Comments on: Yelp’s New Low in Restaurant Reviewing

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:52:46 +0000

Wow, that’s quite a story, Mike. Thanks for sharing it.

In the early days of Yelp I wrote two positive reviews that appeared briefly and then disappeared. Neither of the places I reviewed were advertisers. It makes me wonder.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 01:40:09 +0000

My best friend works at a local eatery in San Francisco that happens to be amazingly good. The place he manages goes through great pains to make sure everything is tip top and super tasty and fresh. Also demanding of good customer service. He manages one of the places of three. He said Yelp has called them many times to advertise and they have declined. Each time they decline their worst reviews appear in greater numbers when you go onto their review site even if they are over a year old. He also said many of their customers have written reviews that have not appeared on Yelp. It would be nice to see many businesses ban together and get a kick ass lawyer to extort from the exorters! Its like a modern day mafia via the internet

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:21:14 +0000

Okay, good distinction to say that Chowhound is a discussion board, not a reviews site. Agreed.

Re restaurants you visit, I’m impressed that you pay for them yourself, and don’t think of yourself as an entitled blogger who should be woed by restaurateurs and p.r. people. That is certainly a stereotype, but I’m afraid people like that exist.

Re reviews, what I like about them is that they discuss the pros and cons. If you never discuss the cons, your blog reads like a promotional tool to boost restaurant and event attendance. Bloggers are not p.r. people, but sometimes it sure seems that way.

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:41:27 +0000

I’ve never liked Yelp and I don’t use it. The news about the lawsuit was even more disturbing. However, I do read Chowhound and I find that it’s easy to pick out who knows what they’re talking about so it’s easy to follow them and their opinions. I don’t know why these should replace reviews, however. The way I see it, Chowhound is a discussion board. Yes, people make recommendations and talk of their experiences at certain places but I never really see the postings there as official reviews. I still read my local paper’s restaurant reviews even if I have already visited the restaurant before it is reviewed.

On the subject of blogs, I sometimes write about restaurants I visit and tell about my experience. I don’t portray myself as a critic because I’m not and that’s not the area of food writing I would like to get into. I think my readers know that and my hope is that they’ll see my restaurant write-ups as if I were their friend telling them about a place I just tried. Unfortunately, It seems like all bloggers who write about restaurants in any fashion are always placed into the same category with those who take or demand freebies. I have paid for the majority of my meals; I never announce myself and I don’t request special favors. On maybe two or three occasions in my three years of blogging I’ve been to pre-opening media dinners and if I have written about them, I specify that they were.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:39:37 +0000

Yeah, all this bad press has got to affect their ability to bring in advertising, I would imagine. Will it be enough to get them to change their ways — that’s the real question.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:38:53 +0000

Hey Sheila, interesting approach, to just walk down the street or ask people. A lot of restaurant reviewers do that.

Yes, good to have some skepticism when it comes to these sites. We’ll all have to have lots now when we read Yelp.

By: Sarah Henry

Sarah Henry — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:35:37 +0000

Wow! This is outrageous. I wonder if Yelp will recover from all the bad press?

By: Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:44:56 +0000

Yelp is new to me. NEVER heard of it. But I am a mom of four and alot goes by me in the world these days. I do write reviews on my blog of restaurants I love. All for the love it, never for money or recognigition. (so far!) I STILL read my local papers reviews, many times I disagree, but I read….The only time I use Chowhound or any of these websites to find a restaurant is if I am on vacation and skeptical of the recommendations I am getting from the conceirge or hotel book. But them I still feel the best place to find a restaurant is on the street. JUST ASK around people. And then judge for youself and then if you are me write a blurb about it on your website and hope some one tries it too. I am all about local, local local. And one, more thing it is true if I go on “these” sites I usually try to scan to the bottom of the bowl to see what some of the farther down reviewers have said. So that’s my two cents….

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:21:21 +0000

So I take it you weren’t paid to be an Elite reviewer. It was all about the prestige and the free meals? Plus, it seems odd to put your photo up, a no-no for traditional reviewers, but then I guess being anonymous wasn’t important to Yelp.

Agreed that the site is pretty good in many ways, but they’ve ruined it now. I wouldn’t call it a high-school manner. More like the mafia, where you have to pay protection money to keep your business in good standing.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:17:45 +0000

That’s true here as well. Newspaper reviewers have often come from other areas of the newspaper. It’s more of a closed shop at newspapers if you want a full-time job, but not for freelance reviewers.

Freelance reviewers may not work as well in those terms, but usually they are a necessary evil because the publication/website can’t afford salaried employees.

If you can find smaller newspapers and local websites that take reviews or need them, you can still get into restaurant reviewing.