people that YELP are scumbags

Yeah... I had no idea about this dark underbelly side of Yelp. I always thought it was just a good place to get restaurant reviews :/

― Mordy, Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:08 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah i just use it to find restaurants nearby

haha just saw that rottenneighbor thing posted upthread

spent about 2 minutes looking around and decided I probably wasn't gonna find anything better than this

okay re the cult shit, i wrote a handful of reviews on the l.a. yelp page awhile back and this yelp rep kept writing me over and over again, and these are the messages that remained in my inbox (i wrote reviews using the "face is everything" guide to the internet):

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I writing you mainly because I have this kind of awesome new job for a company you may have heard of. It's called Yelp. I have only had this job for two weeks. But it's a nice one. And my job is essentially to make sure the best writers/people are the ones who are active and happy and all that jazz.

So yeah. Basically this is just a note to say: you are one of the best writers in LA right now. I am happy you are writing. Please keep doing so. But if you choose to come out from the shadows, it would be cool to actually meet you at a happy hour or something! Bring a friend, bring your girlfriend (or boyfriend, if you are a lady, or a boy who likes boys) or just bring yourself...but they are generally fun.

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I just read one of your reviews that would have been perfect for the Review of the Day, but there are a lot of things that go into the ROTD picks, and its some weird algorithm that is sometimes full of shit, but I'm pretty sure that one of the factors is having a real photo (don't tell anyone that info came from me. But yeah.) So great writers like yourself will never find themselves on the front page.

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I wanted to let you know that you have been nominated for Elite status! I would love to pass on the nomination to HQ for approval, but one of the requirements is that you use your real first name and a pic. It'd be cool to put some actual elite yelpers in the Elite squad. Plus, you get a hoodie! Ha. No, but really. A HOODIE.

I don't get it...who was sending you those messages? where did you write your reviews originally?

The sentient YELP system was sending those messages.

i feel like that's a commonality with a lot of big not-quite-message-board not-quite-social-network "community" sites actually...

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Tuesday, February 24, 2009 6:56 PM

FAP?

...

ps the real problem with protection rackets is they don't scale, though I guess being able to put all but your top local goons in a call center in Manila is "progress." yay internets!

Wow, those emails are frightening. "Haha. If you tell us your real name you'll get a free hoodie. Haha. Isn't that great? A hoodie. Just tell us your real name. Haha. Tell us your real name. I'm not fucking kidding. What's your real name?"

yeah it was really weird. i felt like i was being roped into something and after awhile i decided my gut feeling was right and i bailed.

I'd have bailed on the guy just for the typos in his corporate email. LURN TO SPEL YOU FULE.

okay is there a non-creepy, non-corrupt yelp-type-site out there? cause the basic idea behind the site isn't horrible

That is a pretty weird thing going on with omar...

A friend of mine started the site just over 5 years ago and I helped him out writing reviews (I think I have written like 50 reviews a year).

I don't think the site is much different than ILX imo. There are some serious weirdos who you would never want to be in the same zip code with and then there are some pretty cool people too.

I have never got a hoodie though, not that I would wear it. I don't go to the parties either. I treat it as a handy restaurant review site that you can filter people's reviews who you think are knowledgable or share the same tastes as you.

Oh and as Alex in SF was referring to about the East Bay Express... it's a pretty horrible stab at journalism... you can usually count on no named sources which is what they center most of their provocative expose's around.

(i wrote reviews using the "face is everything" guide to the internet)

<3

^__^

oh and the rep who was writing me was writing me more often than that, i felt like she was trying to flirt with me in order to get me to put a photo up and become an "elite". i dunno, i think the site was started like any other but it's kinda turned a little lame. at least the l.a. version of the site. i'll still use it as a reference, natch.

yeah that's weird that they wouldn't respect your anonymity. if you want to PM the name of the person I can fwd to my bro as an FYI.

as a restaurant directory yelp is great but as a place to read reviews it mostly just makes me think that much higher of frank bruni

like im all for the democratization of publishing and criticism or whatever but for the most part there are good reasons why jonathan gold is winning pulitzers and getting published and mott_the_hoople420 is not

nah it's cool i don't want to get anyone into hot water. i think l.a. yelp in general seems to have a very O_O aspect that isn't specific to one person tbh, if the message boards are any indication. sf seems more sane (at least it seemed so when i was browsing around there before my recent trip).

