Is Yelp Fair to Restaurants?

By Laura Hahnefeld Wed., Jan. 16 2013 at 8:00 AM

Welcome to Chow Bella's Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you'd like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com.

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Last December, when Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern called Yelp a "forum for uninformed morons" on his podcast Go Fork Yourself, the controversy over the local business rating community site re-surfaced once again.

Accused of removing or hiding negative reviews for companies that advertise, Yelpers using their "Elite" status to get free food or preferential treatment, and some users abusing the system by blackmailing restaurants, the company has seen its fair share of bad press. What do Valley chefs and restaurateurs think about Yelp? Here's what a few of them had to say:

Pauline Martinez,
Chef and Owner, Perk Eatery

Yelp is a double-edged sword. For diners, it's a valuable resource, especially when traveling. For restaurants, bad reviews can really hurt your business but good reviews can work in your favor. Unfortunately, there are some Yelpers who really have no idea what they're talking about, don't know food, and just like to write nasty reviews. Those people are a nightmare for restaurants.

Josh Hebert
Owner and Chef, Posh

Yelp is not fair to anyone, including its reviewers. Yelp wants to be free speech, then let it be heard. Good or bad.

Silvana Salcido Esparza,
Chef and Owner, Barrio Cafe and Barrio Queen

It's not Yelp, it's the people. Bottom line, I think it's fair. Listen, I had to take a whole lot of crap when I first opened in Scottsdale -- bad service, etc. I took it like a champ, and admittedly, it was well deserved. Problem solved. I think most chefs hate Yelp, but most foodies love it.

Jeff Kraus
Chef and Owner, Crepé Bar

It's fair as long as they continue to monitor reviews for legitimacy. It could also be improved if they guided reviewers with a scoring standard that converts their experience into a more objective review.

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samrocksc

Deborah hit it on the head. Yelp is a relative institution and has very weak points of reference. If you utilize Yelp as a business owner take into account comments and fix the issues, that review still exists shining a negative light on your establishment. Also you get about 20 phone calls a week until you ask them to stop calling you. They offer no "Take no part" option, and are strong armed into updating it because your establishment is by base nature a negative establishment unless you cater to its needs.

For smaller places or lower budgets Yelp is your worst nightmare if you are working on growing your establishment organically. The best constructive criticism I receive is when a customer comes up and talks to me face to face. It allows for immediate discourse. My best piece of constructive criticism came in the form of a letter written on a napkin and a phone number. It was harsh, but I needed it, and it was handled within the week what was suggested.

There are some things that social media cannot replace, and that is a good ol'fashioned face to face chat.

katiescarlet

Most of us Yelpers are not malicious and don't post to malign anyone. For some of these chefs to suggest that we're not food critics? Ridiculous. Its crowd sourcing which by its inherent nature means you'll get folks who know a lot about food as well as those who don't. Give me a break. As Jamie11^ suggests, get over yourselves. Yelp has guided me to some great restaurants and resources and as long as chef-owners choose to dismiss it as a reliable resource to their consumer base, they do themselves a disservice.

rickyleepotts vocalizer

Yelp is a place for us to express our experience of an establishment. For example, we had a negative experience at a place in Old Town last week. The service was bad, the drinks were wrong, and the speakers were too loud. Yes, some of that is relative, but we used Yelp as a place to express our experience. Within 24 hours, the owner of the bar contacted us, through Yelp, and provided us a complimentary meal and drinks. He wants to make up for It. He wants to make it right. THAT is the way you handle negative customer feedback. You find the issue, you fix the issue, and you make it right. We will be back, and I am sure the service will be better.

I am a social media consultant. If you are a business, you MUST be aware of services like Yelp, Google+ Local, and TripAdvisor. People are going there to talk about you regardless. If you are not aware of that, that is on you as a business. Services like this are great, and the more people that use them the more powerful they become.

Jamie11

1 Like

After reading this article criticizing restaurant reviewers it honestly makes me not want to spend my money on chefs and restaurant owners who do not take constructive feedback. Regardless of whether or not they agree with all reviews there will often be a common theme which they should take to account. You may get a few off the wall comments but after all the customer is the focus of the food and service. Yelpers may not be professional writers but they are spending their money, get over yourself if you can't take a little feedback, how can anyone improve without it?

Man at Leisure

There is a huge bias on Yelp as the average person does not post a review. You need to realize that and read the reviews as such.

contact184

If you can distinguish the morons from the real foodies then you can't trust Yelp. You have to be able to weed through the crap because most have no clue about food in AZ.

Wally

I don't want to end up at bottom of Tempe Town Lake. Honest review could turn out bad. Scary world right now. I don't use Yelp.

abouttotakeflight

Yelp is definitely a double-edged sword. Some reviewers really offer great comments, and if you look a place up and their rating is in the 4-5 star neighborhood, chances are, you're going to really enjoy your experience.

That being said, the site is full of morons and blowhards that tear apart businesses for no good reason. I am baffled by the things I see people post. Stupid positive reviews are easy to ignore, but stupid negative reviews can have a concrete impact on a business's bottom line. If I were an owner or a chef, I'd absolutely hate the site.