Is it just me, or do people on Yelp like everything? It’s gotten to the point where positive reviews mean almost nothing. When I see negative reviews on Yelp, I think, “Holy shit, that place must have set on fire in the middle of their meal.” Positive reviews might mean the place is good, but considering 4 and 5 star reviews are dished out so indiscriminately, it’s difficult to distinguish the earned acclaim from the fluff.
What is going on here? Do people who review on Yelp just like life more than I do? Are they really Five-Star Pleased with every place they go to? I kind of get the playgound in-crowd feel of it all at times. I have eaten at many places that could only generously be described as “blah” which have received near unanimous praise on Yelp. I start to honestly ask if people are just reviewing the place favorably because everyone else is.
I actually signed up for Yelp specifically to review a restaurant that was quintessential mediocrity to go against the overwhelming and fawning Yelp tide of enthusiasm. It was just… okay. Plus people were praising this as one of the true “fine dining restaurants” of the Twin Shitties, MN. How the shit is something fine dining when patrons are allowed in wearing jorts?
People, please, tell me I’m not insane. Is Yelp full of shit?
I take Yelp reviews with a healthy grain of salt, but not for the reasons you state. I find Yelp reviews to be just as unjustifiably dumb for the negative reviews, not the positive ones. Those are the reviews I’m actually more wary of.
I’ve tried evaluating some restaurant reviews on Yelp and I find that the same restaurant will often have a couple of reviews saying they totally suck and a couple saying they are fantastic. I think people are getting paid to write this stuff. Article about fake Yelp reviews.
Yeah. Some people are all “I couldn’t find affordable parking.” Bitch, you were downtown. It’s easy to read and weigh negative reviews that are based on foolishness, but if you see a glowing review that goes on and on about the rich, flavorful food and the charming staff, how do you know if the reviewer is talking about a truly good restaurant, or is just an idiot? I always read the negative reviews first, and then ask myself if that’s the kind of thing I would complain about. If the complaint is “the lighting was too bright” I can feel free to dismiss that as bullshit. If people say, “The food was excellent,” I have no way of measuring this person’s full-of-shit factor.
True enough. Every time I have an adequate experience, I don’t go running off to share my view with the masses, but why are people on Yelp so goddamn enthused about that are so damn unimpressive?! Why are people so thrilled about the 99c taco they got at Jack in the Box? I exaggerate slightly now, but seriously, why does so much crap elicit such joy from these people?
I want answers! With cites!
Edit: I’m starting to sound like a snob, and I swear I’m not. The main thing I’m bothered by is my absolute certainty, based on nothing, that people are reviewing places favorably just because everyone else is. Now it could be that everyone is just silly, but when I see the entire universe can reach a positive consensus on a bowl of crap, I wonder.
That article isn’t exactly what I was expecting (Crap – Am I doing it again?), but I love the graphic on top forever. That’s pretty much me with most Yelp reviews.
For the same reason you adore things they think are fucking foul. We all have our own individual tastes. Lord knows I’ve seen enough people who turn up their noses at things I enjoy rhapsodize about things I wouldn’t eat with someone else’s mouth.
I’m with pulykamell, I thought you were going to complain about how people on Yelp hate everything. I think I can count on one hand the number of truly important, valid complaints I’ve read. Virtually every time I look a place up on Yelp, there’s at least one reviewer who basically claims it’s the worst place on earth. I also get really sick of the “it’s overpriced” complaints. There’s a difference between overpriced and “more than I feel like spending.” Most of the places that people complain are overpriced are just higher-end places, that cheapskates shouldn’t be going to anyway.
I mostly ignore negative reviews, but I completely ignore negative reviews based on price.
I think the article answers your question. There many, fake positive reviews done as a PR exercise. For example, you can hire a company called Reputation Defender to create this kind of positive PR:
Some okay places in St. Paul. One of them was The Strip Club (don’t be titillated by the name; everyone keeps their clothes on) and another French restaurant whose name escapes me.
Okay, so some companies take money to buff up their clients’ internet reputations; that isn’t surprising and explains some of it, but some of these Yelp reviewers have been members for years and have reviewed 50+ businesses. Often you’re sifting through review after review of, from what I can tell, real people who rate real places with which they have no affiliation. Though I suppose a savvy company can have fake profiles that review many of their clients and their competitors, who would presumably represent different types of companies, which would give the appearance that, say, David A. from Naperville is a real person.
A customer might only stop to provide a review when they are truly enthused or truly pissed at an experience. Lots of things play into this including mood, tastes, aversions, biases, etc… Mostly I look for positive reviews that mention good quality, fair prices, and reasonable service. If i see two or three of those I’m confident in trying a new place based on a Yelp review.
I just looked up a local Italian/pizza restaurant on Yelp that I am familiar with. In my opinion, the restaurant is average and dependable but nothing special. On Yelp, the majority of the reviews were 4 stars. The reviews seem to be genuine.
Why do mediocre restaurants get inflated reviews on Yelp? Why has Celine Dion sold millions of CDs? Why is X-Men 26 a huge hit? The answer is simple: Most people are dorks with mediocre tastes.
Oh, I’m not surprised that people like different things than I do. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t entirely off-base in my belief that you can’t use Yelp to find a good restaurant, as pretty much any place where the waiters don’t spit in your food right to your face receives 4+ stars. Apparently, the idea that Yelp reviewers are exceedingly negative is a more popular opinion. Shows what I know.
By far the most annoying thing on Yelp is the tendency to over or under score a place because of things totally unrelated to the food. Oh, you thought the food was the best you’d ever had and it left you craving more and you go back day after day for that delicious food? But you gave it one star because it didn’t have your hipster beer on tap? Fuck you.
Yelp is just exceedingly extreme (which somewhat makes sense, as you’re more apt to go on Yelp if something was really bad or really good.) You can actually discern some interesting information from it, but it takes a little time to go through the reviews and figure out what to trust and what not to trust.
If you want intelligent food reviews for the Chicagoland area, check out lthforum.com. There may be a slight air of snobbiness to the site, but it really is pretty fair and down-to-earth. It’s just people who have opinions and are passionate about food. I find that to be the most trustworthy resource for food and drink in this area, although I will consult Yelp from time to time for a different perspective.
Yelp is a sorta wasteland. Stars have no meaning at all. Closely reading review can be useful. Mostly I look for dissatisfied Yelpers to see what they are dissatisfied about. If they hate the place for the “right” reason… hi ho , hi ho , off to eat I go.
This is a great site. I’ve been able to create a small list of places in my new hood that I must check out. As a test, I searched some of the places I’ve been to and the reviews seem to generally agree with me, save for one glaring exception which received uniformedly positive reviews that both my friend and I rated a solid “Meh.” Actually, “meh” was my wording. He asked me, “You wanna know my review of this place?” I said sure, and he responded with an unenthused shrug of the shoulders and made the so-so hand gesture. But hey, this is still way closer than Yelp. I’ll probably use Yelp to find places in certain areas, then go to LTH for reviews.
