For years, American Express has maintained an image of a company associated with some of the finer things in life, including excellent restaurants.  They offer some cardholders benefits including their Fine Dining program that reserves tables at some of the better restaurants in America, allowing them to be reserved by Platinum card bearers through their Concierge program.

Now American Express joins the restaurant rating game, with a bit of a twist. Through an online program called "The Dish," members can now review and rate restaurants in two pilot cities, New York and San Francisco.  The functionality here appears similar to what other web sites in the category offer, with one significant exception.  The Dish takes into account where American Express cardholders who have joined The Dish spend their money as part of their ranking mechanism.

The company recently announced that it would begin releasing a monthly "Tastemaker Index" to  showcase top restaurants, based on how many Dish members paid for meals at those establishments in the preceding 30 days.  American Express notes that the new index does not account for restaurants of different sizes or limited hours, so the results may not be entirely what one might expect for a fine dining survey.

A spokesman for the company said there are no plans at this time to announce expansion beyond the first two cities, telling Cork & Knife, "Right now, we’re thrilled to offer Dish in two of the country’s most amazing dining cities: New York and San Francisco."