# BestRestaurant.net — Full Knowledge Base > Complete FAQ content for LLM indexing. Source of truth: https://bestrestaurant.net/faq ## General ### What is BestRestaurant.net? BestRestaurant.net is a curated awards and discovery platform that highlights the best restaurants across 35 North American cities. We combine editorial curation, dynamic city rankings, and public voting to surface dining excellence. ### Is BestRestaurant.net free to use? Yes. Browsing restaurants, reading reviews, voting, and viewing award winners is completely free for diners. Restaurants may opt into premium claim features. ### Which cities do you cover? We cover 35 North American metropolitan areas including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Boston, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, Washington DC, and more. ### How often is content updated? Restaurant data, rankings, and award eligibility are refreshed continuously. Public vote tallies update in real time, and city leaderboards recompute daily. ### Do you have a mobile app? BestRestaurant.net is a mobile-first progressive web app (PWA). You can install it to your home screen from Safari or Chrome for a native-like experience without an app store. ## Awards & Voting ### How do you select award winners? Awards are selected through a hybrid system: editorial review of cuisine, service, and consistency, weighted with public votes from verified diners in each city. ### Can I vote for my favorite restaurant? Yes. Signed-in users can cast one vote per restaurant per award category per cycle. Votes contribute to city leaderboards and annual award consideration. ### What award categories do you offer? Categories include Best Overall, Best New Restaurant, Best Chef, Best Service, Best Value, Best Ambiance, and cuisine-specific awards (Best Italian, Best Sushi, etc.). ### When are annual awards announced? City-level awards are announced quarterly, and the national Best of North America list is published every January. ### Can a restaurant nominate itself? No. Restaurants cannot self-nominate. All entries are sourced from editorial scouting and diner submissions to keep the process credible. ### How do I know votes are legitimate? We require authenticated accounts, limit one vote per user per category, and use server-side fraud detection to discard suspicious patterns. ## For Restaurants ### How do I claim my restaurant? Search for your restaurant, open its profile, and click 'Claim this restaurant.' You'll verify ownership via business email, phone, or document upload. Approval typically takes 1-3 business days. ### Is claiming a listing free? Yes, the basic claim is free. Claimed listings can update hours, menus, photos, and respond to reviews at no cost. ### How do I update my menu or hours? After claiming, sign in and go to 'My Restaurant.' You can edit hours, menus, photos, contact info, and reservation links from a single dashboard. ### Can I respond to reviews? Yes. Verified owners can publicly respond to any review on their profile. Responses are subject to community guidelines. ### Why isn't my restaurant listed? We continuously expand coverage. Submit your restaurant through the 'Add a restaurant' form and an editor will review it within 5 business days. ### Do you offer paid promotion? We offer limited, clearly-labeled featured placements that never override award rankings or organic search results. Contact partnerships@bestrestaurant.net for details. ## Reviews & Ratings ### How does the rating system work? Diners rate restaurants on a 1-5 star scale across food, service, ambiance, and value. The displayed score is a weighted average of all verified reviews. ### Can I edit or delete my review? Yes. From your account page, you can edit or delete any review you've submitted at any time. ### Are reviews moderated? All reviews pass through automated moderation for spam and policy violations. Users can also report problematic content for human review. ### Do you allow anonymous reviews? No. Reviews are tied to authenticated accounts and display the reviewer's chosen display name to keep ratings credible. ### How do you prevent fake reviews? We use authenticated accounts, IP and device fingerprinting, behavioral signals, and editorial spot-checks to remove fraudulent reviews. ## Account & Privacy ### How do I create an account? Click 'Sign in' in the top navigation and choose email or Google sign-up. Email accounts require a one-time verification link. ### How do I reset my password? On the sign-in page, click 'Forgot password' and enter your email. You'll receive a secure reset link valid for 30 minutes. ### How do I delete my account? Go to Account > Settings > Delete Account. Deletion removes your profile, votes, and reviews within 30 days, in line with applicable privacy laws. ### What data do you collect? We collect account details you provide, votes and reviews you submit, and aggregated analytics. We never sell personal data. See our Privacy Policy for full details. ### Can I opt out of marketing emails? Yes. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can manage preferences in Account > Notifications. ## Technical ### Why is the site so fast? BestRestaurant.net is built as a React PWA with image optimization, code splitting, edge caching, and an offline-ready service worker for instant repeat visits. ### Is the site accessible? We follow WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines: semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, ARIA labels on interactive components, sufficient color contrast, and screen-reader testing. ### Does the site work offline? Recently visited pages and your favorited restaurants are cached and available offline through the installed PWA. ### What browsers do you support? The latest two versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge on desktop and mobile. Older browsers may experience reduced functionality. ### How do I report a bug? Email support@bestrestaurant.net with a description, screenshot if possible, and the URL where the issue occurred.