Social media in your local food scene

Lerxst

Lerxst

spaghetti and blankets
yelp, thrillist, eater, bon appetite, instagram, twitter, etc.....

It's incredible how these platforms have completely taken over the word of mouth & newspaper review impact and turned it into something that can transform a food spot from relatively unknown to daily jam packed waiting list exclusivity in just a few days.

We've had a bunch of places hit some 'Top in the US' lists or 'Best in City' lists that have turned great places into tourist destinations and crowded w/ folks taking selfies and massive wait times, early closures as food runs out.

It's so much instant success and explosive growth, I really wonder how many businesses can survive it longterm, especially if business suddenly contracts at some point? I've already seen it de-stablize a slew of small breweries that couldn't handle the changes that come with overnight success. I've also seen this take some small percentage of business away from perennial destination spots in favor of these upstarts.
 
I am very anti-Yelp etc.
Anyone can say anything on there whether it's true or not. Cheapskate lard asses with a groupon who will order take out, drive 45 minutes home, and then blast you that "They served me cold food"
Fuck those assholes.
(Yes, there's a story to that)
 
MonkeyZero said:
I am very anti-Yelp etc.
Anyone can say anything on there whether it's true or not. Cheapskate lard asses with a groupon who will order take out, drive 45 minutes home, and then blast you that "They served me cold food"
Fuck those assholes.
(Yes, there's a story to that)
Click to expand...
I've read on the 'net some very thuggish things about Yelp.

I can't help wondering if they are true or not :shrug:
 
MonkeyZero said:
I am very anti-Yelp etc.
Anyone can say anything on there whether it's true or not. Cheapskate lard asses with a groupon who will order take out, drive 45 minutes home, and then blast you that "They served me cold food"
Fuck those assholes.
(Yes, there's a story to that)
Click to expand...

Yeah. And it can work the other way too, they can post a bunch of fake positive reviews. I take them all with a generous grain of salt.

But if you spot trends, like people saying over and over that the empanadas are to die for, it's probably worth the trip to try the empanadas.
 
tiger roach said:
Yeah. And it can work the other way too, they can post a bunch of fake positive reviews. I take them all with a generous grain of salt.
Click to expand...

Friend of mine has experience a couple negative things w/ Yelp. They used to constantly hit him up for money to help him fix his business' reviews and up his visibility in searches. The negative reviews they were focused on were clearly written by people who never attempted to patronize his business. Draw whatever conclusion about that.

Several years later he engaged in a handshake agreement to sell his business to someone at a certain price. That guy went and had all of his friends bomb the business' page with negative reviews. He called my friend up and wanted to renegotiate the purchase price based on the damage to the business' reputation. Took him a while going around w/ Yelp to get those reviews removed. By the time they finally did remove them, there was legit damage to the rep of the business.
 
Here in the Commonwealth, we have a TV show called the Phantom Gourmet. It's basically a restaurant review show, with a huge web & TV following. The show is no doubt covered in other markets as well but YMMV. The show is Boston -centric but they will go almost anywhere for a great slice of pizza or fried seafood plate. That being said, most of their reviews are decent if not spot on. There are a couple places that they rave about that I wouldn't touch with 5 foot long chopsticks. And there are others that I have been to multiple times and never had a bad plate of food.
 
parrotheada1a said:
Here in the Commonwealth, we have a TV show called the Phantom Gourmet. It's basically a restaurant review show, with a huge web & TV following. The show is no doubt covered in other markets as well but YMMV. The show is Boston -centric but they will go almost anywhere for a great slice of pizza or fried seafood plate. That being said, most of their reviews are decent if not spot on. There are a couple places that they rave about that I wouldn't touch with 5 foot long chopsticks. And there are others that I have been to multiple times and never had a bad plate of food.
Click to expand...
I used watch that show every weekend. I don’t live anywhere near Boston.
 
I see where the New York Times gave Peter Luger a zero-star review.

I've never been there, but isn't Peter Luger one of the most raved about/iconic eateries in NYC?
 
Yelp and other such sites are definitely used as a weapon. I use them, but also realize that many false reviews exist both pro and con.
 
Jbird said:
I see where the New York Times gave Peter Luger a zero-star review.

I've never been there, but isn't Peter Luger one of the most raved about/iconic eateries in NYC?
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No clue - but the NYT has turned into a bad joke much of the time anyways.
 
Peter Luger’s aged porterhouses are great (and ludicrously expensive). I miss the great meat I used to eat on the East Coast so sometimes we have a box of them shipped out to Colorado. But the Times is right about Peter Luger’s steak sauce, it’s fucking horrible. Tastes like watered down cocktail sauce.

As for social media and the local food scene, I have no clue about that stuff. Somehow my husband finds out about restaurants and we just get reservations so the crowd thing is pretty much irrelevant.
 
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