We have four reviews on yelp. Two of them are glowing. The other two, not so much.
We have two 3 star reviews and two 5 star reviews, which should give us an average of 4 stars. But because yelp has filtered the two good reviews as suspect, our rating is only 3.
Now I’ve been told that I can have those good reviews unfiltered, if I pay a fee to yelp. I haven’t confirmed that with them yet though.
On the two less than glowing reviews, I actually agree with them on a couple of their points and we’ve actually made changes in thanks to their criticism, but I can’t make a reply without paying this fee as well.
So I thought I’d find out how much this site is used before I let them try to sell me.
I use Yelp all the time for restaurant reviews. I think they might have non-restaurant things on there but I only use restaurant reviews. I especially use it when I travel.
FWIW, I never look at average score. I look over the reviews for general trends and to see if the reviews got better or worse recently. I use it a lot, though.
I use it sometimes, for restaurants. While I don’t take them as gospel truth, Yelp reviews (or Google reviews) can give a general feeling for what the place is like. One bitchy 1-star review saying it’s expensive and noisy? I ignore the review. Several bad reviews saying it’s too expensive for what you get, and you can’t hear others at your table due to the noise level means I’ll probably stay away.
Also, some people write a review saying it was fine, and give it 3 stars because the deli they had lunch at wasn’t a fancy steak house. I always read the reviews, and not just count the stars.
Oh, and I don’t go specifically to Yelp, either. I type in “(name of place) reviews” on Google and see what comes up. Yelp is usually on the first page, if the place has any presence there.
I tend to use it to find what I’m looking for, that is, I’ll search for the type of business (most often restaurants or bars), narrow down by whatever criteria I seek, then draw an area map and select. The reviews mean very little to me. I either take them with a grain of salt, or disregard entirely. Yelp is a giant internet clique, and nobody knows what the hell they’re talking about, especially when it comes to restaurants.
So it looks like yelp is popular. Maybe I need to consider paying them the fee.
I’m bothered by the filtering, it makes me feel like I’m being held up. Is it really typical for them to filter out only the good reviews? And I’d like those negative review customers to know we did take their comments to heart. We dropped the salad that one person didn’t like, even though some people do like it and we still make it special for them. And we’re going to drop one of the breads that the other person complained about, even though some people do like it too. The second girl complained about the amount of meat we put on the sandwich too. We put 1/4 lb of meat on every sandwich. Is that really too little? Our sandwiches are huge.
These things bother me so much. And we really do have our fans. We’ve had people tell us that our Cuban is Amazing and our hot pastrami is the best in town. Apparently they don’t yelp though! This is a tough business you guys. I get my feelings so hurt. sigh
Antigen, I’ll pm you the name, if that’s ok? I’d hate for a customer to find me on here since I’m whining.
I’ve used it a few times for checking out nearby restaurants. The reviews are only important to me insofar as I’d stay away from a place that had lots of people complaining about something I care about (e.g. long waits, cold food, high prices).
I don’t think that changing the menu every time someone complains about an item is the way to go. Yes, you’re catering to your customers, but you have many customers. Just because loud Mr. Yelp Reviewer doesn’t like your spinach salad doesn’t mean you have to take it away. If he hated the place, he won’t be back anyway, so it won’t matter. Have a look at the salads - do they sell well? Can you improve them? Maybe rotate them so there are daily specials?
Do you say on your menu that it’s 1/4lb of meat? If that’s a selling point, and a consistent truth, make a point of advertising it. Have a little scale by the sandwich station so people can see you weighing out the 1/4lb of tasty pastrami.
I think you’d do better to have comment cards out than to depend on Yelp reviews. Some people just love being a critic and going online to trash a place. And, as you discovered, Yelp is a business too - it gets money from you because by holding good reviews hostage. If you’re going to be this discouraged every time one idiot says something unflattering about your shop, you’re going to have a very, very stressful time running this business. Keep the quality up, keep regulars coming in, and if it’s a good place to eat, you’ll be ok.
