My favorite sort of place is a one of a kind "mom and pop" style rathole of a place that serves up amazing pizza. So I don't review chains or franchise shops like Pizza Hut.
I use a 5 star system, but reserve the 5 stars for something that I have yet to encounter yet -- just to have something to reach for. So if I award 4 stars, that means it is among the very best. A single star means a place to avoid at all costs. We don't have any one star joints -- yet anyway.
Tom's Restaurant Reviews / tom@mmto.org