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Art from Foobooz sent this over a while ago, but I misplaced the link ’til now. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, restaurant owners in the Bay Area are upset over patrons demanding free food in exchange for good reviews on Yelp.
Yes, that’s right: People are blackmailing restaurants into giving them free shit. If the restaurants don’t comply, they’re threatened with a bad review on Yelp. Truly, we have entered into the final days. From an email from a restaurateur:
Customers have begun threatening to ‘Yelp’ the restaurant if their demands are not met. Cafe Rouge experienced this phenomenon twice within the past month when comps were demanded with the threat that a harsh review would follow on the Yelp website if we didn’t comply. The expectation of how much to comp is also at issue, where a glass of wine, an appetizer or dessert no longer suffices. People do follow through on their threats as we have witnessed. When most restaurants are struggling to pay the bills in a recession economy, bad publicity is the last thing we want to see. On the other hand, comping lavishly in response to overt threats affects the bottom line.
Hmm, I wonder if I could go into local restaurants and drop the words, “Philadelphia Will Do.” It would be awesome.
Another great moment in Yelp comes from this review of the Arbol Cafe, from an “Elite” Brooklyn member of Yelp.
I wouldn’t call this place cute. Cute is an insult. All little cafes, just like babies, are cute even when they aren’t cute. No instead I would call this tiny little place real. Observant individuals will notice traditional Paraguayan pieces of art, cloth, etc adorning the walls. This is why I like this place because it’s true to itself. Similar to how Almaz Cafe “keeps it real” with colors of the Ethiopian flag inside, this place doesn’t stray far from its roots.
This is a day and age where cafes are very vanilla even when they try to be the anti-starbucks. Ironically enough, they are the same too. They try to be the cute corner cafe, with a vintage couch here or a black and white photo there, and the waitress has a nose ring and half sleeve tattoo to give it credibility. This is not that place.
Yeah, all those cafes giving their waitresses henna sleeve tattoos and fake nose rings. POSEURS!
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No wonder they had a field day denouncing the service at the Mexican Post recently, it was all about them not getting enough food. Then basically going on record saying “Don’t you know who we are?”
As someone who wrote for various newspapers and worked in several restaurants, I’ve seen plenty of people use their position/free shit to their advantage from both ends. PR people send writers free stuff to make them happy. Restaurant managers comp items to keep customers happy. Irate customers have demanded free things to keep them from talking poorly about their restaurants from long before Yelp ever existed. The fact that they’re using Yelp instead of saying “Telling all my friends and family not to come here” or “I’m going to write a letter to the editor” just shows that Yelp is the current trend.
Don’t lump in a few bad eggs with everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if half of these customers demanding comps weren’t even Yelpers. Who needs to actually write bad reviews when idle threats can get you almost as far?
Sure, the whole Mexican Post thing was a mess but I think it’s a lesson learned for the Philly Yelp community. If you followed the comments that were going on in the Yelp threads, you would’ve seen that many users of Yelp even agreed with you regarding the whole MP situation.
I’m pretty sure the author of that Yelp review wasn’t insinuating that cafes give out fake tattoos and nose rings to their waitresses. That’s a rather daft interpretation.
The author is trying to convey that many cafes try hard from day one to develop a “vibe” artificially… and those are becoming so cliche that in effect they are “vanilla”. They want the cafe to have an East Village NYC vibe but in Rittenhouse. Instead the author’s preference is for cafes that represent roots outside of being “hip” such as Almaz and Arbol (representing Ethiopia and Paraguay). It’s nice to have a contextual viewpoint like that in a Yelp review so the reader can better understand if they have similar interests or views.
Ok fine it’s me. But if you’re going to post about Art and Foobooz, try not to pick a post by someone who works for them!
There are obviously issues with the whole review format as it currently exists. Our view is that reviews will always be important but down the road people will use is as a secondary tool to video. This is part of the thesis behind jippidy.com
The philly yelp community was far too slow to realize they were wrong. They had to be ordered to realize reality. The site manager, Carrie, is horrible and has a little cult of other horrible people.
I agree with md’s comment - it’s not just Yelp, but there are lots of crazy folks who threaten just to get free stuff. It’s patently ridiculous to jumble everyone into one basket of insanity. Good article, by the way.
This is from the pathetic Yelp leader who thinks she’s a writer:
Wow, I’m so sad. Georgie boy, whomever you are, come out, come out and say it to my face. I’m 99.9% he’s never even met me, or my “little cult of horrible people.”
Are you 10? Come out and fight at recess?
The Owners from Arbol Cafe are a straight up legit couple trying to add a little authentic Paraguayan ethnicity into a hip part of town. This is just one persons view and opinion on the place. Maybe the cafe is trying to be cute, maybe they are trying to make a profit too. Can you blame them. Maybe thats not the case. Who knows, its just one persons opinion. Why don’t you read other reviews rather than base your thoughts on one person’s review from dec 07. Just a thought. The review got 5 stars from this person anyway. They like it, but they are just voicing their mind on the place. Take it with a grain of salt. As far as the whole blackmail thing that’s effed up.
I’m a yelper…of the elite group and I’m wondering what cult? I didn’t drink any kool-aid lately….and while i’m sure some people are bound to be pricks…most of us just post our honest opinion.
I’m a yelper…of the elite group and I’m wondering what cult? I didn’t drink any kool-aid lately….and while i’m sure some people are bound to be pricks…most of us just post our honest opinion.
I’m a yelper…of the elite group and I’m wondering what cult? I didn’t drink any kool-aid lately….and while i’m sure some people are bound to be pricks…most of us just post our honest opinion.