4 ms·

Zagat is still pretty good (although you have to pay for ratings), despite declining accuracy of late. The ratings are more 'tuned' to a foodie mindset, plus th

Zagat is still pretty good (although you have to pay for ratings), despite declining accuracy of late. The ratings are more 'tuned' to a foodie mindset, plus they separate out food from price, which avoids the common problem you see on Yelp. I recall seeing 5-stars for a sushi restaurant on Yelp, and after an incredibly disappointing meal, I went back to the site and read the reviews. They were all along the lines of "Sushi for under $4! Awesome!." I don't care if it's 4$. If it's bad sushi, it doesn't matter if it's free. I'd rather eat something else. Or maybe the food is great but the service sucks. By conflating all of these categories into a single rating, you end up with ratings that aren't very useful to a lot of people. No doubt, personalized ratings are the way to go in the future - but none of the apps I've seen (Ness included) seem to do a very good job of this yet.

rdl 15y ago
I find chow.com to be the best way to discover specific new restaurants. I use Yelp to find menus and hours, and to locate the names of a bunch of suitable e.g. watch repair shops in the area, but gave up on their ratings and reviews a few years ago (approximately the time they hired a bunch of salespeople and started extorting businesses...) A Facebook review site where I got reviews just from my friends (or domain experts, ideally also selected by my friends). Right now, Quora and Foursquare seem to be the way to use "friend networks" to find stuff, and then domain-specific sites like chow (for foodies), wis (for watches), etc. too.
- ebiester 15y ago
  I second chow.com, though I end up looking on Urbanspoon if I just happen to be out and about. I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't been mentioned much here.
ghaff 15y ago
Agreed. For areas that Zagat covers, I find it to be a lot more consistent and consumable than Yelp. With Yelp, I find myself having to read through reviews and trying to apply context to the reviews and I still find the recommendations more random overall. I still use Yelp, but if I'm looking for a quick "Where do I eat on this business trip that's near my hotel?" Zagat is quick and unlikely to steer me (too) wrong. I agree with another poster who recommended Chowhound--again if you're willing to spend some time reading rather than just looking for a quick 2 or 3 restaurants to choose from.

rdl 15y ago

I find chow.com to be the best way to discover specific new restaurants. I use Yelp to find menus and hours, and to locate the names of a bunch of suitable e.g. watch repair shops in the area, but gave up on their ratings and reviews a few years ago (approximately the time they hired a bunch of salespeople and started extorting businesses...) A Facebook review site where I got reviews just from my friends (or domain experts, ideally also selected by my friends). Right now, Quora and Foursquare seem to be the way to use "friend networks" to find stuff, and then domain-specific sites like chow (for foodies), wis (for watches), etc. too.

ebiester 15y ago
I second chow.com, though I end up looking on Urbanspoon if I just happen to be out and about. I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't been mentioned much here.

ghaff 15y ago

Agreed. For areas that Zagat covers, I find it to be a lot more consistent and consumable than Yelp. With Yelp, I find myself having to read through reviews and trying to apply context to the reviews and I still find the recommendations more random overall. I still use Yelp, but if I'm looking for a quick "Where do I eat on this business trip that's near my hotel?" Zagat is quick and unlikely to steer me (too) wrong. I agree with another poster who recommended Chowhound--again if you're willing to spend some time reading rather than just looking for a quick 2 or 3 restaurants to choose from.