Hotel Restaurant of the Year

General

• Natural ambience, décor and features (including lighting and background music);
• Measure of popularity relative to day of week;
• Appropriate room temperature and cleanliness;
• Efficiency of access and operation of FOH and BOH staff;
• Cleanliness and hygiene of toilets, including clear directional signage;

Menu

• Well presented (i.e. font, size and style);
• Sufficient and interesting variety of menu items;
• Evidence of seasonal variation with dishes;
• Integration of specials and local dishes;
• Pricing relative to target market;

Beverages

• Variety of local and imported beers, wines and spirits;
• Variety of wines offered by the glass;
• Reasonable variety of non-alcoholic beverages offered;
• Availability and quality of espresso coffee;
• Cleanliness and handling of glassware;

Food and Presentation

• Table set with clean polished cutlery and napkins;
• Quality of crockery, cutlery and table linen;
• Accuracy of dish composition in relation to menu description;
• Quality, presentation and appropriate temperature of dish served;
• Price of dish, relative to quality and presentation;

Staff

• Welcome to customer upon arrival, including ease of retrieval of reservation;
• Grooming and presentation;
• Knowledge of menu and specials, including willingness to engage and make recommendations;
• Extent to which staff upsold – matching wines with food, offer of, and recommendations, regarding desserts, teas and coffees;
• Length of time taken to take drink orders and deliver drinks;
• Length of time taken to take meal orders and deliver meals;
• Clean and appropriate cutlery placed correctly on table prior to meal being served;
• All meals delivered in a timely manner (i.e. guests not left waiting without food);
• Correct meal placement;
• Table cleared at appropriate intervals and redundant items taken (i.e. salt and pepper cleared for dessert);
• Length of time for account to be delivered and accuracy of it;
• Was an appropriate parting salutation offered?

Telephone Technique

• Was the telephone answered within three rings and was the name of the hotel/restaurant identified?;
• Did the speaker identify themselves?;
• Did the speaker confirm your reservation and offer a pleasant parting comment?;

Environmental Sustainability

• Visual evidence that the hotel is supportive of and/or engaging in environmentally sustainable practices – e.g. use of paper straws.

Overall Judge’s Experience

• In each property category, judges will rate their overall guest experience, enjoyed during their stay, on a scale of 1-10, factoring in observations from all areas they have assessed.
• This mark will be included in the overall judging tally, to determine Award winners.