Do you y'all make decisions on buying something based on online reviews?

Took my son out for lunch on Tuesday for some Mexican food, specifically looked for a place in Oak Cliff for after lunch was going to show him the houses we lived in and places we hung out at.
After Googling Mexican restaurants in Oak Cliff I chose Alebrijes Cafe on Clarendon for it had a 4.9 star rating from 104 people.

We pulled into the parking lot at noon and it was a ghost town, only one car there, they were open because I called before we headed that way.
Last time I went to a place with great reviews and a empty parking lot it was No Bueno and I was not going to go down that road again.
Headed for Jefferson Blvd and pulled into El Ranchito's parking lot which was fairly full, ate there and it was No Bueno big time

Is there a reliable source online that is pretty accurate, Google has been a bust for me lately.

I don't read reviews on restaurants really. Everyone's tastes are different so what someone else doesn't like, I might think it tastes great. I more so read them for service reviews. I always filter by 1-2 star reviews and read those. Several of those you can tell they just have an axe to grind but a lot of them are honest reviews and they just had a horrible time.

I bet you're now wondering had you went to Alebrijes Cafe had it been really good

a lot of people base their eating out on google reviews, way more than I would have ever expected. We opened up our BBQ trailer 18 months ago and we get people all the time that say they stopped by just based on google. I never would have thought it made that big of a difference before we started.

I use Google and Amazon all the time, like KRoyal said you have to sort out the reviews. I throw out any reviews that are tagged as part of a promotion or the like. As far as food goes Yelp tends to be more accurate.

If you don't have ownership of your Google listing you should.

It definitely does. My father in law just opened a bbq trailer up here in Denison. I'm the unpaid CEO as he calls me .

I've been doing all his marketing, curbside online ordering, website, graphics, and google account. We've seen a huge uptick since opening. I have it tied to my google analytics account and get a monthly report. We have around 300% growth from month to month since opening of people asking for directions, phone calls, website visits all from his google business profile. Reviews have rolled in, but most go to FB to do the reviews instead of google, wish they'd put them on google as I think it helps a lot more.

I'd say probably 90% of people use google to find restaurants, maybe even higher.

I disagree about yelp...99% of those posting are unrealistic expectation karens. Hate that app.
Reviews are simply opinions....everyone has one and 50% are useless.

I am skeptical of reviews (and elections) and only use them as a guideline. There is no way to filter out the genuine reviews.

Google reviews is a joke. A friend of mine started a business, and one of our members here made a great website for him. He also controls his Google reviews. I can assure you he had 15 good reviews before he had his first customer. You can also turn on a setting that puts you at the top of the search list. Every phone call you get during that time that comes from them touching your phone number in that top listing cost the owner $50 if you land the customer or not. He says it works and he turns it on if he sees a gap in his schedule he wants filled.

Bottom line it’s all a lie. Fortunately he has a solid business and great ethics. How many crappy business owners are also taking this route?

If I’m in an unfamiliar area I do tend to lean towards reviews, but I take them all with a grain of salt

Last year while in SA, I read a 1 star review for a pub from some Cali Karen saying the “burgers were too greasy”. When I walked in and sat at the bar, it was a very local dive type place, they said they’d never seen me before and asked what brought me in. I told them about the review, followed by, “so where’s this burger at??” 😆

The reviews can be good entertainment and I treat them as such

But also to your point, especially having grown up in south Texas where the Mexican restaurants are plentiful, NEVER trust an empty parking lot at a Mexican joint

Look for work vehicles

Yep, you nailed it



I do not trust Yelp either.

Lets try a THF recommendation

Taking my son out to lunch again today, need a recommendation on where to go for good Home Cooking like Chicken Fried Steak and such.
Need a location from Lewisville to Denton, appreciate the help!

We've eaten at Rooster's Road House in Denton a couple times and have enjoyed it. I get the brisket nachos

and look for mexicans

I don’t usually use online reviews for restaurants. Too many weirdos out there with an axe to grind or whatever. Google reviews are sketchy. Easily manipulated and the fact someone would review a restaurant on google is a red flag for me on their opinion to start with.

If it’s a true restaurant review (like a travel website or newspaper or something) that holds a little more weight and can provide insight, but it’s not the determining factor. If I’m traveling and several websites include the same couple places on their “best restaurants in town” lists, I’ll trust those a little more.

For non-food related stuff, Amazon reviews are a decent place to look once you get a feel for how to filter through them, or if you only look for specific things you’re concerned about.

For example, if I’m looking for a new fishing rod for a specific technique, I’ll compare reviews from a couple different websites after reading the manufacturer’s description of the rod. I fish out of my kayak primarily, so I’m looking for different things than a guy with a bass boat. If I’m looking for a jerk bait rod, length of the handle is more of a concern for me than if I was standing on the deck of a bass boat because I don’t have the space to properly use the rod sitting on my kayak, so I’ll look for reviews that mention something about the rod handle and whether it affects the action of the rod for that technique.

Basically, I use reviews from writers testing a product and then look at consumer reviews to get a clearer picture of what I’m trying to achieve. This is more difficult for restaurants because people are weird about food and have different tastes.

Yes I do, but not on things that are subjective, like taste... I ate at this restaurant in Taos, mainly because this guy talked about how good it was and he wanted to try everything on the menu, I went there and it was not that great. But something like AirBnB, reviews are important, lots of questions you might have are in those reviews.

It is important to read the reviews and see what people are saying, I read the bad reviews, then I read what else that person has said on other reviews, some people just like to bitch all the time.

They usually drive work vehicles

I always read reviews and am looking more for trends than anything else. If they have 15 bad reviews beyond nit picky stuff I wont go there. I am doing this with campgrounds and laundrymats today around Neana.

Just my .02 cents. Yelp and Google and Amazon reviews can all be manipulated if the seller wants to spend the money to make it happen. I have had good luck with TripAdvisor. Especially on restaurant reviews. Harder to manipulate reviews on that app, and I've found that folks traveling and comparing different places to eat against each other do a better job than "locals" who may not know any better.

Yes, I do and I look at Yelp more than Google...not so much around where I live but more new places I am.

I always trust reviews and advice from people I do not know and have no experiences with - always.

This theory does NOT work for Chinese food. Chinese folks packed in a Chinese restaurant means you should turn your gringo [censored] around and find some Americanized grub.

I will look at reviews. Sometimes by reading them, you can tell what type of person you’re dealing with.

I think I pay more attention to pictures of the food.

Roosters is good stuff. We eat there quite a bit.