Friday, 28 January 2011

• Yelp: Why Listening to Strangers Sucks

  
  
  Yelp, and other websites like it, are killing the restaurant experience.  Okay, maybe more like assault and battery of the restaurant experience. If you don't know what it is, Yelp.com is a resource that allows restaurant-goers to rate their dining experience in their own words. Unlike Zagat, Yelp has reviews for nearly any restaurant imaginable. Unfortuantely, this is where the problems arise. Zagat, a trusted name in critiquing service, quality and food, is not the same as some jackass 14-year old tourist. 

   

  One person will write that they hated the service, the appetizers were cold and the music was too loud. While another person that dined at the same place will write that the ceviche was the best in town, the waiter was cute, and they thought the cocktails were amazing.

  Talk about driving you crazy. Who do you believe? Which stranger do you trust more? Is it worth trying or skipping? Decisions, decisions.

  Whatever happened to taking a chance? In our modern times, when all the information on Earth is at our fingertips, it becomes an hour long debate as to which Mexican restaurant will be better? Often times you will be with a group of people outside of a new restaurant and at least one will have to "Yelp it" before it's okay to enter. F that.  
  
   

  Imagine your favorite pizza place in your hometown. You know its great, your friends and family all agree that it's delicious. It's the place to go in your town. Now imagine a person from another state eats there and reports, "The decor is a little tacky" or "The mozzarella sticks aren't like I thought they'd be."

  FUCK THE MOZZARELLA STICKS. Noone gets the fucking mozzarella sticks! You don't even live here, you have no clue what you're talking about! This is what I mean. Yelp is full of morons that don't know how to give a restaurant a proper try. 

  If people could Yelp about Taco Bell, they would write, "The Mexican food was a little passe. I mean, hello? Who puts cheese on a tortilla and calls it a pizza? This isn't Italy. Although it was cheap, the service was totally rude. I could barely understand the guy. My hot sauce wasn't even hot, and the fire sauce was barely hot. Like, hello? The tomatoes were NOT organic, the cheese wasn't melted all the way, and the presentation was just awful. If you are on Route 85, definetly skip this Mexicrap restaurant."
  
   

  Yelp is full of the good and the bad. If you are the good, more power to you. But the next time my girlfriend and I debate over which Italian place, on average, has the most stars...I think I'll just go to McDonalds. 
  
  
  
  Have you ever had a good/bad experience with Yelp's reviews? 

  Image Source Image Source Image Source

  • 10:05 AM
  • 1245 Views
  • 12 eProps
  • 6 Comments