Archive for restaurant reviews
August 13, 2006 at 7:18 pm
· Filed under article, customer feedback, free, internet, restaurant reviews, web site
excerpt:
“Chowhound.com, a popular online message board devoted to those in search of good food and drink, has banned mentions of a Cambridge restaurant from its site.
Chowhound alleges it was receiving a suspicious number of rave reviews of the 4-month-old Conundrum in Harvard Square, many of them coming from the same computer connection.
“We’ve had a blitz of postings with rapturous praise for Conundrum from many, many posters, all of whom are utter newcomers to the site, and our users have been complaining that it seems like we might be getting played,” Chowhound co-founder Jim Leff said. “I’m not trying to do anything but run an honest food discussion, and it’s my job to defend that discussion when we feel like it’s being taken advantage of.”
source: “Chowhound: Rave reviews’ smell suspect” by Donna Goodison (Boston Herald, Aug.12, 2006)
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August 1, 2006 at 8:56 am
· Filed under article, food, free, internet, menus, restaurant reviews
excerpt:
“In the category of large-scale, single-site foodservice enterprises at business and industry venues, Google’s extravagant employee dining program arguably is second to none.
In terms of subsidized cost per meal and the breadth of its chef-driven menus, Google’s dining operation appears to surpass even the most generous of corporate kitchens, except perhaps for some exclusive executive dining rooms.
The company’s culinary offerings stand out even in comparison to other Silicon Valley firms famous for lavishing perks on employees…”
source: “Google’s gourmet giveaways dispel no-free-lunch axiom” by John Anderson (Nation’s Restaurant News, Jul.31,2006) [free registration req.]
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July 18, 2006 at 9:32 am
· Filed under article, restaurant reviews, seating
excerpt:
“Sanae Ehrlich was more than happy to let the waiter crawl into her bed. After all, the guy she already had in her bed was just a friend. Of course, this wasn’t the lifestyle that she envisioned growing up in Scarsdale. But she’s a New Yorker now, and she was just doing what New Yorkers are doing
Eating dinner on the roof of a warehouse, on top of a Tempur-Pedic mattress.
…The restaurant, not surprisingly, is called BED NY, and it occupies two floors of a warehouse in Chelsea. There are places with similar concepts, but BED opened first (in Miami) — and BED tucks you in on the roof, adding new meaning to “soft summer nights.”
source: “Bed spread: dining upon a mattress” by Mitch Broder (Journal News, Jun.14,2006)
link: Bed Restaurants
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July 14, 2006 at 2:13 pm
· Filed under article, budget dining, food, ordering, pricing, restaurant reviews
excerpt:
“You don’t buy a car without taking it for a spin, a pair of pants without testing the fit. But when it comes to a meal in a fancy restaurant, which can cost a lot more than slacks, you have to commit to many bites, minutes and dollars without any advance taste of how well it will suit you.
Except, that is, when you don’t.
…In the lounge a visitor can get a snapshot of what a chef can do and what a restaurant can be without having to pledge fidelity to the tune of two and a half hours and $200.”
source: “Trying Out Top Restaurants but Without the Usual Fuss” by Frank Bruni (New York Times, Jul.12,2006)
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June 22, 2006 at 11:01 am
· Filed under article, blog, customer feedback, food, internet, managers, restaurant reviews, web site
excerpt:
"When Nell Ingerman recently discovered that her favorite neighborhood restaurant — a Mexican place in Manhattan called Baby Bo's Cantina — had boosted prices and swapped enchiladas for wild salmon, she was outraged. She planned to collect complaints and present them to the manager.
But she didn't have to. The restaurant's owner, Bo Quijano, emailed her and promised to bring the old menu back. He'd read a message she'd posted on a popular foodie Internet Web site called Chowhound.com. He even posted an apology, confessing that in a good-faith effort to improve the menu, "I simply got carried away."
To the chagrin of some restaurants and professional food critics, a lot of the most influential — and opinionated — advice on where to eat these days comes from Web sites and blogs…"
source: "Laptop Critics:Where the Web's Foodies Dish" by Steve Stecklow (Wall Street Journal, Jun.17,2006)
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May 7, 2006 at 3:22 am
· Filed under free, restaurant reviews, software
excerpt:
"Restaurant Savant (RS) is specifically designed to hold restaurant reviews. It’s very powerful (it can hold 64 trillion reviews!) yet it's simple to use. Here's how it works; you gather reviews (from sites such as Chowhounds.com, TV, Radio, Newspaper etc.) and drag and drop them into RS.
