In May of 2009, A group of friends in Houston came to the conclusion that people get stuck in eating the same food from the same restaurants just because. It’s hard for people to try new restaurants, because who wants to spend their hard-earned money on crappy food?

We try to approach our reviews as any other regular eater would. We don’t care so much about presentation, as long as looking at it doesn’t make our stomachs turn. We certainly care about service, but our ratings will reward excellent service more than it will punish average service. We know that waiting tables is one of the hardest jobs there is, and as long as our waiter or waitress is doing their best. If we do get consistently good service, though, we will mark up their rating a little.

What we care most about is the food. We use a “best of show” rating system, similar to what you see in dog shows on TV. We aren’t going to compare McDonald’s to Jacque’s Fine French Bistro, because it wouldn’t be a fair fight. McDonald’s would win every time. Instead, we aim to compare McDonald’s to Burger King, and Jacque’s Fine French Bistro to the Ooh La La Café. (Don’t worry, we’re never going to do a review on McDonald’s or Burger King, we promise.)

There are certain restaurants that should have certain things. A wings restaurant should have TV’s and beer, and all restaurants should have kid’s menus. We think that the ideal restaurant should be appropriate for a family dinner or an adults’ night out. We also think that food should be reasonably priced, because we all work just as hard for our money as the restaurant owners do. We’ll pay 20$ for a steak, but not for a cheeseburger.

We also don’t go to restaurants 7 or 8 times like some professional reviewers do. We think that a restaurant needs to serve quality food every time. You don’t get to pay less if a restaurant has an off-day, and so why should we give them a break? If something was wrong, and the restaurant goes above and beyond to make it right, however, we will give them a break.

We do give some weight to the environment of a restaurant. After all, the reason you have to slap that 15-25% bonus onto your bill is because you’re paying the wait staff to ensure that you have a good time. Some restaurants are meant to be quiet with candles on the table, and some restaurants are meant to hustle and bustle. And at some restaurants, on your birthday, you have to wear a sombrero and dance on the table. In any event, the environment of the restaurant should match the expectation.

And last, but not least, we try and cut through the hype. There are lots of restaurants that seem to continually get rave reviews from their diners based on their reputation. While that’s fine for those people, our mission is to recognize quality restaurants based on substance.

Basically, we are just like you, our readers. We’re not super picky, but we expect to be treated well and to get good value for our money. We hope we can help the rest of Houston discover better restaurants, better experience, and better times.

If you have any questions or comments about us, our site, or any of the restaurants we’ve visited, or you have a restaurant that you’d like us to try before you spend your money, please feel free to shoot us an email at HtownFoodReviews@gmail.com.

We realize that all of our reviews will not make friends, but if you believe that you have corrected some problem and wish for us to revisit your restaurant, please drop us a line. We believe in second chances, but be prepared, if it hasn’t improved, we will probably rip you even worse the second time around.