I’m a bit behind with this story as it came out last week but the Courier Mail  published an article regarding online restaurant reviews and food blogs in Australia.

For obvious reasons (being that Gold Coast Food Guide is a restaurant and food review site) I always take interest in reading these sorts of articles and it’s always the same thing. The chefs/restauranteurs lament the fact that ‘unprofessional’ and ‘unqualified’ people comment and review their restaurant. Often they come out saying something like ‘Just because you like food doesn’t mean you are qualified enough to review food’ which always shocks me because people that frequent restaurants are normal ‘unqualified’ people. Sure people who dine out may not know what molecular cuisine is and they may never have even seen a real truffle before but I don’t think you need to be a certified food journalist to know when you’ve received bad service or substandard food.

I think restaurant review websites and blogs provide a balance to what you read in bought food guide books or what has been written up by a resaurant reviewer in a newspaper. In the past I’ve visited restaurants after reading a raving review only to be disappointed by either poor service or the food wasn’t as great as it was described. Other times a restaurant that has only received a mediocre score I think is fantastic.

Everyones opinion is different and a restaurant who received a 13/20 score in a food guide may have been having a bad night when the food critic visited and a restaurant who received 16/20 might six months down the track now have an ego and has become complacent. Online restaurant reviews share many peoples different opinions allowing people reading the reviews to see an overall trend. I seriously doubt that one or two negative reviews amongst many positive reviews will stop a person dining there.

Review websites and blogs help restaurants get noticed.  That small unassuming neighbourhood restaurant might be making unbelievable food and if a restaurant has received negative feedback well at least they know what people are unhappy about and can take steps to remedy the problems instead of wondering why they are losing patrons.

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