Do yelpers and people overrate food places? (Chicago, Lincoln: live, restaurants)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by quigboto

I usually only use Yelp to determine hours of operation, location, do they take credit cards, etc., but I don't even bother with the reviews. I guess I'm lucky enough to have enough foodie type friends that I can just say "Has anyone tried so and so yet.." on Facebook and get a thumbs up or thumbs down from someone I know isn't a shill.

The whole "ranking" mindset of not just the resturants but the reviewers themselves is totally corrupted on Yelp -- at least when you use your own circle of friends on Facebook you will personally know which ones are swayed by things like good looking booths or are too skeeved out by rude waiters or tiny bathrooms to give a thumbs up to awesome food.

Years ago there was place near me that was doing unbelievably great Persian style kabobs. They got some good reviews on LTH but the guy and his girlfriend were basically already so far behind the financial eight ball that they did not survive. The real estate guy in me feels that the basic problem was he was tucked into a lousy generic strip mall and would have done gang buster business in even a "back alley" of Lagrange or Hinsdale... I sort wish that there was come kind of "boot camp" or even "incubator" for people that really can cook/ have great "food sense" but are clueless about site selection/ promotions / budgeting for interior / managing crowds... Potentially Yelp could foster something like this in a way that Facebook could not but that assumes that the folks that run Yelp are not already so totally coopted by their current business model that they still care...

[RogersParkGuy]

Originally Posted by jman07

I've noticed that people in Chicago tend to think a restaurant is good no matter the food as long as it is not a chain and looks nice and trendy. I've been out to a lot of places that were supposed to be amazing and also had good yelp reviews, only to be left disappointed. Even if I eat somewhere with a group, you can tell that people are afraid to say that the food was bland or average at best. I think its all about just bragging about the food in "their" city and that they ate at this special place. You know..."I've ate at more good restaurants than you" syndrome. The more you accumulate, the higher class you are. Its also harder to criticize when the owner and/or chef is local and possibly right in the kitchen.

There's no question yelp is pretty subjective. People are far more likely to write about bad experiences than good ones, and at greater length. Friends of restaurant owners and employees also write fake good reviews to drum up business. But I think the biggest problem is that some people have become such insane food snobs, almost nothing satisfies them.

I remember overhearing the following conversation between tow men at a coffee shop in Rogers Park:

Man #1: "So, did you ever get a chance to check out Hamburger Mary's?"

Man #2: "Yeah, but I was kind of disappointed."

Man #1: "Really? You mean it wasn't good?"

Man #2: "Oh no, it was very good. But when I go out, I'm not interested in 'very good.' When I go out, I expect great ."

I almost stood up and strangled the bastard...

[chet everett]

Part of that is the fault of folks running resturants that are at best "derative" or "variations of a theme" (and worst, rip offs of somebody else's good idea...) -- I mean honestly hamburger is about the least darn creative thing to start with!

In some ways it is confining. While I love heading over DMK burger, and they are quite consistent in nicely preparing / assembling their "burgers" even if I get one made not of beef but lamb or veggies or shrimp or turkey or salmon, the fact is in the ultimate analysis it is protein, shaped into a patty, cooked on flattop, placed between bread, and then topped.

On days I want noodles or a flat bread or a stew or something even further afield they are just not on my list...

Maybe the way to deal with this is for successful "resturant firms" to diversify and have multiple "concepts" part of me thinks that this is what happens when the "marketing" goes ahead of the importance of a nicely thought through meal.

[chet everett]

Nobody on this forum gets paid to start threads...

The various contests that are run here are designed by the site owners to keep the site vital and help increase the advertising revenue that the site generates.

Since there are a wide range posters here to offer up alternate views as well as moderators to limit bad behavior things tend to get reigned into a concensus pretty effectively.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by MsQuackity

If you rely on Yelp, you're making a huge mistake. Yelp has an agenda. Reviewers have an agenda. Some posters are "paid posters".

This is laughable - most people don't have agendas on Yelp. Some people may be clueless about things but that is a lot different than having an agenda. Very few people are paid posters. Sorry, but it's completely stupid to think that a site with over 50 million reviews are mainly paid.

[Drover]

Yelp also tends to filter out effusive posts from people with only one or two posts, especially if a bunch of them show up on the same business.

I should think most grown-ups are smart enough to understand that like any other similar resource, Yelp is a tool and not an authoritative publication and know how to use it accordingly.

[Attrill]

I have to agree with others that Yelp is pretty much useless (other than finding hours and location). There are far too many reviews where a person trashes a place because their boyfriend broke up with them there, or the menu didn't have their favorite item from some random place they grew with in Des Moines. The posts from people who obviously own the places doesn't help either.

I definitely prefer sites like LTH, since they expect people to post the reasons they like or don't like place, and expect people to be able to defend their opinions in an intelligent and informed manner. LTH also has many events where people actually interact with each other in person, and there is an expectation that people will carry on a conversation that they would be willing to have face to face, as opposed to an anonymous crazy rant. I think everyone at LTH is very open to new members and all opinions, but it is definitely a place where you're expected to come back and answer questions instead of just dropping a bomb of a review and walking away.

[Link N. Parker]

I do like using yelp, its a great resource, but many of the reviewers just come off as really self-absorbed, and some users seem like they just came from a creative writing class. It feels like a popularity contest on there sometimes. I also feel that the social networking aspect of yelp has helped create an environment where you are pressured into 'liking' places that you otherwise not like. The flipside to that though, is that you get to hear about restaurants you may not have otherwise heard of.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by marothisu

This is laughable - most people don't have agendas on Yelp. Some people may be clueless about things but that is a lot different than having an agenda. Very few people are paid posters. Sorry, but it's completely stupid to think that a site with over 50 million reviews are mainly paid.

It's not good to tell another poster they are stupid. Yelp doesn't always have legitimate reviews. I've noticed that many times. What percentage is bogus? I don't know but it does happens more often than you are willing to admit.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

It's not good to tell another poster they are stupid. Yelp doesn't always have legitimate reviews. I've noticed that many times. What percentage is bogus? I don't know but it does happens more often than you are willing to admit.

Agreed. There are paid reviews on Yelp, there are paid reviews on Chowhound and every other "independent" site. Many of the payments are in the form of free meals, free booze, and the like.

I have been approached personally by a few principals of restaurants in Chicagoland but have not done it.