Our Method

Every guide tells you how it was reported. We pay our own way when we visit, verify the details before publication, and never sell or sponsor a ranking.

Some guides are built on repeated, unannounced visits. Others compare public records, official data, primary documents and current customer feedback. Each guide says which method it used and whether the writer visited, interviewed anyone or relied on desk research. We do not claim a visit that did not happen.

Rankings are not sold. There is no sponsored placement, no affiliate weighting, and no arrangement under which a business can influence its position. If that ever changes, it will be disclosed at the top of every affected page, in the same type size as the headline.

What we pay for

On field assignments, meals, admission, parking, gas and lodging come out of subscriber revenue. We do not accept comps. Desk-researched guides follow the same independence rule: a business cannot pay to be considered or placed.

How rankings are built

Every guide states its own criteria and weights them in order. The writer proposes a ranking, an editor challenges it, and the fact-check desk confirms prices, hours and whether the place is still open in the week before publication. Each entry carries the month it was last verified.

When we get it wrong

Places close. Chefs leave. Prices move. When a guide falls out of date we update it and change the visible "Updated" date at the top. We do not quietly edit and pretend it was always right.