How Rating Works on Mosey, and What a Sampler Is

A rating on Mosey is a record of one meal, not a permanent judgement on a place. That single idea is what makes the rest of it work.

A rating is a visit

Most rating systems give you one review per restaurant, for ever. Mosey does not. You rate the meal you just had, and when you go back in six months you rate that one too.

Both are true. A five in January and a three-and-a-half in July are two honest facts about the same place, and the venue's average holds both. If your opinion of a meal changes after you post it, you can amend that rating — amending corrects what you said about a visit, it does not move the visit.

There is a 30-day gap between ratings of the same place, and if you try inside it Mosey shows you what you said last time and offers to amend it rather than silently refusing. Nobody should have to erase one meal to record another.

Rate the dish, not just the room

You can rate individual dishes, and this is the part worth using. A place can be a four overall and have one dish that is a five and one that is a two — and "the lamb is extraordinary, skip the risotto" is far more useful to the next person than a number.

Dishes you rate become part of the dish pages other people browse, so a great plate gets found on its own merits even at a venue nobody has heard of. If a dish is not on the venue's menu yet, type the name and it is added.

Photographs

A photograph of the plate is worth more than any adjective, and it is the thing most people scroll for. Yours appear on the venue's page and on the dish.

What a Sampler is

Some ratings carry a Sampler mark. It means the person has rated 5 different places in that particular area — 5 distinct Italian restaurants, 5 distinct cafés, 5 distinct places serving what they need to eat.

The distinction matters because "distinct places" is the whole point. Ten visits to one beloved trattoria tells you someone has a favourite. Five different trattorias tells you they have something to compare against, and that is the difference between an opinion and a reference point.

Three areas can earn it, and they were chosen carefully:

• Cuisine — you have eaten enough Thai food to know what good Thai food is
• Venue type — you know cafés, or wine bars, or chippers
• Dietary — you have eaten gluten-free in enough places to know when somewhere handles it properly

Occasion and meal type deliberately do not qualify. Rating 5 different brunches says something about your habits, not about your palate.

Verified visits

Some ratings carry a note that the visit was verified. That means Mosey has a record of the transaction — an order, a booking, an in-store payment — so the person was demonstrably there.

Most honest ratings will never be verified, because most venues do not take money through Mosey, and that is fine. It decorates a rating; it never gates one. Nobody is stopped from rating a place because of how they paid.

Rating well

• Rate the meal, not the mood. A slow Saturday and a bad dish are different problems.
• Name the dish. It is the most useful single thing you can leave behind.
• Take the photograph before you eat it. Nobody has ever regretted this.
• Come back and rate again. A place that improved deserves the record to say so.

Where to go next

• Finding standout dishes — where dish ratings end up
• Eating out with allergies — where the dietary Sampler earns its keep
• Building your own food guide with Lists — the places worth keeping
• Sharing a food adventure with Drops — several places in one go