Editorial independence
Brotherly Burgers scores and rankings are always authentic and cannot be purchased. We occasionally accept complimentary meals, although we generally prefer not to. A complimentary meal never guarantees a positive review or affects the score we believe the burger deserves.
Scores cannot be bought
No restaurant has ever paid for a score, a rank, or a place on Burgerverse, and none ever will. There is no sponsored placement, no pay-to-rank, no arrangement of any kind that moves a number. The score is our honest judgment of the burger, full stop.
Complimentary meals, honestly
We generally prefer to pay our own way, and often do. But sometimes a restaurant or host is particularly persistent, generous, or welcoming, and we accept a complimentary meal. When that happens, nothing changes about how we score. We have published negative and critical conclusions after complimentary experiences, and taken backlash for it. We would rather take the backlash than owe anyone a number.
We are not going to claim more than is true. We do not claim every meal is self-paid. We do not claim we always dine anonymously, or that restaurants never know we are there. What we claim is the only thing that matters for trust: the score is what we believe the burger deserves, comped or not.
Disclosure
Where we have reliable per-review information about whether a meal was complimentary, we can disclose it on that review. We are not going to retroactively invent that history for older reviews we cannot vouch for — a fabricated disclosure would defeat the entire point of one.
Corrections
If we get a fact wrong — a price, an address, a menu detail, whether a place is still open — we fix it when we learn of it, and we note material corrections. A score that changes after a revisit is not a correction; it is a rescore, and we treat it as part of the living ranking. Spot something wrong? Tell us on Instagram or Substack.