There's a reason why I don't use Yelp unless I'm trying to get addresses or phone numbers for restaurants - a lot of people (especially in Athens, GA) don't know shit and make ignorant comments that potentially hurt the local business.
Now, I'm not trying to take credit away from those who contribute significantly and positively to the Yelp community by making fair, knowledgeable reviews. I praise these people and I appreciate their continued efforts in helping out the food scene. I'm also not claiming that I know everything there is about food. However, I'm so fucking annoyed at the ridiculous reviews I find in my little college town especially for Farm 255.
Farm 255 is the Varasano's and Lupe of Athens or something - people are trying to find reasons, anything, to give them a bad rep. I've been to Farm 255 several times and I truly believe in this restaurant and their food has consistently been tasty. So when I see reviews like this below...
...complaining about "firmed smooth pork" , "layer of flavored butter" , "served chilled" and the pork being salty. Only one thing comes to my mind - fuck off and never come back/comment on these type of sites ever again. Do you even know what a pork rillette is? Ignorance is NOT bliss.
Jennifer from NY, this restaurant isn't good for eating because their menu is too small? Are you kidding me? I'd rather have 4 - 5 well done dishes on the menu rather than 100 bad dishes. As for you "ktnxbai" why the hell are you writing a review when you're pretty much nailing the place just because it's not your style? Nothing was mentioned about how the food tasted or the how the service was. I agree with you about how it's expensive - with respect to Athens (it's a college town) but when compared to Atlanta? They're reasonable prices.
Reviews of such ignorance such as these have no place on a website where many people try to decide on their future meals. People feel like they can write whatever the hell they want because they're shielded by online anonymity and this needs to stop. Websites like Yelp, Urbanspoon and food blogs do affect the business of restaurants and I, for one, am tired of these misinformed reviews.
4 comments:
You make a really good point, there are some pretty crazy reviews out there. I actually think Yelp does a better job than some other sites with policing reviews, at least in active communities like the Atlanta market. I frequently flag reviews that are just insane and more often than not they are removed. It's sad that a restaurant as good as Farm 255 has those reviews, but I think that overall, the 4 and 5 star reviews speak more to anyone reading the reviews, than the random 2 lines from Jennifer L.
Dude...I couldn't agree with you more. The anonymity of Yelp really brings out the worst in people. Sometimes, I feel like it is a competition to see who can post the most creativly negative reviews.
For some reason, I have not found that the Urbanspoon community doesn't have the same rage problem that they Yelpers do. Maybe because that is JUST foodies, instead of people that review their nail place and mechanic on the same website as restaurants.
It's like the Gygees ring of food writing.
I agree with you completely! The entire premise of Farm 255 is that they use only what is local and in-season. Their chefs must rise to a much higher level of creativity, because they cannot just dream up a dish with morels and swordfish at midnight and have it on the truck the next morning (to paraphrase Olivia, the GM of Farm, who spoke at Athens' Green Life Expo this past Saturday). True gems like Farm 255 will often go unappreciated by those who cannot understand truly amazing food, with a mission.
i really enjoy your writing type, very attractive.
don't give up and keep posting seeing that it simply just worth to look through it,
looking forward to look at a whole lot more of your own stories, cheers ;)
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