Chef, writer and TV personality Andrew Zimmern has laid into Yelp, branding the restaurant aggregator completely “useless” if you’re looking for quality places to eat.
In an interview with Business Insider, Zimmern says Yelp drives him "crazy" because of a fundamental "lack of expertise” and poor usability.
“I think Yelp is neither good nor bad for the food industry. I find it useless. If you're aggregating a lack of expertise, then when I plug in ‘best sushi bar in Los Angeles,’ Yelp doesn't help me at all. So, if you are a huge food geek like me that really believes in quality — not expensive food, just quality. Above all other things — quality. If you're into quality, Yelp is not for you.
"I mean Yelp’s not even good for looking up the restaurant’s phone number because you know on the site, they just want you to read their reviews and look at their ads."
If he wants to find the best places to eat, he says, he will look up local top chefs and writers on social media and choose from their top picks.
Recently David Chang, who has been critical of Yelp in the past, declared Yelp the future of restaurant criticism. And we all know how some restaurant owners feel about negative Yelpers, like this guy from Denver who has started a personal war with petty reviewers.
Watch the full Andrew Zimmern interview here. Do you agree with him? Let us know over on our Facebook page.
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