SF Yelp is reasonably useful as long as you don't get into reading negative reviews (or maybe any reviews.) If you do that it just makes you think 50% of the population is crazy as fuck.

Yelp would be a lot more useful if reviews were multiple-choice.

okay is there a non-creepy, non-corrupt yelp-type-site out there? cause the basic idea behind the site isn't horrible

I don't believe a single site can really be helpful. At least for restaurants, I just Google on the name and quickly paw through the Yelp/CitySearch freaks and Chowhound snobs that show up in the results. Usually the best experiences I have are with places that have the most polarizing results ("ugh! terrible place with spicy food and no vegan menu" "brilliant dishs that you'll never find elsewhere - best meal of my life!")

Pizzeria Delfina strikes back.

http://www.7x7.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_w275/images/delfinatee.jpg

man i dont mean to keep bumping this thread but every time i go on yelp my blood pressure goes thru the roof, people in this world are SO STUPID, especially people who live in cities and have access to the internet, i would be willing to make everyone illiterate, forever, if it meant that no one ever wrote or read a yelp review ever again

btw i am now of the opinion that youtube comment discourse is of an order of magnitude more intelligent than yelp review discourse

fucking yelp

ohhhkay i guess i link this one again here too:

http://alexbalk.tumblr.com/post/85865391/fuck-it-it-sounds-like-its-worth-a-trip-to-brooklyn

NOTE: the tumblr author is ridiculing the yelper, not the person complaining so don't get all bitchy at my friend fyi. but seriously who the hell thinks you can call in a take out order and then just take a table!

and it makes me even more annoyed that there is like a THING, like, A YELP CLUB, and that its like a CULTURE, like people MAKE IT THEIR BUSINESS to write terrible reviews of restaurants on a website, that they dont even get paid for, and even worse, there is apparently AN AUDIENCE for these peoples bizarre ramblings, i am mad, and im not, im not going to take it anymore

and i am like a dude who makes it his business to not get annoyed at people being stupid, but

i'm beginning to think the best places can be easily discovered by sifting through all the three/three and a half star reviews on yelp

people who yelp are fucking CRAZY, even by the standards of loser internet geeks, because these losers happen to double as social climbing party dbags.

Take Sides: YELP & /b/

/b/ is actually sort of lolzy sometimes

/b/ for all time. rather read the demented msg posts of ppl who google for anime roboporn than about dbags eating

yelp reviews of the day are AMAZING

----

I wanted to go to Grace during DineLA, despite the absence of a vegetarian prix fixe option. The woman on the phone assured me that the chef would accommodate my needs, so I was excited to try whatever he'd be whipping up for me. I mean, come on, that shit kinda made me feel special already.

For my appetizer, I had the roasted beet salad with grilled radicchio, arugula, goat cheese, pistachios, and onion marmalade, which was wonderful. The beets were sweet and delicate, and the onion marmalade and pistachios gave the salad an interesting and unique flavor. It's probably the second best beet salad I've ever had (after the one at the Little Door).

My second course was the grilled herbed tofu with confit tomatoes, balsamic eggplant, and preserved lemon spinach. I wasn't that impressed with the tofu and thought it could've been seasoned a bit more. The inside of the tofu tasted like it came straight out of the plastic tub. I did enjoy the vegetables though--especially the balsamic eggplant.

The best part of the meal, Sarah Beth and I agreed, was the sticky toffee pudding with bruleed bananas, toffee sauce, and hazelnut gelato. SWEET FUCKING JESUS was that shit amazing. It was so incredibly rich and dense! Now if only I could find a sugar daddy like that. (Huh? What do you mean Yelp is not a dating site?)

The service was also great and the atmosphere was inviting. I just hope they start offering more vegetarian dishes. Even if they don't, I can just order the sticky toffee pudding for my appetizer and two for my main course. Gimme gimme gimme.

service was awesome, and the wings and sliders were amazing. they have this sauce that came with the sliders that is about as addictive as crack. the recipe is a secret so hopefully they bottle that and sell it.. at swap meets.. using a dude with a headset. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. don't quote me on that.. it's still in development.

point: go here and try it.. everything was great and your night comes with a free head ramming into a door frame compliments of simon and soju.

they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery. they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery.they could call it "ruby table's crack sauce," and then use some exploitative imagery.

"Hi, I know you're a steak joint, but will you make me a special vegetarian meal?? I POST TO YELP KTHX."

The best part of the meal, Sarah Beth and I agreed x °°

My first trip to the Griddle:

Saturday morning, 11:15 AM. Quoted 15-20 minute wait. Not too shabby, and was right on the money.

