Fire ratings come from what diners say. Nothing else.
Every fire rating on Food Fired Up is built from real reviews, calculated the same way for every restaurant, and can’t be bought.
How a review becomes a dish rating
We read the menu
The restaurant’s menu becomes a list of dishes the owner confirms.
We find every dish mention
Each review is read for the dishes it mentions, whether the diner liked them, and what they were talking about: taste, portion, value, temperature or presentation. The exact words are kept as the quote.
Code does the math
Scores, counts and trends are calculated by ordinary code, not written by AI, so every number can be checked against the reviews behind it.
1 to 5 fires, shown in half fires
Each dish’s score starts from the average of what diners said about it. When a dish has only a few mentions, its score is pulled toward the restaurant’s overall average, so a single review can’t make or break it. Scores cover the last 90 days and are compared with the 90 days before to show the trend.
| Label | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Fired up 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 | Score of 4.2 or higher, with at least 5 mentions |
| Solid | Score from 3.5 to 4.19 |
| Mixed | Score from 2.8 to 3.49 |
| Flop | Score under 2.8, with at least 5 mentions |
| Not enough data | Fewer than 5 mentions in the period |
We may fine-tune these thresholds as we test them against real restaurants. If we do, we’ll update this page.
What we will never do
Sell ratings
Money never changes a rating, a ranking position outside clearly labeled ads, or which reviews are shown.
Make things up
Every rating, quote and summary traces back to a real review, the restaurant’s menu or the restaurant’s own website.
Reward positive reviews
Rewards, when we offer them, are for verified visits and honest reviews of any rating. Never for positive ones.
Use reviews we aren’t allowed to
We only analyze reviews from the restaurant’s own connected accounts, its own uploads, or reviews written on Food Fired Up. No fake or AI-written reviews, and negative reviews are never hidden.
Own a restaurant?
See your own dishes rated with a free sample Dish Report.