What NOT to eat on a road trip

[Alps]

We have a dog who loves to eat cat food and cats who like dog food. I think they have some species identity crises going on.

That's normal. Each trying to make the other jealous. If you had kids, you would have noticed a point when each only would want what the other has. (reliving "fond" memories of me and my sister)

[hbelkins]

Wet (canned) cat food has a higher fat content and dogs seem to like that.

[ZLoth]

Everyone is different, of course. My recommendations to avoid on a road trip:
* Denny's
* Country Fried Streak Breakfast. Too saucy.

Of course, if you are traveling, I would recommend using Yelp to find some local places and avoid the food chains.

[Scott5114]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

[jeffandnicole]

We have a dog who loves to eat cat food and cats who like dog food. I think they have some species identity crises going on.

That's normal. Each trying to make the other jealous. If you had kids, you would have noticed a point when each only would want what the other has. (reliving "fond" memories of me and my sister)

Breaking news: Steve plays with Barbies.

[hbelkins]

Is it wrong that I actually want to eat a bunch of sugar-free Gummy Bears and see what happens?

[NE2]

Is it wrong that I actually want to eat a bunch of sugar-free Gummy Bears and see what happens?

No. Pooing is cool. So is drug experimentation.

[NJRoadfan]

Is it wrong that I actually want to eat a bunch of sugar-free Gummy Bears and see what happens?

Its easier to bring them into work as a treat.

[Alps]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

Bullshit, utter bullshit. It's the other way around. Business owners are constantly fighting bad reviews, to the point that the only way to get bad reviews posted is to be certified "Elite" so that your review trumps their complaint. I had to fight this myself, so I know. And I've never seen a bad review posted for a truly good place, so if you see a lot of bad reviews, I'd suggest you're not looking in the right places anyway...

[corco]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

Bullshit, utter bullshit. It's the other way around. Business owners are constantly fighting bad reviews, to the point that the only way to get bad reviews posted is to be certified "Elite" so that your review trumps their complaint. I had to fight this myself, so I know. And I've never seen a bad review posted for a truly good place, so if you see a lot of bad reviews, I'd suggest you're not looking in the right places anyway...

That doesn't pass the smell test either. People sometimes have bad experiences at good places- that's something that will inevitably happen, and the people that post reviews of things online are typically people who are riled up one way or another. Your super frequent contributors will leave good reviews, but I bet a good chunk of the drive-by reviewers are bad reviews.

When I worked in the hotel business, management was happy if 70% of our satisfaction responses came back positive even though the hope is that guest satisfaction is a lot higher, because the people that crunch these numbers for a living have found that people who had good experiences often don't fill out the survey, but people who have bad experiences nearly always do.

If there are NO bad reviews and there are a lot of reviews, that suggests either the business is perfect, which is impossibly optimistic or bad reviews have been removed.

[hbelkins]

That doesn't pass the smell test either. People sometimes have bad experiences at good places- that's something that will inevitably happen, and the people that post reviews of things online are typically people who are riled up one way or another. Your super frequent contributors will leave good reviews, but I bet a good chunk of the drive-by reviewers are bad reviews.

On Trip Advisor, unless an establishment is consistently panned, I generally don't pay a lot of attention to bad reviews. I realize there are a lot of hotel/motel snobs out there and I think a lot of them hold some places to an impossibly high standard. To date, I have had no problems staying in a place that has gotten a few bad reviews but with some positives mixed in.

I frequently stay at the Days Inn in Frankfort when I have to go down there for work. It gets a lot of bad reviews, including from those folks who bitch and moan because it has tube TVs and not flat panel TVs. I have never had a bad experience there and quite frankly have never experienced the problems that some of the reviewers claim that they have.

[Duke87]

I stick to chains when I'm on the road unless I have a recommendation from someone about a specific place. I'm exceptionally picky with food and knowing what to expect is very important to me.

Also, food that cannot be ordered as take-out and then eaten while driving is of inferior utility when on the road.

[bugo]

Pough.

[ZLoth]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

In my limited experience, I have found Yelp to have a very good restaurant listing. The reviews needs to be taken into context, as it's hard to get a proper picture with just 2-3 reviews. 20-30 reviews paints a better picture.

Do you have a suggestion for an alternative that I can use on my Android phone?

[vdeane]

Bad reviews on anything can be weird and unreliable.  A history book I'm reading even has a particular one star review on Amazon that boils down to "it doesn't match the idealized propaganda I learned in elementary school so it's junk" - never mind that the book is written almost entirely from primary sources!

A lot of restaurants in Rome, NY have reviews stating the food is too expensive... even though the prices are in line with every other comparable restaurant in upstate NY.  I've also seen complaints that food isn't perfect.  I guess some people expect five star food for one star prices and leave one star reviews if they don't get it.  Service is an area that's very inconsistent too - people review based on their one experience, so if their waiter is having a bad day, or it's the one slacker in the establishment, it often results in a one star review in a sea of four-five star reviews (especially if the reviewer is also a perfectionist).

Plus some people have odd tastes.  At my last company, I could name a restaurant, the person who shared my office would hate it, and the HR person on my floor loved it.

[hbelkins]

Do you have a suggestion for an alternative that I can use on my Android phone?

Yelp doesn't have an Android app? You could always try loading their Web site on your browser.

