Restaurant ratings average everything — the food, the service, the lighting, the night someone's date went badly — into one number. That number can't answer the only question that matters when you're hungry: where is the best version of the thing I want to eat right now?
ate. turns everyday dining into a permanent, searchable record of the dishes people love. It flips the unit of measurement: you don't rate restaurants; you rate dishes. One plate, one score from 1.0 to 10.0, tied to the exact spot that made it. Enough people do that and something useful emerges: a real map of the city's best poutine, best ramen, best butter chicken — grounded in specific plates people actually ate, not vibes.
Montréal first
ate. launches in Montréal, the whole city — a place that argues about bagels the way other cities argue about sports. The dish catalog is built for how Montréal eats, from smoked meat to shish taouk. The model isn't local, though: anywhere people disagree about food, it works, and more cities will follow.
How the catalog and leaderboards are curated
The dish catalog — 92 dishes across 11 groups — is editorial. We maintain it, not an algorithm and not a free-text field, so every rating attaches to a real, comparable dish type. Leaderboards are computed from members' actual scores and nothing else: no paid placement, no sponsored ranking, no promoted restaurants. If a spot tops the poutine board, it's because people who ate the poutine said so.
Think a dish is missing? Tell us — the catalog grows deliberately.
Who's behind it
ate. is built by Chicken Pizza Taco Inc., a small company based in Montréal. We're early: the app is young, the community is growing, and we'd rather earn trust than claim it.
Get in touch
For anything — questions, ideas, bugs, press — email support@ateandrate.com. For privacy and data requests, use privacy@ateandrate.com. There's more practical help on the support page.