That seems to be the question that popped into my head after trying to google a restaurant for directions. With the name and address information, a few dozen websites popped up offering their reviews of the place. I didn't even think about reading up on the reviews for the place as this particular venue was something that I had been seeking out for quite some time with its offering of foods familiar to my background tastes. So now that I have these sites in front of me what do i do????
First one, slammed the place, calling it nothing more than a glorified diner!!!! Another site praised it for its wide variety of "eastern european" delicacies, yet another one gave it a lukewarm praise. None of them came from a reputable website as Zagat or Yap but most of them were done on sites that rate hundreds of local places.
Hmmm so now what??? Do I ignore the rude bombardment with all these reviews that I didn't ask for and jot down the directions, or do I change my dinner plans? True, this is not a lifethreatening dilemma but it certainly left a somewhat bad taste in my mouth if you will. While I may not be the one to give in too much to the word of social marketing and hyped up reviews, I found myself changing my dinner plans for that night as I was planning a somewhat special night. I still have plans to visit that place and see for myself if you will, but the lesson learned here is if you are googling directions somewhere, ignore the reviews!
My Circle
-
-
WOW, was not aware that existed.....15 years ago
-
Second Life: How I was Duped15 years ago
-
-
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Bronislava,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you. Sometimes if there is a restaurant I want to go too that I havent eaten at before I will research it too much into depth by reading all the customer reviews about it. I then am seriously discouraged from going because of what I read- because of course as an Armenian, food is the most important thing to us. However, I have learned to just look at the menu and not really read reviews - because I believe that everybody has a different sense of what is truly good food. Everyone's taste buds and preferences for food, service and ambiance are certainly different. So just "reviewing" the menu before I go somewhere is a good enough rating for me to go or not to go.
Hi Bronislava,
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's interesting. I only used YELP once to check a restaurant that was recommended by a friend. When we went there, people were standing in line outside the place to wait for a table. Well, the food was very greasy. I ended up eating of course, but would not go there again.
Personally, I am not a great food critique, for me, if the food is above average, I will be Ok with it. I know that I would continue ignoring Yelp and Zagat and would only trust my own judgement when it comes to food, so I totally agree with you, check the directions and ignore everything else.
I guess this all boils down to the fact that even when it comes to eating we can be influenced by others... lol...
ReplyDeleteall that peer pressure :)