Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Tripadvisor, por favor


Canada-Mike

Recommended Posts

Even though I'm NOB 😪 I like to follow reviews of new restaurants. I would like to suggest that everyone add their two pesos to the restaurant on TripAdvisor. If you like a place and want it to stay in business then promoting it so it gets a good ranking can help. One of the factors in the ranking is the number of reviews, in addition to the ratings.

Some places I have recently read about here like Tremezzo, Xolo Cocina, and Purple Garlic Pizza are ranked way down because of the number of reviews. So, consider using this service which a great number of trvellers do. I review there under the name Canada Mike.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Canada-Mike said:

Even though I'm NOB 😪 I like to follow reviews of new restaurants. I would like to suggest that everyone add their two pesos to the restaurant on TripAdvisor. If you like a place and want it to stay in business then promoting it so it gets a good ranking can help. One of the factors in the ranking is the number of reviews, in addition to the ratings.

Some places I have recently read about here like Tremezzo, Xolo Cocina, and Purple Garlic Pizza are ranked way down because of the number of reviews. So, consider using this service which a great number of trvellers do. I review there under the name Canada Mike.

 

Those restaurants will be lower due to the fact that they are all fairly new, and not many people will have tried them yet.  It's hard to promote something that you haven't tried.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing against anyone who uses it, but I find Trip Advisor to be a complete waste of time. Reviews vary wildly for any given place, and this is because everything is subjective. How can you accept anything that veers between "best ever" and "worst ever", or "excellent value" and "overpriced"? And no, counting up the good vs. bad to see who comes out on top is just silly. Because even if there are 60 "likes" and 40 "don't likes", that's still 40 people who don't like.

At times simply reading the restaurant reviews on this board makes me wonder if there is something wrong with my own taste buds. At least here, there are certain people who's opinion I can (usually) count on. Nothing like that on Trip Advisor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said:

Nothing against anyone who uses it, but I find Trip Advisor to be a complete waste of time. Reviews vary wildly for any given place, and this is because everything is subjective. How can you accept anything that veers between "best ever" and "worst ever", or "excellent value" and "overpriced"? And no, counting up the good vs. bad to see who comes out on top is just silly. Because even if there are 60 "likes" and 40 "don't likes", that's still 40 people who don't like.

At times simply reading the restaurant reviews on this board makes me wonder if there is something wrong with my own taste buds. At least here, there are certain people who's opinion I can (usually) count on. Nothing like that on Trip Advisor.

IA CG. The only thing I use Trip Advisor for is to let me know what restaurants are in an area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

Nothing against anyone who uses it, but I find Trip Advisor to be a complete waste of time. Reviews vary wildly for any given place, and this is because everything is subjective. How can you accept anything that veers between "best ever" and "worst ever", or "excellent value" and "overpriced"? And no, counting up the good vs. bad to see who comes out on top is just silly. Because even if there are 60 "likes" and 40 "don't likes", that's still 40 people who don't like.

At times simply reading the restaurant reviews on this board makes me wonder if there is something wrong with my own taste buds. At least here, there are certain people who's opinion I can (usually) count on. Nothing like that on Trip Advisor.

We've found several here whose reviews seem to reflect our own tastes well so we pay close attention to their posts.  Also if a place gets a significant negative response we've generally found it not worth a return visit if we go at all.  Trip Advisor seems to have more than its share of starry eyed reviewers so we generally don't consult it.

In this group Gringal is our favorite reviewer.  Thanks Gringal!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gringal and I were once "enemies". I offered to take her to Arileo's shortly after they opened, for what then was the best cheesecake in town. We met, we enjoyed lunch, she wouldn't let me pay, and we've gotten along ever since. (Now I don't go to Arileo's anymore after three steak disasters and many botched meals of my companions.) I too respect her restaurant opinions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, I never wanted to suggest that TA is a bible. I do find it helpful, even though there are things I can't understand. Ajijic Tango, for example was rated number one for ages, and I don't think that's deserved. Also, some people will give one star because they got (what they considered) bad service. OTOH, when there are a sufficient number of reviews, it can be helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

Gringal and I were once "enemies". I offered to take her to Arileo's shortly after they opened, for what then was the best cheesecake in town. We met, we enjoyed lunch, she wouldn't let me pay, and we've gotten along ever since. (Now I don't go to Arileo's anymore after three steak disasters and many botched meals of my companions.) I too respect her restaurant opinions.

Awww. Thanks for the compliments, guys.