Foursquare has an Android app. Not sure about UrbanSpoon.

[Scott5114]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

Bullshit, utter bullshit. It's the other way around. Business owners are constantly fighting bad reviews, to the point that the only way to get bad reviews posted is to be certified "Elite" so that your review trumps their complaint. I had to fight this myself, so I know. And I've never seen a bad review posted for a truly good place, so if you see a lot of bad reviews, I'd suggest you're not looking in the right places anyway...

I've read enough accounts of Yelp sales people shaking down business owners for hundreds of dollars to make bad reviews magically disappear to believe it.

This is probably two sides of the same coin. If the business doesn't pay Yelp, the bad reviews are weighted heavily. If the business pays Yelp, not even a bad review from an elite reviewer will stick to them.

The Better Business Bureau (which is not a government bureau) does the same thing, by the way. A company can be rated a C—, but if they pay to become an "accredited business", they magically get an A. Total scam.

[ZLoth]

Do you have a suggestion for an alternative that I can use on my Android phone?

Yelp doesn't have an Android app? You could always try loading their Web site on your browser.

Foursquare has an Android app. Not sure about UrbanSpoon.

Yes, Yelp has an Android app. I have also added UrbanSpoon.

[formulanone]

I just read the actual reviews...If they appear to be typed by someone who can't be bothered to spell anything nor use basic grammar properly, I tend to ignore it. (I expeckt at least one or two err, I'm not prefect.) If the review can't tell me with any detail why it's so awesome, I level that off too. A slew of sudden reviews that trend completely one way or the other is also increases my suspicions.


Typically, more reviews give more balance to a location, but to be fair, most places aren't worthy of five stars just as very few are deserving of low ratings. A culture of quick surveys, combined with a demand for excellence in all situations doesn't tend to help matters. People will magnify minor, trivial, or inconsequential faults once they've had a single problem, even if they  have totally unrelated issues. I surmise that frequent reviewers are much more down-to-earth with their expectations and experiences, compared to the average single review.

[Alps]

I just read the actual reviews...If they appear to be typed by someone who can't be bothered to spell anything nor use basic grammar properly, I tend to ignore it. (I expeckt at least one or two err, I'm not prefect.) If the review can't tell me with any detail why it's so awesome, I level that off too. A slew of sudden reviews that trend completely one way or the other is also increases my suspicions.


Typically, more reviews give more balance to a location, but to be fair, most places aren't worthy of five stars just as very few are deserving of low ratings. A culture of quick surveys, combined with a demand for excellence in all situations doesn't tend to help matters. People will magnify minor, trivial, or inconsequential faults once they've had a single problem, even if they  have totally unrelated issues. I surmise that frequent reviewers are much more down-to-earth with their expectations and experiences, compared to the average single review.

Exactly why they create "Elite" badges on Yelp, and I'm sure similar on Urbanspoon and Tripadvisor, etc. Just like a business can become "accredited" (I'm not going to debate what's going on there any further), so can a reviewer. I always read those first.

[realjd]

Yelp is a scam. Their algorithm weights bad reviews more heavily than good ones until the business owner pays off Yelp. If they do, the profile gets sanitized. The bad reviews might even be planted by Yelp themselves.

Bullshit, utter bullshit. It's the other way around. Business owners are constantly fighting bad reviews, to the point that the only way to get bad reviews posted is to be certified "Elite" so that your review trumps their complaint. I had to fight this myself, so I know. And I've never seen a bad review posted for a truly good place, so if you see a lot of bad reviews, I'd suggest you're not looking in the right places anyway...

I've read enough accounts of Yelp sales people shaking down business owners for hundreds of dollars to make bad reviews magically disappear to believe it.

This is probably two sides of the same coin. If the business doesn't pay Yelp, the bad reviews are weighted heavily. If the business pays Yelp, not even a bad review from an elite reviewer will stick to them.

The Better Business Bureau (which is not a government bureau) does the same thing, by the way. A company can be rated a C—, but if they pay to become an "accredited business", they magically get an A. Total scam.

I've seen the same reports about Yelp "sales" associates trying to shake down restaurants, but I've yet to see any actual proof. The Yelp CEO did an AMA on reddit a few months ago where he explicitly denied that was Yelp corporate policy. More likely IMO is that some sales associates are willing to act like douches to make a sale.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Speaking of Yelp and reddit... redditors are giving Yelp a pounding here: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1vmbyb/seen_at_sfs_bai_thong/

[Alps]

Speaking of Yelp and reddit... redditors are giving Yelp a pounding here: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1vmbyb/seen_at_sfs_bai_thong/

As I've noted elsewhere, all of the bad reviews seem to float to the top of reddit and all the good reviews are hidden.

[hotdogPi]

Speaking of Yelp and reddit... redditors are giving Yelp a pounding here: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1vmbyb/seen_at_sfs_bai_thong/

As I've noted elsewhere, all of the bad reviews seem to float to the top of reddit and all the good reviews are hidden.

Actually, it's by most recent. And since that page is about how bad Yelp is, there are few posts saying that it's good.

[formulanone]

We should start a "restaurant", give it a couple of 3-5 star ratings, toss in a couple of bad ones to test it out. Then see what happens for sure when Yelp's sales-holes come a'calling.

Alanland's: Try the goat!