Explanation of Rating System and Abbreviations

The Price Range Index

The price range category tells the reader at a glance whether the restaurant under consideration falls within his or her budget. The five price ranges are based on the price of dinner for two with wine, exclusive of tip. They do not include the cost of apéritifs or after-dinner drinks. It should also be mentioned that variation and recently skyrocketing wine prices may throw these guidelines off-balance when expensive rather than moderately-priced wines are ordered. Another word of warning — at publication time food costs were rising rapidly and some restaurants were therefore revising their prices accordingly. The following scale gives the basic guidelines which were used to place restaurants in their category.

Inexpensive: $10.00 or less — dinner for 2, exclusive of tip (without wine).

Inexpensive to Moderate: $10.00 to $25.00 — dinner for 2, with an inexpensive bottle or carafes of house wine.

Moderate: $25.00 to $35.00 — dinner for 2, depending upon wine ordered.

Moderate to Expensive: $35.00 to $50.00 — dinner for 2, depending upon wine ordered.

Expensive: Over $50.00 — dinner for 2, including a bottle of wine.

General Rating System

Our readers tell us this rating system is very helpful. The restaurants are rated on a four grade scale — fair, good, excellent and superb — in each of three categories: food, service and décor. The components which are considered when restaurants are reviewed and rated are:

Food: quality, preparation, presentation and taste, including originality of menu.

Service: quality, efficiency, knowledgeability, congeniality, polish and supervision.

Décor: physical appearance of the restaurant, inside and out, appeal, comfort, cleanliness and ambiance. While décor is, to some degree, a matter of taste, it will be found that the mood intended was given consideration and, therefore, an expensively decorated hotel dining room may receive the same rating as an inexpensively decorated, but very comfortable, casual café.

In all rating systems there is risk of misinterpretation. While the terms are self-explanatory, it must be acknowledged that individual biases are involved in any value judgment. Our system is intended simply to provide the reader with a broad guide as to what he may expect from the restaurants reviewed. Above all, it should be pointed out that of the more than 5,000 restaurnats in Montreal, fewer than 5% have been selected for inclusion in this book. This means that every restaurant described here has some merit which place sit in the category which warrants our readers’ attention. It als means that those restaurants which were dined at by our reviewers and which did not meet our standards have not been included.

The vital information about each restaurant was supplied at our request by the restaurants concerned and is accurate as of November, 1976. All such data, particularly prices, are subject to change.

Credit card abbreviations are the following: AC – Air Canada, AE – American Express, CB – Carte Blanche, CN – Canadian National, CP – Canadian Pacific, CX – Chargex, DC – Diners Club, MC – Master Charge.