Herb and Jamaal by Stephen Bentley for November 02, 2024

I always remember a one-star rant about how horrible a place was. Turns out the guy didn’t actually get anything. he was upset because they wouldn’t let him park his dripping wet bicycle inside.

If I make a bigger purchase, I read all the 1 star reviews. I can’t believe how many are issues with the shipping company or user error, or something they could have rectified if they contacted the company instead of whining online.

So I take it a restaurant critic was in and didn’t like the food?

It would be one thing if they were talking about Yelp reviews but to put down all professional food critics doesn’t look good for them. Most are professionals for a reason.

Same problem with critic reviews of movies. I usually wait a bit until enough of the viewer post their opinions on Rotten Tomatoes. The public usually gets it right, where as the critics don’t.

Sign in front of a diner: “Come in and try what one guy on Yelp said was the worst food he ever ate”

And they only go to the very loud, very expensive places.

Very subjective business, whether professional critics, random reviewers on Yelp, or just someone you know. My wife and I had a recent experience with a neighbor who expressed her sorrow that her favorite Chinese place — just down the street — was closing after 40 years in business. In the ten years we’ve lived here, we got takeout from them once, and it was so awful we never went back.

We tend to avoid places that get near-unanimous bad reviews, whether for food, service or cleanliness. If the ratings run 50-50 we might give them a chance.

Lately whenever a certain political party mentions a business, good or bad, the place is flooded with reviews from people who have never been there.