When you want to go out to eat, have RS list all restaurants for the area/neighborhood you'll be visiting. If you want to keep your restaurant list in the car, you can print your reviews several different ways. Many printing formats are setup to fit a three-ring binder.
If you want to meet a friend for lunch, just click one button, and RS will gather all the info you've entered about the Restaurant (including the driving directions) and email it to your friend. Use Restaurant Savant to plan your trip. This is a great way to organize all the restaurants you've heard about and want to visit on your trip. Now you can print a book or even store them on your iPod"
link: Restaurant Savant created by Digital Fried Chicken
There are many restaurants that we hear about, but may forget when it comes time to make a choice. This free program provides an organized way to record those restaurants, as well as restaurants that you have already visited. Carrying your own personal Zagat's guide in print or on your IPod can help answer that age-old question: "Where do you want to eat?"
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May 4, 2006 at 8:26 pm
· Filed under article, perspectives, restaurant reviews
Here are two recent articles inside the life of restaurant critics:
excerpt:
"For 13 years, I've been getting paid to eat in restaurants – regularly and often. A dream come true, you might say. Well, yes, and then again, no. A friend once asked what the worst thing about my job was, and I answered, "Eating out." The best thing: Eating out. It's a paradox. Tasting another bite of overcooked tuna, another spoonful of sludgy pumpkin soup, another leaden bit of deep-fried calamari can feel like attaching a ball and chain to my tongue. Yet as soon as one taste, one memory wears off, I'm up for another."
source: "The Secret Life of a Restaurant Critic" by Allison Arnett (Boston Globe, Oct.9,2005)
excerpt:
"After nearly 20 years on the job, it's time for a chat. Beginning today, we can talk daily on my blog, "Between Meals,'' on SFGate.com.
I eat out every night and am immersed in food during the day at The Chronicle, so a lot of information passes through my brain.
However, because I can only write a Chronicle Magazine restaurant review and a 96 Hours restaurant update every week, I haven't been able to share a lot of what I've learned — until now."
source: "Critic's blog gets up close, personal" by Michael Bauer (San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 2006)
Restaurant critic blogs:
Michael Bauer (San Francisco Chronicle)
Frank Bruni (New York Times)
Howard Seftel (Arizona Republic)
Happy Eating.
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April 28, 2006 at 5:30 pm
· Filed under resource, restaurant reviews
Many web sites specialize on reviewing restaurants for a specific cuisine (e.g. burrito), feature (e.g. pet-friendly), or region (e.g. JatBar). These sites can sometimes be more helpful than general review sites because of their focus and experience. You might find tips and advice on these sites not found elsewhere.
Here are some examples:
Burritos:
Burrito Eater
Burritophile
Sushi:
The Sushi World Guide
Vegatarian:
Vegetarian-Restaurants.net
Kosher:
KosherDine
Halal:
Zabihah
Pet-Friendly:
Dog-Friendly Outdoor Restaurant Guide
Local Eateries Along Highways:
Road Food
Local Restaurants:
JatBar (SF/Bay Area)
You have a specialty restaurant review site that you would like to recommend? Let us know here or in our forums.
p.s.: check out the restaurant review search engines made with Rollyo.com on the right side under "Tools". You can use Rollyo.com to make your own restaurant review search engine for your city using local papers, weeklies, blogs, and web sites.
Happy Eating.
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April 24, 2006 at 9:47 pm
· Filed under resource, restaurant reviews
Here are some popular restaurant review sites that allow people to post about their dining experiences. Some sites cover cities all over the country, and some cover only local areas:
nationwide:
Citysearch.com
Yelp.com
Dine.com
We8there.com
Tribe.net (choose "restaurant" under "local favorites", ex. SFBay)
Chefmoz.org
Zagat.com (subscription-based)
and more…
local (examples of restaurant review sites only covering the SF Bay Area):
Sfsurvey.com
Jatbar.com
Which sites do you use on a regular basis to read and/or post about restaurants? Feel free to include discussion forums or blogs too. Let us know here or in our forums.
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