New Mobil Ratings: Quixotic Attempt at Scientific ObjectivityGiven how much hubbub there was over the Michelin ratings, and how bad the guide actually was (as we recently noted here), we’re surprised we haven’t heard more reactions to Mobil’s quasi-scientific restaurant guide, the latest edition of which was just released. “We have created a very objective process of evaluating restaurants,” Shane O’Flaherty, Mobil’s vice-president of quality assurance and the man in charge of the restaurant ratings, tells us. “From that standpoint, we believe that it’s as accurate as you can get, anywhere you go.”
Only four New York restaurants received the top rank of five stars in the ratings released last week: Alain Ducasse, Per Se, Masa, and Jean Georges. (Le Bernardin, which won three Michelin stars, is conspicuously absent.) What separates a five-star restaurant from a four? O’Flaherty cited some startlingly specific examples from Mobil’s checklist.