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Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

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Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#21

Post by styfle »

buf wrote: post #16
tayo42 wrote: post #2

somehow tabelog seems pretty legit compared to yelp. maybe there are issues in the japanese bubbles idk about and cant participate in. but on a trip to japan following that site led me to some amazing meals. Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I guess we all get labeled "karens" now for showing any kind of negative feedback in person, so we just suck it up and never…

I'm also impressed with tabelog. Japanese reviewers seem to understand that 3 is an average meal, and anything higher should be above average. I wonder how tipping culture of the western world impacts star averages. Americans tip on just about everything. Do we inflate our star rating because it's in our mindset to 'be nice'? Whereas Japanese are courteous on the outside, but uphold strict scrutiny on the inside. So…

I think many Americans rate 5 stars if the business met all their expectations and then remove a star for each unsatisfactory experience.

Reviews look something like “4 stars: I removed a star because...”

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#22

Post by Larrikin »

jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Yelp ratings are basically useless, except for egregious things like cockroaches found running around. The worst part about the site and Google is that they paginate restaurants in a local map view by rating. It would be better to see everything all at once for certain views.

But restaurants that delist themselves for whatever reason from the review sites, also delist themselves from me ever going to them.

I'm never going to choose a restaurant where I can't see pictures of the food and the menu before going ever again.

It doesn't have to be Yelp, but if I search and didn't see the restaurant, it doesn't exist and I will never go to it. If I pass by a place and it isn't brand new, yet they've scrubbed their web presence, I'm not going to go.

There's no reason to take a chance, and any place that is trying to hide from it, will just always be a place not worth bothering to find out why they are hiding.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#23

Post by newzisforsukas »

viccis wrote: post #6
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Same. Yelp is for finding pics of menus and food. Googling " restaurants reddit" is for finding good places to go.

reddit is gamed as well, depending on the subreddit

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#24

Post by renewiltord »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
tayo42 wrote: post #2

somehow tabelog seems pretty legit compared to yelp. maybe there are issues in the japanese bubbles idk about and cant participate in. but on a trip to japan following that site led me to some amazing meals. Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I guess we all get labeled "karens" now for showing any kind of negative feedback in person, so we just suck it up and never…

> Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I was recently in an airport in Japan looking to use the meal voucher I'd been given due to a delayed flight. What was available locally was a coffee shop with a very long line (well, not a long line, maybe ten feet, but keep reading), which operated like this: - The person at the head of the line would advance and speak to the c…

That’s hilarious but entirely in line with my experience that most of these places are inefficiently run. The ones that become huge are just run decently and get all this stuff done. The staff are trained on what to prioritize and they have post its reminding how to work.

When doing work, many of us need simple flowcharts and a good operator knows how to make his staff into automatons in places like this.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#25

Post by hgomersall »

bleakenthusiasm wrote: post #19
buf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also impressed with tabelog. Japanese reviewers seem to understand that 3 is an average meal, and anything higher should be above average. I wonder how tipping culture of the western world impacts star averages. Americans tip on just about everything. Do we inflate our star rating because it's in our mindset to 'be nice'? Whereas Japanese are courteous on the outside, but uphold strict scrutiny on the inside. So…

It's the same in Europe with the 5-stars-is-normal scale. In my personal experience it's the app that fosters it. Many companies who ask for reviews follow up anything below 5 stars or 10/10 with "how can we improve?" Or some similar questions. This is friction they generate for me as a user if I rate anything below top tier. Personally for me 5 stars or 10/10 would be service that is so good I couldn't even tell you…

The problem really is that one single metric is insufficient to grade all restaurants. 5* at a fine dining place at £150/cover is quite different to 5* at gastropub, is quite different at a chain restaurant. You can't expect to grade or interpret all restaurants on the same scale. I just interpret the star rating as overall subjective experience, which is mostly a delta from expectations.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#28

Post by forrestthewoods »

jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

I use Yelp and Google Reviews pretty regularly. If a restaurant has a bad score it might still be good. If it has a good score with lots of ratings then it's probably pretty decent.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#29

Post by crngefest »

Larrikin wrote: post #22
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Yelp ratings are basically useless, except for egregious things like cockroaches found running around. The worst part about the site and Google is that they paginate restaurants in a local map view by rating. It would be better to see everything all at once for certain views. But restaurants that delist themselves for whatever reason from the review sites, also delist themselves from me ever going to them. I'm never…

Most excellent restaurants where I live would never post pictures of their food anywhere and have no web presence at all. In many you can’t even reserve a table - you go there and eat. Those who need a lot of web presence / pictures etc are usually not great (good but not great).

If you see lots of people in a place and it’s crowded it’s probably good.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#30

Post by imp0cat »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
tayo42 wrote: post #2

somehow tabelog seems pretty legit compared to yelp. maybe there are issues in the japanese bubbles idk about and cant participate in. but on a trip to japan following that site led me to some amazing meals. Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I guess we all get labeled "karens" now for showing any kind of negative feedback in person, so we just suck it up and never…

> Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I was recently in an airport in Japan looking to use the meal voucher I'd been given due to a delayed flight. What was available locally was a coffee shop with a very long line (well, not a long line, maybe ten feet, but keep reading), which operated like this: - The person at the head of the line would advance and speak to the c…

I bet that " in Japan " (not the slashdot meme!) played a big part in this.

They really take their queues and queue order (FIFO) seriously.

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