[buf]

I'm also impressed with tabelog.

Japanese reviewers seem to understand that 3 is an average meal, and anything higher should be above average.

I wonder how tipping culture of the western world impacts star averages. Americans tip on just about everything. Do we inflate our star rating because it's in our mindset to 'be nice'?

Whereas Japanese are courteous on the outside, but uphold strict scrutiny on the inside. So when they rate something as 3 stars, it truly was a satisfactory meal, nothing more or less.

[bleakenthusiasm]

It's the same in Europe with the 5-stars-is-normal scale.

In my personal experience it's the app that fosters it. Many companies who ask for reviews follow up anything below 5 stars or 10/10 with "how can we improve?" Or some similar questions. This is friction they generate for me as a user if I rate anything below top tier.

Personally for me 5 stars or 10/10 would be service that is so good I couldn't even tell you how to do it. I couldn't tell you how to improve to that state unless the business in question is something I'm very familiar with. Still I sometimes find myself handing out 5 stars because otherwise I have to find something to complain about and I just can't think of anything.

So that is what has made 5 stars for me go from "mind blowingly outstanding" to "nothing to complain".

[hgomersall]

The problem really is that one single metric is insufficient to grade all restaurants. 5* at a fine dining place at £150/cover is quite different to 5* at gastropub, is quite different at a chain restaurant. You can't expect to grade or interpret all restaurants on the same scale. I just interpret the star rating as overall subjective experience, which is mostly a delta from expectations.

[buf]

Agreed. I live in Europe and have the same experience.

Europeans tend to use the same review apps as Americans, so it could lead to the same problems (expectations at least). We do the same things with other review systems like Airbnb.

I've only been a user of tabelog as a person looking for a meal, not a reviewer. So I'm not sure the experience they have.

[styfle]

I think many Americans rate 5 stars if the business met all their expectations and then remove a star for each unsatisfactory experience.

Reviews look something like “4 stars: I removed a star because...”

[dayjaby]

I give 5 stars when I love something and 1 star when I hate something. Like an up or downvote.