Minnesota’s Andrew Zimmern Goes Off About Yelp [WATCH]
Minnesota's beloved foodie, Andrew Zimmern, went on a steamed rant about how he hates Yelp and what you should be doing instead, to find a good restaurant.
Andrew Zimmern is best known for his Travel Channel show called "Bizarre Foods", but he's also a very trustworthy source for revealing some of the best restaurants around the world, as he's been to most of them!
If you've ever used Yelp, you either love it or hate it. It's a review website for many types of services, but many people use it for restaurant reviews. With millions of reviews all around the country, it's very likely that you'll get a good idea of what a common experience is at a restaurant you're checking out.
Business Insider did a video interview with Andrew recently, and he didn't hold back anything. In Zimmern's opinion, he wants you to stop using Yelp since you can't find out about the quality of the food on the website, only what people feel about the overall place.
What he suggests is to look up a food critic/writer, or even a chef, in the town you are planning to dine in, then visit their Twitter and Instagram accounts and look at where they've visited the last couple weeks. He also says that Yelp doesn't even give you a menu of the restaurant you're reading reviews on, just reviews and a phone number.
I totally agree with him in this case. I am not a fan of Yelp and have found it's full of bad experiences more than anything else. It's good to see those, but I'd also like to read about what's good too. Most restaurants DO have some good things about them and I'd like to know some of those. Sadly around St. Cloud there's mostly chain restaurants and not enough unique, locally owned restaurants to keep a food critic in town. In this case, Yelp might be one of your only options for realistic reviews.
There's great conversation about this rant on Andrew's Facebook page that I found highly entertaining.