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4.56 Stars On Average. Food Decides The Rest.
What guests score, write and recommend after a visit, from the restaurant's own review form.
HappyChef Datahub
Guests are generous with Belgian restaurants: two in three give five stars, and the Net Promoter Score lands far above what most businesses reach. Friendliness scores highest of all. But when a visit goes wrong, it is the food that guests mark down first, and those unhappy guests write three times as much as the happy ones. These eleven insights come from the review form restaurants send after the visit, with every comment kept private.
The Insights In This Article
- Guests Give 4.56 Stars On Average
- A Net Promoter Score Of +74
- Friendliness Scores Highest, At 4.8
- In Low Reviews, Food Scores Lowest: 3.35
- Unhappy Guests Write 3 Times As Much
- The Main Course Is The Favourite For 71%
- Few Complaints, Led By Food That Is Not Surprising Enough
- Big Groups Rate A Little Lower: 4.54
- Friday Visits Score Highest, Sunday Visits Lowest
- Ratings Climb From 4.34 In January To 4.67 In April
- 26% Of Happy Guests Also Post Their Review Publicly
Insight 1 of 11
Guests Give 4.56 Stars On Average
The average rating is 4.56 out of 5. 67% of guests give five stars, and only 2.8% give two stars or fewer.
| Group | Share | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| 5 ★ | 66.8% | 8,116 |
| 4 ★ | 26.1% | 2,666 |
| 3 ★ | 4.3% | 480 |
| 2 ★ | 1.5% | 144 |
| 1 ★ | 1.2% | 119 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 11,525
- Restaurants
- 29 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- The overall star rating (1 to 5) guests gave in the review form the restaurant sends after the visit. Per restaurant with at least 30 reviews, averaged. Reviews imported from other platforms are left out.
Insight 2 of 11
A Net Promoter Score Of +74
Asked how likely they are to recommend the restaurant, 80% of guests answer 9 or 10 and only 5.2% answer 6 or lower: a Net Promoter Score of +74.
| Group | Share | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.3% | 82 |
| 1 | 0.2% | 13 |
| 2 | 0.3% | 19 |
| 3 | 0.2% | 14 |
| 4 | 0.4% | 26 |
| 5 | 0.9% | 57 |
| 6 | 1.1% | 71 |
| 7 | 2.6% | 170 |
| 8 | 10.7% | 695 |
| 9 | 20.5% | 1,333 |
| 10 | 61.9% | 4,021 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 6,406
- Restaurants
- 26 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Net Promoter Score from "How likely are you to recommend us?" (0 to 10): the share answering 9 or 10 minus the share answering 0 to 6, per restaurant, averaged. The chart shows all answers pooled.
Insight 3 of 11
Friendliness Scores Highest, At 4.8
Of the three aspects guests score, friendliness and service come out on top at 4.8, ahead of the food (4.66) and the interior and ambiance (4.54).
| Group | Average score |
|---|---|
| Food | 4.66 |
| Friendliness and service | 4.8 |
| Interior and ambiance | 4.54 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 9,760
- Restaurants
- 38 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Average score from 1 to 5 per aspect, per restaurant with at least 30 reviews, averaged.
Insight 4 of 11
In Low Reviews, Food Scores Lowest: 3.35
In reviews of three stars or fewer, the food scores 3.35, below the interior (3.82) and the service (3.96). When a visit disappoints, the plate is usually why.
| Group | Average score |
|---|---|
| Food | 3.35 |
| Friendliness and service | 3.96 |
| Interior and ambiance | 3.82 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 9,760
- Restaurants
- 38 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- In the 503 reviews of three stars or fewer (out of 9,760): the average score of each aspect. The lowest aspect is the most likely cause. Pooled, because low reviews are rare in any one restaurant.
Insight 5 of 11
Unhappy Guests Write 3 Times As Much
35% of reviews include a written comment, typically 10 words long. Reviews of three stars or fewer run to 31 words, against 10 for five-star reviews.
| Group | Average |
|---|---|
| Reviews of 3 stars or fewer | 30.5 |
| 5-star reviews | 10 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 11,636
- Restaurants
- 38 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Share of reviews with a written comment, and its length in words (median per restaurant, then the median). Comments themselves are never published.
