For instance, a local Brazilian-style steakhouse/churrascarias gets a ONE STAR rating from someone for being salty. Um hello, churrascaria BBQ is salty, they serve a round of slices off the meat and go back and salt the skewer and back on the BBQ it goes. Therefore the restaurant is actually DINGED for doing what it's supposed to be doing by the ONE STAR moron that doesn't understand the cuisine.
Another example is one of my local seafood faves, a boiled lobster/shrimp/crawdad place which is completely sold out to max capacity all the time. You don't need stars to know how this place rates when you see 50 people standing in front of the door or the line completely down the block 15 minutes before it opens. Literally upon opening, the people at the end of the line that don't get seated already have a 1-2 hour wait.
Ask yourself, how does a place that wildly popular rate lower than the other nearby place that sucks in comparison?
Because people rate it ZERO or ONE star because they show up at 8PM and it's booked solid until closing, tons of similar reviews.
Really? NO STARS just because you couldn't sit and stuff your face when you also post in the review it's your favorite place?
One local steak house which has incredible food got a ONE STAR ding because the bathroom was outside the restaurant! The place was in the ground floor of a main street shopping district, every restaurant and business shared the same big bathroom, it's covered, inside the building, why is this a huge ding? Many businesses in our downtown area have common restrooms, this is nothing new, what's the big deal?
Have I mentioned people are stupid?
What's the purpose of trashing fine eating establishments with such idiotic criteria?
Now here's my fave, trashing places that have too much service! I can understand trashing places with waiting staff that never show again, but trashing them because they show up too much?
OK, maybe too much of a good thing gets annoying, but I'll take it over a missing waiter any day of the week.
My recommendation with reviews is skip past the stars, read the general opinions, discard the obvious lunatic fringe postings, and take a chance if they sound good enough, otherwise the loons may make you miss a fantastic experience.
If I walk up to a new place and it's empty during dinner time, that's a better clue it blows than a review.