You can PM the name - I’d really like to check the place out.
I definitely use Yelp for restaurants, and I’ve found some really good food as a result. I generally pay attention to the lengthier, descriptive reviews, good or bad. One-star reviews that are of the “OMG it was horrible altho I only tried the bread oh and the waitresses were ugly!!!” variety get ignored.
I’ve only used it once or twice, so I clicked “no,” but the deciding factor in choosing my car repair guy was how they responded to negative reviews. The well-written replies clearly showed that they were competent professionals, and literate to boot.
I use Yelp pretty often, usually for restaurants, but sometimes I use it for “things to do,” as well as hotels and random other types of businesses. Here’s how I use it for restaurants, although this is about to change - see below. About half the time, I do a search based on my location, focusing on the highest-reviewed places first, and I often pick a restaurant from those choices. If a restaurant has more reviews and more of them are good = bonus. If a review has more specifics, i.e. what dishes the patron ordered, and they were good things = bonus. The other half of the time, I’ll be considering a particular restaurant for some reason or another (i.e. someone told me about it), and I’ll go to Yelp and check out that particular place. Sometimes it’s helpful, sometimes not. If the reviews are actually bad for some specific reason, I won’t go there. If the reviews are neutral, or if there aren’t many of them, or if there are no specific reviews, then Yelp hasn’t been very helpful and I’ll go to that place anyway.
Now, I have to admit that I, probably naively, didn’t realize that the reviews were so heavily filtered based on whether or not the businesses pay Yelp a fee. I understand Yelp is a business and needs to make a buck, but your account forces me to question the integrity of the service they’re offering. You have two 5-star reviews that have been marked “suspect” and Yelp won’t unfilter them unless you pay a fee… and if you pay the fee, that removes the “suspect”-ness of those reviews? So we have a potentially great restaurant that gets worse reviews as a sort of Yelp-“punishment” because you’re not paying them. Meanwhile a potentially terrible restaurant can get awesome reviews by putting in fake reviews that Yelp won’t filter because that restaurant has paid a fee? Hmph…
IMHO, 4 oz. of meat is standard, and not in the least HUGE.. 6oz. or more would be a huge sandwich. I don’t see how you describe them as huge, unless you are counting in the non-meat extras…
I post reviews there all the time, and recently got an email from one food cart owner who was incensed that I panned the meal I had. Here’s a thought: serve better food. I also read the reviews if I haven’t been to a place before.
If I were you, I wouldn’t make business decisions solely based on one Yelp review. Some people are just complainers. I agree with the idea of starting to use comment cards to get a better idea of what the customers in general think.
I do look up restaurants on Yelp. I don’t avoid places that have negative reviews as long as the overall trend is positive. I know that there are some people who have unrealistic expectations or like to complain about everything.
I use Yelp a lot. Heck, their iPhone app is a godsend when I’m in a new city!
My one warning, in addition to what has already been said, is to be VERY careful in how you word your replies. Nothing turns me off to a business faster than a snippy reply to a review from an owner.
One example I can give you of a good practice to adopt: I gave a 3 star “meh” review to a popular martini bar in Vegas. My drink was delicious, but the seats were uncomfortable, blah blah that kind of stuff. A week after I posted my review, the owner emailed me on Yelp, asking if I’d be willing to give them another chance. He offered to send me a car to pick me up for the night, get me a VIP table, and dinner and drinks all night on the house. Now, I wouldn’t expect a small local restaurant to do it up like a Vegas place would, but I suppose my point is that you could reply to the less than stellar reviews that you’ve adapted given their helpful feedback and invite them back in for a lunch on the house. That way, they can edit their bad review AND it makes it look like you’re trying to improve. Win win.
Also, the filtered good reviews likely have nothing to do with you and has more to do with the reviewer’s account. All my reviews were filtered until I made a bunch of Yelp friends, got “compliments,” and wrote lots of reviews.
Double also, rather than dropping things one or two people don’t like, be positive in your reply to them: offer them alternatives on the menu that are delightful and more to their liking.
