FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Gary Munitz
(02) 9240 8131 / 0410 616 499
gary@menulog.com.au
Beware Fake Restaurant Reviews
Restaurant Wars Go Online—And Get Dirty
SYDNEY, 22 September, 2009—Consumers go online before buying, now more than ever. And
increasingly, they go online before dining out or ordering home delivery as well. Restaurant reviews
were once the exclusive domain of a small group of professional critics, who were feared and fawned
over by restaurateurs the world over. A five-star rating in a prominent guide could mean incredible
success, while a few less stars could be devastating. In the online realm, those reviews are written
primarily by regular restaurant-goers. But according to Gary Munitz, General Manager of
Menulog.com.au, Australia’s most comprehensive dining guide, it’s important to be aware that some of
those online reviews may be fake.
“Online dining guides can be very useful, and checking the reviews ahead of time can be a wonderful
way to make sure that your restaurant experience is a good one. But it’s best to be aware of the
potential for restaurants going online to trash their competitors,” said Munitz. “At Menulog, we have an
extensive vetting system to keep the reviews as accurate as possible. As restaurants get more web-
savvy, we have had to step up our efforts in quality control, especially in 2009.”
Consumer-driven online guides are especially important to lesser-known restaurants which seldom get
the attention of professional critics. Consumer reviews can often be as powerful as traditional critic
reviews. But with so much riding on good reviews, there may be a temptation for a restaurant owner to
pad their own restaurant’s reviews with phony good praise, and to bash their competitors with bogus
tales of rats in the kitchen, rude waiters, and bugs in the salad.
With over 100,000 submitted reviews, Menulog has become an expert in sifting the genuine from the
fake, and has provided 5 simple tips to follow to make sure the reviews you’re reading are the real deal:
1.
Make sure the dining guide has a vetting process. The guide should have standards for
submission and be active in preventing abuse.
2.
If you see a poor review, look to see how many other reviews that individual has written. Did
somebody write a scathing review of a restaurant, but it’s the only one they have ever done?
That may be a red flag.
3.
Look to see how many reviews the restaurant has overall. It’s probably still a good bet to visit a
restaurant that has only one poor review and twenty good ones.
4.
Consider the content of the review itself. If it sounds too outrageous to be true, then it probably
is.
5.
Look at the date of the review. Restaurants frequently change owners and chefs, and a poor
review written a year ago should carry less weight than a poor review written last week.
Menulog’s extensive reviews are among the most reliable in Australia. Besides requiring restaurant
owners to go through a verification process, reviewers with a very high credibility score appear as a
featured review. Also, it’s possible to instantly view all of a particular member’s reviews, and the
restaurateurs themselves are able to reply to reviews, which gives the reader more balanced
information. And lastly, Menulog staff personally reviews every single entry before it goes live.
“Although many review websites don’t take this extra step, Menulog feels that it’s important to make
sure the reviews you are seeing are legitimate, and make a valid and meaningful contribution to the
site,” added Munitz.
About Menulog.com.au
Menulog.com.au is Australia’s largest and most comprehensive ordering site, providing online ordering options for delivery and
pickup from over 700 restaurants throughout Australia. Menulog’s comprehensive dining guide offers consumer reviews, as
well as reviews from reputable critics from multiple sources. Visitors to Menulog can easily view the most popular, and top-
rated venues in each region, and can conduct a quick and easy search to find just the right destination. Membership is free, and
members enjoy great benefits, including the ability to earn valuable reward points, and gain access to exclusive specials.
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