We’re so excited about our brand-new set of awards, the Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Best Everyday Eateries, with the winners in each category in each province voted for by you.

How is this different from before?

For the past four years, the ‘Best of’ winners have been chosen by the restaurant awards judge(s). This year, in line with international reviewing sites, Eat Out is letting the fans choose their own Best Everyday Eateries. There will be winners for each category in each province. (The Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards remain focused on the Top 10 restaurants in the country, Chef of the Year and other accolades for fine dining restaurants as judged by a panel of experts.)

What are the awards categories?

There are 10 categories: Best Asian Eatery, Best Bistro, Best Country-Style Eatery, Best Italian Eatery, Best Steakhouse, Best Coffee Shop, Best Burger Eatery, Best Indian Eatery, Best African Eatery and Best Seafood Eatery. A winner will be chosen for each category in each of the nine provinces (provided minimum criteria are met), with 90 potential winners.

How are the winning restaurants chosen?

Eat Out fans directly influence the results with their star ratings when they review a restaurant on the site. Stars are awarded from one (poor) to five (excellent), for food and drinks, ambience and service. Users need to log in to write a review and give a rating. The restaurants with the highest average star rating in each category in each province for the eligible period will win. The awards period is 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015. Restaurants are welcome to encourage their patrons to rate and review them on eatout.co.za.

Eat Out fans directly influence the results with their star ratings when they review a restaurant on the site.

How many restaurants can I ‘vote’ for by giving them a rating and review?

You may review and rate as many restaurants as you’d like, but only one review per user profile per restaurant will be tallied. (So you can’t review and rate the same restaurant more than once in the awards period.)

I don’t have a user profile on eatout.co.za. Now what?

Click here to write your review. Once you’re ready to submit it, you will be asked to complete the log-in process.

Can I review and rate my own restaurant?

For obvious reasons, a restaurant’s staff may not rate and review their own restaurant. Spot checks will be carried out and offenders will be disqualified.

Winners will be announced in 10 categories, including Best Burger Eatery.

I own a restaurant that’s not listed on eatout.co.za. How can I still qualify?

If your restaurant is not listed on the site, please click here.

When will the winners be announced?

The Best Everyday Eateries will be announced at two events in October 2015, one in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town.

The fine print

• The Best Everyday Eateries winners will be determined by means of user reviews and a five-star rating system.
• Users need to be logged in to review and rate a restaurant.
• Restaurants need to be listed on eatout.co.za to receive reviews and ratings. If your restaurant is not listed, please click here.
• There needs to be a minimum of 10 reviews in a category in a particular province in order for a prize to be awarded.
• Individual restaurants need to have received a minimum of 5 reviews in the awards period to qualify.
• The awards period is 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015.
• A prize will not be awarded if the highest-rated restaurant in that category has an overall rating lower than 4 stars.
• Ratings are done based on ambience, service, and food and drinks, in a 20:20:60 ratio to give precedence to food.
• Users may review and rate as many restaurants as they’d like, but only one review per user profile per restaurant will be tallied.
• A restaurant’s staff members may not review their own restaurant. Spot checks will be carried out and offenders will be disqualified.
• The results will be audited based on the above guidelines.
• In the event of a tie, restaurants’ written reviews will be taken into consideration.
• The auditors’ findings are final, and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the winners.
• Eat Out reserves the right to place restaurants in the most relevant category.

Kim and Chloe gave their local coffee shop five out of five for serving salads sans annoying bits of raw onion that they had to pick out.

Before rating a restaurant, consider the following criteria:

• The menu composition, seasonality and variety of dishes.
• The food presentation, taste, choice of ingredients, ethical awareness and consistency.
• Value for money: quality of ingredients versus the price, portion size and the overall experience.
• Drinks: selection, variety and price of wine and other beverages.
• Service: staff attitude, knowledge of the menu, and willingness to go the extra mile.
• Ambience: the restaurant’s look and feel, décor, tableware and level of comfort.

Should you have any queries, please contact info@eatout.co.za. Tell us about your #EatOutBest on Twitter.