can't review.

What a review includes

Stars from 1 to 5 for overall, food, service, ambience and value, plus an optional rating for the restaurant's signature dish.
Written text, from 20 to 2,000 characters.
Optionally, one short video from your visit (MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 60 seconds and 50 MB), added after the review is posted.

When a review is held for a check

Most reviews appear right away. A review waits for a person on our team to check it if it:

contains a link,
uses the same text as another account's review (ignoring capitals and punctuation),
comes from an account with a low trust score (for example after no-shows, removed posts or open reports),
is the sixth or later review from the same account in 7 days,
gives 1 or 5 stars from an account less than 24 hours old, or
comes from a device shared by three or more accounts.

A held review is then approved or removed. If three different people report a review, it's held for a check too.

What restaurants can and can't do

Restaurants can't edit, hide or delete reviews, and they can't pick which ones appear.
They can post one public reply to each review.
They can report a review that breaks our guidelines, just like anyone else.

When we remove a review

Only when it breaks our review and content guidelines, for example hate, threats, private information or content that isn't about a real visit. We don't remove or hide reviews because they're negative, and we don't offer anything in exchange for a review or for a particular rating. [[TODO(Adam): approve these commitments (they match the FTC rule on consumer reviews, 16 CFR Part 465)]]

Ratings

A restaurant's star rating is the average of its published reviews.

Changing or removing your review

You can't edit a review after posting. To have yours removed, email [email protected] from the address on your account. [[TODO(Adam): confirm we'll honor removal requests by email]]

Questions or appeals

If you think a review was held or removed by mistake, email [email protected].