Restaurants choke on web reviews

Krishna Botica

A website that gives Joe Bloggs' view of dining out has come under flak from some restaurants which are pulling out of the service, displeased at being reviewed by amateur food buffs.

A total of 27 restaurants have withdrawn their reviews from the DineOut website, which has 7500 reviews of nearly 3000 restaurants, posted by about 3800 reviewers.

White, at Auckland's Hilton Hotel, pulled out about a year ago despite having consistently good reviews because it wanted only professional reviewers to review it.

Another unnamed restaurant said the forum was "ridiculous and damaging to any restaurant who gets a bad review" and described some contributors' comments as "bordering on stupidity".

The comments upset regular DineOut reviewers. Website founder Tracey Butler said "Joe Public" often had a different dining experience to professional reviewers.

"[Reviewers] get the best table, best staff, 110 per cent effort from the kitchen to ensure their meals are perfect and everything is wonderful. But will the restaurant offer the same level of effort for every person that enters their establishment?"

The owner of oft-reviewed Ponsonby restaurant Prego, Krishna Botica, said some people using the site wrote grudge reviews that could damage a business, but they were usually easy to pick out.

"And isn't every customer a reviewer essentially? There may be experts in the field, but the business is based on every single person that sits down at your tables. You shouldn't treat a reviewer differently just because they are a reviewer."

Herald restaurant reviewer Ewan McDonald disputed the tales of reviewers receiving special treatment from restaurants.

"Most of us jealously guard our independence and I doubt very much that many are even known by face. Also, most serious restaurant-owners simply know it's not worth even making the offer."

He said websites filled out by members of the public should be treated with caution because it was impossible to properly vet contributors.

"They should be treated as entertainment, because it is so open to abuse and manipulation. There have been instances of restaurant-owners using it under false identities to promote their businesses, or use their family or friends, and the public doesn't know. I have also seen people sabotage a business or rival. You don't know who is posting."

Ms Butler said all reviews were checked before being posted, but the site refused to remove individual reviews just because they were bad.

"We do not claim to be perfect at catching the 'dodgy' ones but we do our best based on several years' experience of analysing reviews," she said.

"Yes, they could 'flame' their competition, but they would have to be pretty smart about it or it becomes pretty obvious to regular users."

Ms Butler said feedback from many restaurants was favourable.