Terms of Service

By using Sour Grapes at sourgrapesreviews.com — reading it, creating an account, adding a take, voting on whether you would go back, or replying as a restaurant — you agree to these terms and to the house rules and content policy, which is part of this agreement. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

You must be at least 18 to create an account or post content. Sour Grapes is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. You must not be barred from using the service under applicable law, and you must not have had a prior account terminated for violating these terms.

One account per person, under a display name you actually use. You are responsible for what happens on it, including keeping your password to yourself. Tell us on the contact page if you believe someone else is using it.

You may not create accounts to inflate or deflate a restaurant’s numbers, to evade a suspension, or to post as someone you are not. Sockpuppets and coordinated posting are grounds for removing every account involved.

You keep ownership of the takes, replies, and other material you post. You are not selling us anything.

You do grant Sour Grapes a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt for formatting, distribute, and publicly perform your content in connection with operating and promoting the service. That license is what lets us show your take on a restaurant page, in search results, in a summary, or in a link preview elsewhere.

It lasts as long as your content is on the service, and for a reasonable period afterward in backups and caches. Delete a take and we stop displaying it; copies may persist in backups for a limited time, and anything third parties have already quoted is outside our control.

You represent that you have the right to post what you post, that it infringes nobody else’s rights, and that it complies with the content policy.

This one is load-bearing. You may only write up a restaurant you personally visited or ordered from. You may not write up a business you own, work for, are related to the owner of, or compete with, and you may not post a take in exchange for payment, a discount, or a free meal — in either direction. Fabricated takes and undisclosed conflicts are the fastest way to lose an account here.

We may remove content that violates these terms or the content policy, and we may suspend or terminate accounts that do so — with notice where practical, and without prior notice where the violation is severe or ongoing. We are not obligated to monitor content, and choosing to moderate some of it does not obligate us to moderate all of it.

To be explicit about the thing this site is built on: we remove takes that break the rules, and we do not remove a take because a restaurant would prefer it were gone. No payment, advertising relationship, or partnership changes that. Scores can't be bought. Only earned.

Our score is our own opinion, formed on an anonymous visit we paid for. Takes are the statements of the regulars who wrote them. The Hype Number is our conversion of publicly available ratings onto our scale. The would-you-go-back share is a headcount of members answering one question. All four are opinion and commentary, published as such.

We host member content; we do not adopt it, verify every claim in it, or publish it as our own reporting. If you believe a take contains a false statement of fact, write to us through the contact form with the URL and the specific claim, and we will investigate under the content policy.

Advertising is how Sour Grapes pays for anonymous visits and the meals inside them. Two rules govern it, and they are contractual, not aspirational.

If you believe material here infringes your copyright, send a notice through our contact page including: identification of the work, the URL of the material you say infringes it, your contact information, a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized, a statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for them, and your signature (electronic is fine).

We remove infringing material and terminate repeat infringers. Counter-notices follow the same route. Misrepresenting infringement to get a take removed carries its own legal consequences.

The service relies on third-party providers and may link elsewhere. We are not responsible for those sites, their content, or their practices. Restaurant details may be supplied by members and can be wrong; the restaurant is the authority on its own hours, menu, and prices.

The service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty about the accuracy or reliability of member content. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. Where you eat is your own decision.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Sour Grapes, its founder, and its contributors are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business, arising out of your use of the service.

Our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to one hundred US dollars. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, in which case they apply to you only to the extent permitted.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Sour Grapes from claims, damages, and reasonable legal costs arising out of content you post or your violation of these terms or of anyone’s rights.

We may update these terms. When we make material changes we update the date at the top and, where the change meaningfully affects your rights, give notice through the service. Continuing to use Sour Grapes after a change means you accept the revised terms.

You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access for violations. Sections that by their nature should survive — the content license for already-published material, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, and governing law — survive termination.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You and Sour Grapes agree that any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in New York, and both parties consent to their jurisdiction. Nothing here prevents either party from bringing a qualifying claim in small claims court.

These terms, together with the content policy and the privacy policy, are the entire agreement between you and Sour Grapes about the service. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign this agreement; we may assign it in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

Questions about these terms go through our contact page. Put “Terms” in the subject line and a person will read it.