Insight 6 of 11
The Main Course Is The Favourite For 71%
Asked which course they liked best, 71% of guests name the main course, 25% the starter and just 4.1% the dessert.
| Group | Share | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| Main course | 71.4% | 774 |
| Starter | 24.5% | 384 |
| Dessert | 4.1% | 57 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 1,215
- Restaurants
- 19 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Answers to the optional question "Which course did you like best?", per restaurant, averaged.
Insight 7 of 11
Few Complaints, Led By Food That Is Not Surprising Enough
Only 3.1% of review forms tick a remark about the interior and 2.8% about the food. The most ticked one is food that is not surprising enough (1.2%), ahead of a room that is too noisy (0.8%).
| Group | Share | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| Food not surprising enough | 1.2% | 79 |
| Too noisy | 0.8% | 51 |
| Not cosy enough | 0.7% | 49 |
| Too dark | 0.6% | 42 |
| Portions too small | 0.6% | 40 |
| Too busy | 0.4% | 26 |
| Too little variety | 0.4% | 23 |
| Too cold | 0.3% | 21 |
| Too salty | 0.2% | 16 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 6,587
- Restaurants
- 38 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- The optional tick-boxes in the review form ("what could be better?"): the share of review forms with each remark.
Insight 8 of 11
Big Groups Rate A Little Lower: 4.54
Tables of three or four give 4.66 on average; groups of seven or more give 4.54. Big tables are harder to serve perfectly.
| Group | Average score | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 4.65 | 1,231 |
| 3–4 | 4.66 | 791 |
| 5–6 | 4.63 | 202 |
| 7+ | 4.54 | 102 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 2,326
- Restaurants
- 36 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Average overall rating by party size of the reservation linked to the review. Pooled.
Insight 9 of 11
Friday Visits Score Highest, Sunday Visits Lowest
Guests who visited on a Friday give 4.69 on average, those who came on a Sunday 4.57.
| Group | Average score | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 4.6 | 136 |
| Tuesday | 4.68 | 227 |
| Wednesday | 4.62 | 190 |
| Thursday | 4.63 | 298 |
| Friday | 4.69 | 537 |
| Saturday | 4.66 | 552 |
| Sunday | 4.57 | 386 |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 2,326
- Restaurants
- 36 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Average overall rating by weekday of the visit. Pooled.
Insight 10 of 11
Ratings Climb From 4.34 In January To 4.67 In April
The average rating rises from 4.34 in January to 4.67 in April and stays high into June, before settling at 4.52 in September.
| Group | Average score |
|---|---|
| January | 4.34 |
| February | 4.4 |
| March | 4.54 |
| April | 4.67 |
| May | 4.65 |
| June | 4.67 |
| July | 4.53 |
| August | 4.59 |
| September | 4.52 |
- Period
- Reviews from January to September 2026
- Datapoints
- 7,539
- Restaurants
- 30 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Average rating per restaurant per month (at least 10 reviews), averaged over restaurants.
Insight 11 of 11
26% Of Happy Guests Also Post Their Review Publicly
When guests who gave a high rating are invited to share it on Google or Tripadvisor, 26% click through: about one in 4.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Also posted it publicly | 26.3% |
| Kept it private | 73.7% |
- Period
- Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 1,455
- Restaurants
- 22 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Guests who gave a high rating are invited to post their review on Google or Tripadvisor too. Share who clicked through, per restaurant with at least 20 invitations, averaged.
How We Built This Article
Period
Reviews from 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2026 · Reviews from January to September 2026
Datapoints
11 insights, each resting on at least 1,215 datapoints (the largest on 11,636), from 19–38 Belgian restaurants.
Method
Anonymous aggregates over Belgian HappyChef restaurants, each restaurant weighted equally, with every figure over at least five restaurants and 1,000 datapoints.
About This Data
This analysis is based on Belgian restaurants that use HappyChef: 19–38 restaurants, depending on the insight. Restaurants that joined during the period are normalised so the growing number of restaurants never inflates a trend, demo and test accounts are left out, and placeholder values (an empty field saved as zero) are ignored.
Every figure is an anonymous aggregate. Each one combines at least five restaurants and at least 1,000 datapoints, no restaurant is named or singled out, and no name, email address, phone number or remark of a guest is ever published.
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