

How Many Reviewers Should Be in the Kitchen? - Yelp vs. Zagat - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/technology/07digi.html

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jwilliams
You can add to this the fact that Google is also in the mix.

e.g.
[http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&...](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=bars+in+san+francisco&fb=1&view=text&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=more-
results&cd=1)

Personally I like Yelp better, but I've only really been looking in SF (which
is their strongest card).

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raghus
Google seems to link to TripAdvisor reviews in most cases

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jwilliams
I tend to get a whole assortment - might be very location/type dependent.

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browser411
As a user:

I use Yelp quite a bit... but I don't really trust their rating system since I
heard a while back that they pay a lot of their reviewers or "marketing
associates". I've often found myself disagreeing with their ratings.

I used Zagats almost exclusively during my corporate days. Reviews seemed
pretty trustworthy but the whole annual publishing thing was way too slow.

As a business:

I've heard from classmates of a Zagat family member that the company does
pretty well financially. From what I remember, all my consulting/banking
friends got a Zagats membership as a company perk, which helped build brand
loyalty and probably generated dependable cash flow.

On the other hand, I've heard from media reports that Yelp doesn't generate a
lot of cash (they've taken 4 rounds of VC financing). I guess they're waiting
for the big exit for their great traffic growth.

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Alex3917
The problem with Yelp is that the reviewers are all a bunch of nouveau riche
twentysomethings who only care about the ambiance, not the food. Most of the
reviews are about how cool the reviewer is, and not the restaurant itself.
I'll take Zagats any day.

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brandnewlow
In Chicago, I've become wary of trusting much on Yelp. I've been checking out
touristy stuff lately and had some really lousy experiences. Inevitably, when
I check to see what the yelpers think, they rave and 5-star it.

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jrockway
Don't do the touristy stuff in Chicago.

As an aside, I've found that Yelp rarely helps me decide on a restaurant.
Sometimes Yelp says a place is bad, and I love it. Sometimes it says it's
great, and I hate it. Sometimes we agree, but basically I can't trust it.
People that aren't professional reviewers don't really know how to review a
place ("1 star because I don't like cheese, but ordered a cheese pizza."
People on Amazon do this too -- "I didn't like jrockway's book because it
didn't cover something I wanted it to." That is a wish, not a review.)

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brandnewlow
I'm checking off the things I want to make sure I do while I'm here. I agree,
touristy stuff's usually lame, but you gotta go to the Sears Tower, right?

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jrockway
The view is nice, but I hate how touristy it is. They make you watch this dumb
movie about how great Chicago is before you can take the elevator upstairs.

I like the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building ("tocho") in Tokyo
(obviously). You walk into the lobby and press the "up" button on the
elevator. Then you press the button for 90-whatever, wait a while, and get off
at the top. Then you enjoy the view. (And it's free, of course.)

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alaskamiller
My little pet theory, based on the 10/20/70 rule, is that the individual
reviews themselves become less important. The 70% of yelp users will only want
2 type of information: what's the star rating of a place and how
expensive/category it is.

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fallentimes
And for the late nighters: credit card and delivery.