My first reaction to the menu: "Holy crap, there are a lot of pancakes."

My first reaction to viewing the massive pancakes flying past my head and on to other tables: "Oh my Jesus."

My first decision: order Mom's French Toast. With a side of Nutella (since I was almost positive the Stuffed French Toast would be too much for lil' old chocoholic me...)

My first reaction to tasting the French Toast, with an ice cream scoop-size of butter on top: "Oh my Jesus."

My next decision will not be an easy one:
a) should I wait until I burned off the million calories to return to this breakfast haven?
b) should I order pancakes next time?
c) Or stick with the delish French Toast?
d) Or venture to the lunch side of the menu, which looks equally delicious as the breakfast?

It will take multiple, subsequent trips to determine the best course of action.

oh my jesus

btw the griddle sucks

have these people lived in basements their whole lives and have just discovered a) restuarants and b) the internets

yeah the griddle is horrible

It will take multiple, subsequent trips to determine the best course of action

e) kill self. take sarah beth with u

Cold winter night sitting in front of a warm fire, night cap in hand and feeling like a bazillion bucks.

I heart Shutters to death.

It's exactly what I want my dream house to look like. Soft, cozy,luxe and lovely. I'm not sure how they do it. But the place has immaculate lighting. Everyone looked so beautiful...trust me, it wasn't just the drinks talking.

This is surely not a place appropriate for a drunk "WOO HOO!!!" shouted from the top of your lungs. I also would not recommend ordering an Adios Mother F'R while you're at it. Don't get me wrong, I like both. But you know when in Rome....

"You know I was here for my last birthday," I said.
"Why are you whispering?" He whispered
"Am I?" Still whispering
"Ha Ha. yeah." He whispered
"Oh sorry. I just feel like I should be whispering." I whispered
"Why ? Is it a secret, Baby?" He whispered

"Uhm..I AIN'T YOUR BABY!" I shouted.

He didn't lose all cred. It's just that he used his "Baby" card waaaaay too early.

My glass of Pinot Noir (Kim Crawford) ALMOST slipped out of hand from shock. That would've been horrible, right?

that description of the griddle makes it sound like nannerpuss

Mexican Cuisine........Our first mother -daughter Saturday date for 2009!!
Camille picked up the place. As usual she relied on the reviews of our famous Yelpers and we were not disappointed!! With 4 and 5 stars you can't lose.

We took the # 7 train to 46th St/Bliss station and walked 5 minutes to reach this well reviewed (54times) restaurant. The corner place was small (26 seats) but tastefully decorated with a huge mirror on one side and a gigantic picture of a big apple on the other brick side wall. There are a couple of hanging lights .. very cozy. and simple. A small bar is in one corner. Each table has tea lights and they have one waiter. The place was half full or was it half empty when we arrived. but a couple of people
came in right after..

As soon as we were seated I ordered the Guacamole while browsing over the menu. It was delicious!! We also had the Ceviche De Veracruz...Diced Sea scallops with fresh Lime juice, diced Red Onion, tomatoes,Jalapenos ,Avocado,Cucumber,Cilantro and drenched in olive oil .Really good. We finished everything. Camille ordered their special Skirt Steak Mole with rice and beans and I had the Chuleta de Puerco -Grilled PorkChop with Caramelized onions, Yellow rice, Black beans and Tortillas.

The origin of these unique Mexican dishes is obscure, but it's probably a very good guess that they are of mestizo (Spanish-Amerindian) inspiration, created out of he need to make a filling meal from whatever could be afforded and kept on hand.... tortillas, beans, rice, noodles..
Like her music, Mexico's food is sometimes hot, sometimes sweet, sometimes a blending of both; but it is never dull.

Although we were both full....and had no more space for a Postre (dessert) we capped our meal with an order of Pastel de Tres Leches . A fitting finale for an exciting cuisine.

Camille won't stop talking about it on our way home...I have to shut her up. I stopped by this Mexican grocery and bought a bottle of Mole....I have to try it home...

Opps...something very important that I inadvertently missed.....The Prices are .......... VERY AFFORDABLE!!! For all that we had.....The bill came uip to $ 42.00 plus tip of course....

^^^ i want to know what makes that "review of the day" other than the fact that she spends the first 3rd sucking up to yelp

tastefully decorated with a huge mirror on one side and a gigantic picture of a big apple on the other brick side wall.