Michelin Guide Awards and Selection

Michelin began as a guide for motorists in 1900 and introduced restaurant Stars in 1926. Its contemporary Guide contains restaurant, hotel and wine-estate selections across multiple regions. Michelin's trained inspectors make the selections; they are not decided by open public voting. Restaurant inspectors visit anonymously and pay their own bills. Restaurant Stars evaluate ingredient quality, mastery of technique, harmony of flavors, the chef's personality in the cuisine, and consistency across the menu and over time. Service, setting and luxury do not determine a restaurant Star. One, two and three Stars mark increasing levels of exceptional cooking. Bib Gourmand is a separate award for good-quality food at good value; its price context varies by market. Selected restaurants may also have no Star or Bib. A Michelin Key instead recognizes hotel experience against hospitality, design, character, setting and value criteria. The wine program introduced one to three Grapes in 2026 to distinguish estates through wine- and viticulture-specific assessment. These symbols are not interchangeable and must not be treated as a cross-category point scale. Pearl indexes published editions and guide regions. A page that says 'Michelin Guide Southwest U.S. 2026' can include Stars, Bibs and ordinary selections together; the specific distinction of a venue must be checked on Michelin's source page. Michelin revisits and updates selections, so a historical edition should not be presented as a current permanent status.

Browse Michelin's edition-specific restaurant, hotel and wine-estate collections. The page title and the venue's exact symbol matter: being in the Guide is not the same as having a Star, Key or Grape.

Michelin first published its motorist guide in France in 1900. Restaurant Stars followed in 1926, later developing into a one-to-three-Star system. Bib Gourmand serves a different purpose: identifying good cooking at good value. Michelin subsequently introduced Keys for hotels and, in 2026, Grapes for wine estates. The same publisher name spans distinct evaluation programs, and Pearl keeps their editions and places separate.

Michelin's restaurant inspectors use five universal cooking criteria: ingredient quality, mastery of technique, flavor harmony, expression of the chef's personality, and consistency across dishes and visits. They visit anonymously and pay for their meals. Restaurant Stars are based on the cuisine, not decor or service; Bib Gourmand assesses quality in relation to value. Hotel Keys evaluate the stay rather than a meal. Wine Grapes assess estates through their own viticulture and wine criteria. Michelin-selected venues without an award symbol still belong to the Guide; do not infer a Star from simple inclusion.

Michelin distinctions are widely used as shorthand for a specific kind of excellence, but their meaning depends on the symbol and year. A restaurant Star describes cooking; a hotel Key describes hospitality; a Grape concerns a wine estate. Pearl uses the official distinctions to help travelers find places and avoids turning different categories into one combined score.