How we select venues
We don't try to list every business in Brisbane, and the gap between "listed somewhere" and "worth your Friday night" is the whole reason this site exists. A venue earns a place here when there's real evidence it belongs in a guide to the city's best — a reputation that holds up locally, a clear identity in its category, and enough solid information for us to write something specific about it. Brisbane makes that harder than it sounds: a Sunnybank restaurant with a devoted following and barely any online presence can be far better than a CBD venue coasting on foot traffic, so we weigh reputation against context rather than raw review counts. When the evidence isn't there, we leave the venue out rather than pad the site.
What the Spot Score is
The Spot Score is our own independent rating of a venue, from 0 to 100, with a plain-English label (such as “Exceptional” or “Worth a Look”). It blends several signals: the venue's reputation, its popularity, the quality and completeness of information available about it, how well it fits its category, and how fresh that information is.
What the Spot Score is NOT
- It is not for sale. No venue can pay to raise its Spot Score or its ranking. Ever.
- It is not a Google rating. It's distinct from any star rating you'll see elsewhere — it's our methodology, applied consistently.
- It is not a guarantee. It's an informed editorial opinion to help you decide, not a promise about your visit.
No pay-for-ranking
Nothing on Brisbane Spots can be bought. Not a Spot Score, not a position on a category page, not a spot on a best-of list. Advertising and sponsored listings pay for the site, and they are walled off from editorial judgement completely — a venue that advertises with us is ranked by exactly the same criteria as one that has never contacted us. When something is commercial, it carries a Sponsored label so you can see it immediately. If you ever spot a paid placement on this site that isn't labelled, tell us and we'll fix it.
Independence & sponsored content
Where content is paid for — a sponsored listing, a featured placement or a newsletter sponsorship — it is always clearly labelled as such, so you can tell the difference between our independent recommendations and a commercial placement. See our advertising options for how this works.
Corrections
We get things wrong sometimes, and we want to fix them fast. If a venue has closed, moved, changed, or if we've published an inaccuracy, tell us via our contact form and we'll review and update it promptly. Venue owners are welcome to request corrections too.
A note on how we research
We use modern tools, including AI assistance, to research efficiently — but we don't invent facts: checkable details are published only with a source, and drafts are checked against that source material before publishing. We do not claim visits or owner confirmations we have not made. For the full detail, read how we create content.
How this plays out in Brisbane
Brisbane's dining scene is unusually spread out. Unlike a city with one obvious restaurant strip, the good stuff is scattered — Fortitude Valley and West End carry the density, but some of the best Korean and Vietnamese food in the city sits in Chermside and Sunnybank, a long way from where visitors are told to look. Our coverage follows that reality rather than clustering everything inside a two-kilometre radius of the CBD.
That creates a specific editorial problem: a venue in a quieter suburb often has fewer reviews than a mediocre CBD venue with heavy foot traffic. If we ranked on review volume alone, half of Brisbane's genuinely good food would be invisible. The Spot Score weighs reputation relative to a venue's category and context, which is why a small Wynnum cafe can outrank a busy chain outlet.
We also treat Brisbane's turnover seriously. Venues here open, rebrand and close faster than our sources update, so a listing that hasn't been checked recently loses freshness weight until it is. When a place has clearly shut, we remove it rather than leaving a dead listing to rank.