washington dc has 4 or so major(well known) reviewers. they are all lousy. i don't know how they judge the restaurants, but excluding the top 2 or 3 restaurants, they miss a lot of the times. there is not a lot of agreement among the bunch, either. the washington post has had the most disappointing bunch of reviewers for many years.

there are two people who run reviews that are quite good, and quite accurate. they are just too limited, but still worth following rather than the post or the washingtonian. (Tyler Cowen & don rockwell).

i also think chowhound and yelp are terrible for dc.