Ever tried to search for a restaurant by name to see what the Internet thinks about it? I have, and it’s completely annoying and time-consuming due to certain restaurant websites. What these sites do is get every restaurant from the Yellow Pages or something and create an page for it, then ask site viewers to submit reviews and ratings for those restaurants.
The result? Massive websites without any content. That means if you do a search, the results come up with entries from these sites, but when you click through, there is no information there!
Hugely annoying.
What I found, eventually, was that the excellent Tamarind Thai restaurant in Camberwell has closed. Alas, alas.
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May 14, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Robert Hruzek
I’m with you on this one, Markk! Very aggravating, because you have to sift through a huge amount of chaff to find an actual content-worthy site!
Hey, congrats on the new home! Having just been through that recently, I feel for ya, man!
May 14, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Ben
yeah.. well.. i yourrestaurants.com.au is good.. but it looks like ninemsn owns it.
damn.
sometimes a review of a restaurant is silly though given individual tastes..
i like yourrestaurants cos i can look at the cuisines they offer, where it is, sometimes a picture. that way i know if it’s at least a little classy, as opposed to some poorly furnished place.
then, when i want, i just go there, and try it out. that’s the fun of restaurants.. most of the time you won’t get 3 amazing courses, but rather 1 or 2 really good ones and others that let you down, but even if you don’t have a great meal i think the company more than makes up for it, cos if it’s a bad experience at least you have someone to laugh about it with!
or you could just go by word of mouth..
i sometimes like being the first one i know of to go to a certain restaurant. there’s an exploration thing that floats my boat. haha
ben
May 15, 2007 at 8:43 am
themolk
Could not agree more - a website is supposed to COMMUNICATE stuff… I have found very few restaurants that take their websites seriously enough to keep it updated, etc. It is extremely frustrating…
…Mind you, I also find it frustrating the number of commercial websites that don’t have a “mobile” or “wap” version for those of us that ‘need’ to be connected from everywhere… just frustrating…
May 15, 2007 at 4:32 pm
markk
Your restaurants eh? Hmm … *does search for ‘tusk’* http://yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/tusk/
Your restaurant does have good pictures, plus pricing info, opening hours etc, so it’s not exactly useless. However it doesn’t have any reviews, so it’s impossible to know if anyone likes it - and in the end, that’s what most of us want to know! A restaurant site without reviews is like a restaurant without food IMO.
This type of approach is good for SEO but not for end users, I find.
Hmm, I’ve never needed a mobile or wap version of a site, so can’t comment on that one.
May 15, 2007 at 4:36 pm
markk
Thanks, Robert! It’s great to be here in my own space, away from the clamouring voices of Wordpress.com and its 900,000 children.
It’s a bit like moving from a unit with two flatmates into a large house with a huge yard all to yourself. Yep, that’s it.
May 15, 2007 at 8:36 pm
themolk
I still have dreams of getting my own restaurant review blog/portal up and running - caesarsalad.com.
The premise is simple: Just about every restaurant & cafe serve a caesar salad, so in doing the review (which anyone can submit) one person MUST order the caesar and answer a specific set of questions. This becomes the common thread/benchmark by which all reviews are compared. Everything else is considered (price, ambience, menu selection, location, parking, amenities, etc), but at the review’s core is the caesar, and how it was. This way, a lot of people can be involved, but there is still a hint of consistency throughout the reviews… even allowing for multiple reviews from the same or different people. One rule - no caesar, no review. Could be tough on the “themed” or cuisine specific (e.g. thai, chinese) restaurants, but until they lift their game and produce… they don’t make the cut.
BTW - this whole disclosure - (c) 2005 themolks productions - so don’t go stealing it (yes, I’ve had this idea this long)…
May 15, 2007 at 9:28 pm
markk
Better not put that idea out on the internet, then
Five Word Caesar Reviews, anyone?