Salary
Average Salary: $59,290
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,475,000
Are you reviewing restaurants as a hobby? Then you aren't making any money; you're just spending it. Move along, now.
If you're attempting to break into the restaurant critic game, either as a journalist or a freelance writer, well, you aren't making any money, either. College graduates who go to work as journalists make around $30,000 a year to start—that's if they can find work as journalists, and there's no guarantee they will ever write a single word about a restaurant (Source).
Imagine accruing all those student loans so you can write about fine food and wine, and then getting stuck with the local news beat until your newspaper finally succumbs and you have to get a job flipping burgers so you can pay rent.
As for freelance writing, the pay is all over the place. You might earn ten cents a word for a review. You might earn $50, $100, or $200 for a review, depending on whether you're assigned to opine on the sandwich place next door or the avant-garde eatery at a swanky hotel.
But just imagine for a moment how many reviews you'd have to write to make rent. Lots. Remember, too, that in order to write restaurant reviews, you're going to have to live somewhere with restaurants, which means residing in or near a big city with a higher cost of living.
So, here's some free advice: Get a different job, one that pays well and has benefits. Then, go eat out to your heart's content, and write about your experiences on the side. You won't be living the dream, but you won't be starving in a cardboard box, either.