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Does anyone else find that their best restaurant experiences come from places that only show up on a yelp search several pages down (if at all)? A number of yea

Does anyone else find that their best restaurant experiences come from places that only show up on a yelp search several pages down (if at all)? A number of years ago I stopped using yelp to find places to eat in my hometown because I found that the app completely overlooked smaller, locally run places for big name places near tourist hot spots.

notyourday 8y ago
If you actually run a good restaurant ( not subjectively good, but objectively good ) then you can tell Yelp to take a hike every time their sales person calls so it would never be surfaced more than some taco place which for some reason did decide to give Yelp money. I'm sure this affects placement, not to mention probably frequency of reviews/checkins plays into placement. It is not that Aska NYC gives two cents about it not showing up on every Yelp search - after all they are a place that gets away with charging your credit card when you make a reservation and offers no refunds!
kjeetgill 8y ago
That's definitely true in SF ... Sorta. If a smaller place manages to attract hipster crowds that pour into it for a time, it can get to the top. But when you're a site raking based on activity, what're you going to do? If Yelp didn't see traffic it can hardly recommend it.
Mikeb85 8y ago
Small, locally run places don't deal with Yelp's extortionate practices if they don't have to. If they've already got a regular clientele, they can tell Yelp where to go. IMO, the best ways to find restaurants are Google reviews or OpenTable/Bookenda/Resy/etc...
crazygringo 8y ago
Nope, not if you sort by rating instead of default (which seems to include things like popularity). Yelp ratings (at least here in NYC) are the most reliable signal of a restaurant's quality I've ever found, particularly when you look at the histogram. If a place has significantly more 5-star ratings than 4-star, you're basically guaranteed it will be amazing. And it has more 4-star than 5-star (assuming it's also more 4-star than 3-star), it's probably fine but there's a reason it's not getting 5 stars, and it's unlikely to be amazing. Obviously this relies on having a large enough sample size (e.g. 30+).

notyourday 8y ago

If you actually run a good restaurant ( not subjectively good, but objectively good ) then you can tell Yelp to take a hike every time their sales person calls so it would never be surfaced more than some taco place which for some reason did decide to give Yelp money. I'm sure this affects placement, not to mention probably frequency of reviews/checkins plays into placement. It is not that Aska NYC gives two cents about it not showing up on every Yelp search - after all they are a place that gets away with charging your credit card when you make a reservation and offers no refunds!

kjeetgill 8y ago

That's definitely true in SF ... Sorta. If a smaller place manages to attract hipster crowds that pour into it for a time, it can get to the top. But when you're a site raking based on activity, what're you going to do? If Yelp didn't see traffic it can hardly recommend it.

Mikeb85 8y ago

Small, locally run places don't deal with Yelp's extortionate practices if they don't have to. If they've already got a regular clientele, they can tell Yelp where to go. IMO, the best ways to find restaurants are Google reviews or OpenTable/Bookenda/Resy/etc...

crazygringo 8y ago

Nope, not if you sort by rating instead of default (which seems to include things like popularity). Yelp ratings (at least here in NYC) are the most reliable signal of a restaurant's quality I've ever found, particularly when you look at the histogram. If a place has significantly more 5-star ratings than 4-star, you're basically guaranteed it will be amazing. And it has more 4-star than 5-star (assuming it's also more 4-star than 3-star), it's probably fine but there's a reason it's not getting 5 stars, and it's unlikely to be amazing. Obviously this relies on having a large enough sample size (e.g. 30+).