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> It is amazing to me that people care so much about what other people think; they want to be told what they should and should not like. This is an amazingly u

> It is amazing to me that people care so much about what other people think; they want to be told what they should and should not like. This is an amazingly uncharitable read on the reason that food critics exist. How about this version? There are thousands upon thousands of restaurants in NYC. Constantly opening and closing. No human in the world has time to try them all, and going to one that sucks is a wasted opportunity. So having outside sources to turn you on to good places is really valuable. If you find a restaurant critic whose taste you agree with, taking his or her recommendations can drastically improve your ratio of good to bad meals. It's no different than looking at reviews when going to a movie. If there are 15 movies playing, I'm a fool for reading reviews to help me decide what to watch? I suppose I should just try them all and then decide for myself what I like, rather than "being told what I should and should not like"?

wallace_f 10y ago
>having outside sources to turn you on to good places is really valuable. That's a reasonable reason to take advice on places to try, but does that justify the influence food critics have (which is the topic of the article)? There's a host of review sites with a democratized review process--anyone can write a review, and reviews are accessible to everyone. For that reason and others, to me the answer is no. >If you find a restaurant critic whose taste you agree with You can also find reviewers whose tastes you agree with. Or friends, family, etc. There are even prolific reviewers, who may have reviewed more restaurants than you have time or desire to try. Edit to say this: Perhaps there's some space in the market for food critics, but by and large I don't believe they should have the influence that is the discussion of this article. That is not to mention the host of other problems food critics bring to business.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- lotso 10y ago
  Yelp reviews for ethnic food and fine dining are usually pretty poor in my opinion and also have similar issues as food critics. Also why would I care about the masses opinion on food? I'd rather read review from people who really care and know about food.
douche 10y ago
> If there are 15 movies playing, I'm a fool for reading reviews to help me decide what to watch? If there are 15 movies playing, 12 of them will be remakes/reboots/rehashes/sequels, two of the others will be superhero movies, and the last one is an animated children's film. Stay home.
yodsanklai 10y ago
> There are thousands upon thousands of restaurants in NYC. Constantly opening and closing. No human in the world has time to try them all If you restrict yourself to a particular area, a price range, a type of food, there are already many less options (even in NYC). You can also make a good opinion just by looking at the place from the outside. Personally, I much prefer to find some good place to eat by myself rather than go to the same place as everybody else just because it has a good review. For movies, it's not different. You can tell from the genre, the director, the actors and so on if you may like this movie or not.
- manarth 10y ago
  > You can tell from the genre, the director, the actors and so on New directors? Unfamiliar or upcoming actors? A desire to experiment and try a genre you're unfamiliar with?
- CarpetBench 10y ago
  > You can also make a good opinion just by looking at the place from the outside. Ehh, isn't this textbook "judging a book by its cover"? It tells you nothing about the quality of the food, service, etc. unless you waste a bunch of time scouting out the restaurant. > Personally, I much prefer to find some good place to eat by myself rather than > go to the same place as everybody else just because it has a good review. That's cool, and I don't think you're alone in that. Much of the time though, I don't want to experiment. It feels bad to waste money on a restaurant I don't like. It feels even worse to tell a place their food is so bad that I'd like a refund. There's no winning scenario for me in that instance. Worse than just being a bad outing, it's an opportunity cost: I have $X and Y hours to spend eating out. Because I wasted an evening at Thai Noodle Place #3, I didn't get to eat at Ethiopian Restaurant #2 that's supposed to be incredible. Especially in NYC, it's not a given that said Ethiopian restaurant will be around next week. Wasting money and/or time on an awful meal is much less likely if I'm going to a place with good reviews. Still possible, of course, but less likely. > For movies, it's not different. You can tell from the genre, the director, > the actors and so on if you may like this movie or not. Except in this instance you probably don't know the director, the actors, or even the synopsis. You're seeing the movie solely based on the genre, the title, and who else is in line for the movie. Not a strategy I would consistently recommend.

wallace_f 10y ago

>having outside sources to turn you on to good places is really valuable. That's a reasonable reason to take advice on places to try, but does that justify the influence food critics have (which is the topic of the article)? There's a host of review sites with a democratized review process--anyone can write a review, and reviews are accessible to everyone. For that reason and others, to me the answer is no. >If you find a restaurant critic whose taste you agree with You can also find reviewers whose tastes you agree with. Or friends, family, etc. There are even prolific reviewers, who may have reviewed more restaurants than you have time or desire to try. Edit to say this: Perhaps there's some space in the market for food critics, but by and large I don't believe they should have the influence that is the discussion of this article. That is not to mention the host of other problems food critics bring to business.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
lotso 10y ago
Yelp reviews for ethnic food and fine dining are usually pretty poor in my opinion and also have similar issues as food critics. Also why would I care about the masses opinion on food? I'd rather read review from people who really care and know about food.

douche 10y ago

> If there are 15 movies playing, I'm a fool for reading reviews to help me decide what to watch? If there are 15 movies playing, 12 of them will be remakes/reboots/rehashes/sequels, two of the others will be superhero movies, and the last one is an animated children's film. Stay home.

yodsanklai 10y ago

> There are thousands upon thousands of restaurants in NYC. Constantly opening and closing. No human in the world has time to try them all If you restrict yourself to a particular area, a price range, a type of food, there are already many less options (even in NYC). You can also make a good opinion just by looking at the place from the outside. Personally, I much prefer to find some good place to eat by myself rather than go to the same place as everybody else just because it has a good review. For movies, it's not different. You can tell from the genre, the director, the actors and so on if you may like this movie or not.

manarth 10y ago
> You can tell from the genre, the director, the actors and so on New directors? Unfamiliar or upcoming actors? A desire to experiment and try a genre you're unfamiliar with?
CarpetBench 10y ago
> You can also make a good opinion just by looking at the place from the outside. Ehh, isn't this textbook "judging a book by its cover"? It tells you nothing about the quality of the food, service, etc. unless you waste a bunch of time scouting out the restaurant. > Personally, I much prefer to find some good place to eat by myself rather than > go to the same place as everybody else just because it has a good review. That's cool, and I don't think you're alone in that. Much of the time though, I don't want to experiment. It feels bad to waste money on a restaurant I don't like. It feels even worse to tell a place their food is so bad that I'd like a refund. There's no winning scenario for me in that instance. Worse than just being a bad outing, it's an opportunity cost: I have $X and Y hours to spend eating out. Because I wasted an evening at Thai Noodle Place #3, I didn't get to eat at Ethiopian Restaurant #2 that's supposed to be incredible. Especially in NYC, it's not a given that said Ethiopian restaurant will be around next week. Wasting money and/or time on an awful meal is much less likely if I'm going to a place with good reviews. Still possible, of course, but less likely. > For movies, it's not different. You can tell from the genre, the director, > the actors and so on if you may like this movie or not. Except in this instance you probably don't know the director, the actors, or even the synopsis. You're seeing the movie solely based on the genre, the title, and who else is in line for the movie. Not a strategy I would consistently recommend.