Ratings are on a scale of 0 to 24.  The scale used to be 0 to 10, so restaurants written about before 2012 may have only had their ratings adjusted by formula and not by hand (hence all the 2s, 5s, 8s, etc.)  The scale works as follows:

An asymmetrical 0 to 24 scale may not be intuitive, I realize.  But as a rule of thumb: a double-digit score means I liked it, while a single-digit score… less so.  Also, as you might expect, scores from many years ago may not be very reliable, so do check the dates.

Far Northern California

For those who went to Santa Cruz, looked around, and thought, “Nope, not enough hippies.”

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Name	Cuisine	Address	Last update	Score
Los Bagels	Bagels	three locations, Eureka-Arcata	2022-03-24	7
The notion of a Mexican-inflected bagel spot was intriguing, and my jalapeño bagel with cream cheese was an interesting change of pace, but this place won’t be winning any awards for actual bagel quality.  I got a &ldsquo;slug” (basically an everything bagel baked as a long strip) and it was supermarket fare.  Empanadas were decent, though: I got one potato-chile and one cherry.
Folie Douce	Northwestern	G btw 15th/16th, Arcata	2010-06-12	5
This was one of the many places I went on this trip where I was informed that I wouldn't be served because they had randomly decided to close early. Hey, flakes, there might be people who are driving several hundred miles to go to your establishment on the premise that the hours you've posted are more than vague guesses at when you'll feel like being open. Anyway, they did agree to make me a to-go order, but it wasn't very good. I got the mushroom pizza, which was not only flat and floury but cost $20. Meh.

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