Rating Guide

Generally, the plan is to post a brief summary of the experience and then rate the restaurant/diner/hole-in-the-wall/dive using the following scale.  This may be tweaked later, but overall this hopefully is sufficient until the country goes through hyperinflation and the cost scoring goes to pot.

Cost
$ = Fast-food-like price point
$$ = Casual restaurant price point (think somewhere between Panera and Ruby Tuesday's)
$$$ = What you'd expect for higher-end dining (Finagling to get under $50 for two isn't an option (2010 prices))
$$$$ = Unquestionably expensive

Cleanliness
Notably clean
Not notable
Dirty, Gross or Bugs

Service

***** - Great
*** - Average
* - Awful

Pluses 
Sweet tea, interesting decor, or other "Oh, neat" characteristics

Minuses
Noise, poor lighting to distraction, or other things that detract from the experience

Overall value
Was it worthwhile?  Worth the price?  Should we go again?

So where are we eating?

We're actually in the midst of deciding this at this very moment. And therefore, this is the exact reason we've started this blog -- we've eaten at a lot of places and like a fair amount of them. But when it comes time to go back to that new place, we often find we forget. We literally have been to over 75 different eateries in Northern Virginia in a two-year span. After going to all these restaurants, we just no longer can instantly recall all this information: which ones are in the day's budget, which ones were great (or not great), and which ones are just too far away (you can't just hop on a plane anytime).

We also like to give recognition to great service, great food, and a damn good server (who could always use more tips). Equally, we want to recognize those who go out of their way to make the dining experience one to **ahem** never forget, even if you wish you could.

So, that's the purpose. If you're reading this expecting a magazine write-up of restaurants, you're missing the point. We're not grading these restaurants for the masses. This is truly our opinion on places we like, places we don't, and also for the happened-upon reader, suggestions that would expand our canon of places to eat regularly.

We endeavor to be comprehensive but may not. We'll see.