How our rankings work.
Open formula. Every bonus is visible right on the venue card — you can audit why #1 is #1.
What we don't do
- We don't pay Google. Ratings and review counts come from public Google Maps data — we can't tweak them.
- We don't take money for placement. You can't buy a top spot on Dish.am. This is an editorial list, not "ad — venue #1."
- We don't make up facts. Every phrase like "Live music on Wednesdays" has a source: a feature flag in our database, set after verification.
The formula
Base score = rating × √(review count).
Why square root: multiplying rating × review count gives a venue with 5,000 reviews a huge head start over a classic with 500. Ignoring volume entirely lets 5.0★/3-review venues beat 4.6★/4000-review classics. Square root strikes a balance: more reviews matter, but don't dominate.
Example: Lavash 4.6★ × √4791 ≈ 318. A young bar 4.9★ × √20 ≈ 22. A 14× gap, which is right — Lavash has proven itself across thousands of guests.
Bonuses
On top of base, we add transparent bonuses. All of them appear in the expandable "Why this rank?" block under each card:
| Bonus | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Classic — 1000+ reviews | +8 | Google Maps |
| Established — 500+ | +5 | Google Maps |
| Popular — 200+ | +3 | Google Maps |
| High rating at scale (≥4.7★ × ≥200r) | +6 | Google Maps |
| Dish.am editorial pick | +6 | Editor's manual tag |
| Live music | +3 | Google category + reviews |
| Rooftop terrace | +3 | Category + verification |
| Outdoor seating / terrace | +1 | 2026 crawl |
| Vegan options | +1 | Menu + reviews |
| Kid-friendly | +1 | Google attributes |
On occasion pages (romantic, birthday, business lunch) we add contextual bonuses (+3 to +6). They apply only if the venue's feature matches the occasion, so the same bar can have a different final score in a generic top list vs. a "for romantic dinners" list.
Update cadence
Rating and review count — every 1–2 months, at the next Google Maps crawl. Each venue's last-refreshed date lives in data_refreshed_at.
Feature bonuses — manual updates whenever an editor verifies a venue (visited in person or reviewed last 90 days of guest reviews).
"Editorial pick" bonus — quarterly. A small list of 15–20 places we consider culturally significant (Beatles Pub, Lavash, Malkhas Jazz Club, Kavkazskaya Plennitsa, etc.) — regardless of whether they hold a perfect rating.
Disclaimer
This ranking is our composite. It answers "where to go based on available public signals." It doesn't mean place #1 is objectively better than place #15 — it means by our criteria, #1 scored more points.
Taste is personal. If you love a quiet courtyard and #1 is a loud pub, go to #14. Open the "Why this rank?" block, look at the bonuses, filter by your own taste.