Mikey Doesn't Like It

Michael Bauer Can Not Abide Power-Tripping Yelpers

“Everyone is a critic,” sighs Mr. Bauer, as he discusses a note he received from Butterfly chef-owner Robert Lam regarding the case of a Yelper who gave the restaurant two stars and complained about several dishes despite having said nothing to Lam himself — who goes around to every table every night and asks if anything could have been better. We ourselves don’t like to be put on the spot like that, but Bauer makes the point that if something is wrong with a meal, a diner ought to give the restaurant a chance to make it right, especially if they inquire, before they run to their computer to play critic.

“It sounds like these particular diners were simply itching to write a bad review,” Bauer writes, and thereby sums up about 80% of people who use Yelp. “It’s disingenuous and below the belt to be given the opportunity to speak up and then to post negative comments on various websites.” He also says he has faith that most people know better than to take every Yelp review at face value, and that they can parse between the “legitimate” criticisms and the Yelpers on “power trips” who imagine they wield the sword of Bauer in the current day-in-age. But what about the glowing postings by friends of the chef, or the reviews written by the hopelessly dissatisfied whose universal reaction to their every culinary experience is “Just OK”? Can the average diner suss those out too?

The curse of the two-faced diner
[Between Meals/Scoop]
Earlier: Yelp Mulls IPO [Grub Street]
Judge Lets Yelp Off the Hook on Extortion Claims … For Now [Grub Street]

Michael Bauer Can Not Abide Power-Tripping Yelpers