CloudyChef exists to keep restaurant reviews honest. These are the rules we hold every review, listing, and owner to.
Every review must be backed by proof of a real visit — a receipt verified against the restaurant's own records, a QR check-in, or a card match. Second-hand reports are removed.
Restaurants cannot pay to raise scores, bury reviews, or remove critical feedback. There is no "premium placement" in scoring — paid features never touch the ranking math.
Food, service, value, and ambience are scored separately so a beautiful room can't hide a mediocre kitchen. The overall number is a fixed, published weighting: food 40%, the rest 20% each.
When content is removed or edited, the action, the reason, and who did it are recorded in the listing's public transparency log. No silent deletions.
Owners may append one public reply to a review. They can never edit or trim the reviewer's words.