Clean restaurant, real food cooked and served well.

Clean restaurant, good service, healthy, flavorful foods at decent prices. Non-chain restaurants that use local veggies and meats.

Price, service, and cleanliness

Clean, quality food and good service. Beale street's owner was so rude and nasty we have never gone back.

I like to know that the food is organic, prepared with quality and healthy ingredients. I like the restaurant to be clean, nice ambiance, good service.

Healthy options to the regular sides of baked potato and rice.

Good service, good prices, good food are my Top 3.

Vegan and vegetarian options, made with fresh, local vegtables. Love spicy food, so that is what I order. Hate it when it is served bland one time and spicy the next. Consistency is important to me, if I am going to be a regular customer.

Clean - it can never be assumed even in high end restaurants. I used to service restaurant equipment so I know. Honest food. If I order Grouper and get catfish I know it. If I order Chinese or Thia and they bulk it up with carrots they can keep it. Service - I can't tell you how many restaurants we have been to I will be talking with my wife and the server comes up and interrupts me and talks over me - excuse me I am the customer - not an obstruction to moving along quickly to your tip. Nor if I use a coupon do I want to hear a lecture about tipping on the full amount as I got the other night at the Limelight from some ditzy waitress with a foreign accent who had to come back and take our order twice and then 'lost' the coupon.

good food, good value, not a lot of noise, nice wait staff, CLEAN!

I'm a simple man, Give me good cow and good wine, with a dash of good service and I'm golden.

Good vegetarian and vegan options. You would be surprised how many restaurants in Metro Detroit don't have a single vegetarian option.

Clean with proper food handling. I would love to see the state start a rateing program where restaurants are required to post their score.

TASTE! served with a friendly smile would be nice also!

I think having healthier options is important.Local produce when possible...
And yes cleanliness and taste are important as well!

After working in many, many, many restaurants my minimum requirements are very simple:

Clean table and seat when I'm seated.

Food is clean and at least proficient.

Make sure you water my table.

Make sure you beverage me.

Make sure my table is not stale.

Don't hover but be attentive.

Be professional and engaging.

I will not hold you at fault for legit kitchen / house mistakes. I know BS when I see it; don't screw this up and we will both be just fine.

This equals a 23% tip, and your service will depend where go from here.

service, then there is service,even simple food is better with good service!!

When I go into a restaurant for the first time, the first thing I do is look at the washroom. This breif check tells me if I am going to eat there, or leave, depending upon what I find. If conditions are bad, I will tell the management, then leave. I will return a week or two later, and check again. If it's still bad, I will never come back again, and will advise others of my findings.

My husband and I eat out often. We each have 2 restaurant food criteria: his, unaltered french fries, (not coated with anything but a little salt, for any reason) and preferably fresh cut, and know how to cook a steak, rare means rare. Mine, the lettuce must be fresh cut, no pre cut, ready to eat, bag lettuce, EVER. It has a bad taste and bad odor,(it's not longer food) and, if it doesn't say butter, it's NOT BUTTER. Additionally, cleanliness is a must but no vacuuming while I'm dining, no reaching over me to refill anything, and if we are seated at the 'ha ha' table, (the one by the kitchen door), when other tables are available, we may give the restaurant one more chance, but only if all other 'wants' are met.

We look for lots of healthy vegan and vegetarian options but service is extremely important to us. We like to build relationships with our community restaurant friends because we are extremely loyal and will be back. :)

Local produce when available, and a couple vegetarian/ vegan options.

A burger cooked medium-rare.

A server who doesn't ask "How are WE doing?" or sit at our table to take our order.

A wine list with scores mostly 88 and up.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape by the glass.

An accurate waiting to be seated estimate and adequate room for people to wait.

Chili without beans added.

A quick wrap-up at the end with the bill presented and paid within a few minutes.

Leftover food not jammed into a small takeout container.

No fishy smell.

Regular refills on beverages.

Lots of dishes without mushrooms.

A wide selection of sides to choose from.

Red meat.

Quiet enough for a conversation.

Kids' placemats/menus with plenty of activities to keep them busy. Bonus if it is those light cardboard model cars, planes, masks, etc. that Denny's had eons ago.

No upsell.

A few extra paper napkins for the kids.

Real bacon on my salad.

Table-side salad service. (I miss Mountain Jack's!)

Herb-encrusted prime rib.

Roving magician.

Faux Mexican food, like twice-grilled BBQ burritos.

My order right the first time.

Detailed descriptions of menu items.

Tables and chairs should not feel sticky.

Coke products.

Steak fries - except for McDonalds.

Real recommendations, not "Everything's good here".

It's the little things that make a good restaurant great.

Gluten-free menus.