Restaurateurs Debate the Online Critics Issue

Several days ago (June 6, 2012), Vicki Hyman of The Star-Ledger posted an interesting article on NJ.Com discussing how restaurateurs engage or ignore various online critics. There is, however, another – very important – side to this culinary coin, which I would like to discuss…

I obviously won’t quote the entire article, which you may read at your leisure by clicking here. Basically, according to Ms. Hyman, in the infant days of internet food criticism, restaurant owners would usually not bother responding to negative comments. Now, however, with the incredible proliferation of these online consumer review sites, restaurant proprietors are paying infinitely more attention to potentially damaging remarks.

Restaurateurs use a variety of tactics to deal with consumer criticism… from actively responding to compliments and/or criticisms to totally ignoring them to refusing even to read Yelp and other such consumer-oriented sites.

Interestingly enough, Yelp has software that is designed to filter out agenda-driven reviews posted by competitors or disgruntled employees (which, given the staggering number of reviews posted each year, doesn’t always filter as it should).  In addition, restaurant proprietors can flag reviews they feel are malicious, biased, or downright fake… And if Yelp agrees, the posts are removed.

Precisely here, however, is where the tricky part comes in. While there are safeguards in place to protect restaurateurs from those posting false, nefarious, and potentially financially damaging critiques, there appear to be no such defenses to come to the aid of the poor, hapless consumer who just happens to be surfing these various sites in search of a suitable dining venue.

In other words, what is to prevent an unscrupulous restaurant owner – and his/her assorted staff, family, and friends – from posting positively glowing reviews about his/her strictly mediocre establishment? To my knowledge, absolutely nothing.

And I have no doubt that this kind of deception goes on with nauseating regularity. From a personal perspective, as a professional restaurant reviewer, I can say without equivocation that even in the past several months I have visited a number of restaurants that bore little or no resemblance to posted gushing reviews.

In addition to the above, readers should bear in mind that they may be digesting reviews written by individuals whose culinary perspective may be entirely different from their own.

There is no question that consumer-oriented internet sites such as Yelp, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor can be extremely helpful to those in search of viable dining options… but there are significant snares and pitfalls as well. At the very least, the potential diner should exercise a great deal of caution. When it comes to these online critics, learning to read between the lines may be even more important than reading the lines themselves.

Bon Appétit!

TAD