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AIBU?

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Original poster

Re restaurant reviews

12 replies

Toomanythalias · 12/08/2023 16:26

A few times lately I have gone out for meals with friends, the food has been dreadful and we all vowed not to return. But when I checked online reviews everyone raved about the food.

We can't all be that fussy. What is it with the great reviews for, at best, very mundane restaurants?

OP posts:
BarrelOfOtters · 12/08/2023 16:31

Watch out for people who only reviewed once….family and staff reviewing . I always look at bad reviews too.

also if I look at restaurants I know in my local area I’m shocked at the top 10. All v mediocre.

also, people like mediocre….or mistake big portions for good.

we ended up in an awful Indian restaurant last weekend following reviews, so ordinary.

FrivolousTreeDuck · 12/08/2023 16:31

You caught them on a bad night?
Different people like different things?
You and your friends have ultra-refined palates?
All the reviews were added by the restaurant owners' mates?

Original poster
Toomanythalias · 12/08/2023 17:34

BarrelOfOtters · 12/08/2023 16:31

Watch out for people who only reviewed once….family and staff reviewing . I always look at bad reviews too.

also if I look at restaurants I know in my local area I’m shocked at the top 10. All v mediocre.

also, people like mediocre….or mistake big portions for good.

we ended up in an awful Indian restaurant last weekend following reviews, so ordinary.

Yes, I suspect a lot of the reviews are by family or friends. I've noticed the same with hotels - ones that are really very average, have nothing special food, quite noisy lounges etc get five stars from loads of customers. In between there are some 1 to 3 star reviews and descriptions that are far closer to my experience.

OP posts:
countrygirl99 · 12/08/2023 17:46

Some people have low standards.
Some people will rave about a place that is basically reheating ready meals because it's local/cheap.
This applied to the pub in my village. People will give it rave reviews because they don't need to drive and are scared it will close leaving us with nothing. The meals are Brake Brothers prepared & heated in a microwave but read the reviews and you would think it's a Michelin starred restaurant. The reality is because it's on it's 4th tenant in 5 years and people don't want to lose the last pub in the village. I went there when the latest lot took over and it's nothing special.

parietal · 12/08/2023 17:48

I often look by the number of reviews. If a place has 500 reviews they should be more accurate than if it has 5. But it is possible to pay for good reviews which distorts the data.

Ducklake · 12/08/2023 17:50

I’m going to sound like a snob but most people don’t know what good food is. They’re happy with almost anything as long as it’s not gone off and there’s plenty of wine.

LittleBearPad · 12/08/2023 17:50

What didn’t you like about them?

Terrribletwos · 12/08/2023 18:04

I have noticed rave reviews too about mediocre places and it has left me confused when I have visited the same place.

I can only say that the reviews are written by paid reviewers or people are not that fussy. For instance, people will write rave reviews for something like Wetherspoons which has microwave and frozen meals...really?

Maybe it's just what people are used to now, not growing up with freshly cooked meals they are somehow more used to this.

Same goes for Indian/Chinese. Years ago these meals were freshly cooked and there was a difference between them, in that there was good and bad...and some great. Now it's all the same (usually awful) as the sauces, etc are provided by one big food supplier. Same for kebab shops, etc.

I just stick to local chippie now but even that can vary cos of quality of potatoes!

tt9 · 12/08/2023 18:18

fake reviews. it's really easy to buy them apparently.

WouldYouLikeYourMuffinButtered · 13/08/2023 19:44

My neighbour is a manager of a chain pub restaurant. She always asks us for fake positive reviews at the end of each month as their online rating affects her job.

CurlewKate · 13/08/2023 19:55

I accidentally went to an app Ali g restaurant yesterday. Well, it was appalling for 6 50ish year olds. There were three hen parties and us! The food was dreadful, but the cocktails were fantastic and after the 3rd the people watching was spectacular. We left an excellent review because it was perfect for its target market!

Elvis1956 · 13/08/2023 21:15

Ducklake · 12/08/2023 17:50

I’m going to sound like a snob but most people don’t know what good food is. They’re happy with almost anything as long as it’s not gone off and there’s plenty of wine.

I'm not a snob and enjoy spoons...you know what you are going to get. But this is spot on. The problem is that so many eat ready meals and mass produced shite. My cousin's first husband would only have bought cakes, nothing home made...so literally sugar, artificial flavour and cheap flour.

When I had a proper job I ate out. A lot. From really great places where the chef wanted to create food people talked about and loved to chain white like tgi's (worst meal I have ever had) yet clients would prefer tgi's!

Read kitchen confidential by Antony Bourdain it explains what goes on in restaurants

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