How Seriously Should You Take Restaurant Reviews?

A study found that people eye the stars and ratings provided to the restaurants based on their ambience, hospitality and food. About 80% of people have become review centric and choose restaurants as per their reviews and feedback. Ask yourself, how reliable do you feel are the reviews that are posted on various online foods ordering websites about restaurants? Are you in a dilemma in whether you can trust strangers posting online reviews? Well if you are as much confused then buckle up and read through the lines:

Why do people leave restaurant reviews?

Here there are three schools of thoughts that judge the authenticity of any Indian restaurant in Singapore. The first one being the altruistic people, such folks who are highly impressed by the hospitality shown by the restaurant staff, they pen down their experiences to provide valuable feedback. They give honest reviews that are an outcome of good intentions. 

The second one is the aspiring influencers, who leave reviews for their good. In certain scenarios, they are called up by the restaurants to taste their food and provide them with a positive review! But this does not mean that the reviews are untrue but it paves way for mutuality growth. The restaurant benefits from their reviews and the influencers gain followers based on their authenticity!

The third is the ones who want to show their expertise and provide feedback. Suppose, they eat an Indian spicy dish in Novena and so they pen down their fetish for flavours in regards to leaving it to the people to decide whether it creates a positive or a negative impact. They also offer timely suggestions to the restaurants to better them in certain regards. 

Tips to differentiate between a real and fake review:

So if you are planning to dine in the top Indian restaurant of Singapore then how do you make a firm choice of foods? Here you can go with the most recommended dishes. Indeed, the restaurant might not be able to specialise in all the dishes that it makes but they can certainly be the best in curetting at least 3 to 4 dishes, so go through the reviews and fish out such dishes.

Secondly, you can look for overly black and white reviews while choosing the famous Indian cuisine in Singapore. Look for reviews that highlight both the positive and negative of the restaurant. If you find all good or all bad reviews then consider it to be a red flag!

What can you tell from the restaurant’s response to a negative review?

If the restaurant is courteous in its reply and finds out the review to be a fake one then they will simply reply with ‘this review is suspicious and subject to removal by the moderators’. If you find the restaurant replying to a negative review in the form of a personal attack to the reviewer then steer clear of such places. 

The bottom line: The internet might prove to be both boon and bane in regards to selecting a restaurant based on its reviews. Always remember not to judge a book by its cover and try to ask out your friends and seek their honest opinions to be on the safe side!