What Arileo's does well, strangely, is not steak, IMO.   We go there for lunch about once a week or so because of their salmon and a few other dishes involving seafood.  Chicken and some pasta dishes are very good. It's nice in the warm months for the coolth in that great barnlike building. Also, there are not many lunch diners, so it's not noisy then.  Pleasant staff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found TA pretty reliable, but I don't read the great reviews first, but the bad ones. If they give hard, cold facts ("steak still had plastic wrap on it" or "service was so slow that I counted all of the floor tiles...twice"), then I take them seriously. If they just whine, then I give the place a chance...especially if it the ratings percentages are pretty high. So far, so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TripAdvisor is a useful tool, especially when you want to find out more about a restaurant that you haven't tried yet.  I tend to assume that the top 10% and the bottom 10% of reviews are usually restaurant employees giving great reviews, or competing businesses giving terrible reviews.  Go by the other 80% of reviews, most of which are honest, actual restaurant patrons and their true experiences.  It's usually easy to spot the obvious fake reviews.  I remember reading one review about a particular restaurant here in Ajijic, where the woman swore she got food poisoning from one of their dishes.  Problem was, they don't even serve the particular dish that she said she got sick from!  Obviously a fake review.  I dislike people that try to drag any business's name through the mud with lies.  It's hard enough to have a successful restaurant without people making up bad stuff!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The "fake" reviews just add to the general malaise of the site, but I wasn't commenting on those. That 80% may indeed be honest and true, but that isn't my point. I don't know these people, I don't have any standard on which to place a value on their judgment calls... and so it's simply pointless to me. Some of the comments over the years on this very board, regarding "the best burger I have had", and "the best pizza I ever had", and any number of other reviews both good and bad, have proven to be so miserably wrong that I cannot fathom their lack of taste: "tastebuds are all in their toes", as the saying goes. So I take them with a grain of salt, unless I know the person. Heck, there's one guy here who I have known well for years and call him a good friend, and his opinions on restaurants are shocking to me.

I mentioned before that I have nothing against those who like it, but I personally find it a waste of time. So it's only a "useful tool" if you believe it to be. I do not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have rated several restaurants on trip advisor and my problem is I may give them a great rating and the very next time I go they are terrible.  I too believe Tango is over rated at number 1.  They are a top 10 but I would rate several restaurants in the Lake Chapala area above them.  A major disappointment has been Mom's,  two year s a go I gave them a great rating.  I understand the daughter has taken over and now if you want something other than a sandwich you are in trouble.  Use to you had a choice of 2 lunch specials.  We have gone their two times in the last six weeks and both times they had one special, a sandwich.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that TripAdvisor is not the best place for selecting a place to eat.  I rely on word of mouth from the people on here whose opinions I have found to be much like my own.

For instance:  Mom's and Salvador's:  I tried 'em, didn't like 'em and didn't go back.  Others have sung their praises.  To each his/her own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Tingting said:

I've found TA pretty reliable, but I don't read the great reviews first, but the bad ones. 

^ this
I'm always looking for facts, not emotional reviews like "my dinner was completely ruined"/"awful and nothing less" etc. They're usually too subjective, full of whining or pre-paid by other companies. I'd say, it's a hard job to find truly objective reviews. But sometimes it's even funny. 
When it comes to choosing, I rely on my own experience. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, daniel said:

^ this
I'm always looking for facts, not emotional reviews like "my dinner was completely ruined"/"awful and nothing less" etc. They're usually too subjective, full of whining or pre-paid by other companies. I'd say, it's a hard job to find truly objective reviews. But sometimes it's even funny. 
When it comes to choosing, I rely on my own experience. 

True.  Any review that doesn't get specific about what was done right or done wrong is worthless. When choosing, it helps to have the benefit of useful reviews before trying a new place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 10:13 PM, daniel said:

^ this
I'm always looking for facts, not emotional reviews like "my dinner was completely ruined"/"awful and nothing less" etc. They're usually too subjective, full of whining or pre-paid by other companies. I'd say, it's a hard job to find truly objective reviews. But sometimes it's even funny. 
When it comes to choosing, I rely on my own experience. 

Oh, I don't mean that I rely on the "this place sucks" type of review, but when they're specific. If it's something that is just a preference ("I like more salt"), then I ignore it, but when it's specific and worrying ("waiter went to restroom while I was there and didn't wash her hands"), then I take notice. Depending on what's said, I often give the place a chance. Like someone else said, the tops and bottoms are usually toss outs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FYI  Trip advisor works on an algorithm. To protect existing restaurants from becoming irrelevant when a new restaurant opens with a lot of fan fare and hoopla and interest. There are three components which advance a restaurants rankings. #1 the rating of the review #2 the recentness of the review (a review of an established restaurant this month carries more authority that one a year ago) #3 a steady flow of reviews (Trip Advisor gives more weight to a restaurant that has a steady stream of reviews over time than one with 200 reviews all at once.

If a new restaurant is good over time they will advance up the ranks, but it is not appropriate and Trip Advisor guards against, a new restaurant eclipsing established good restaurant just because they are new

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was in a small town in Oklahoma and ate at the number one rated restaurant by tripadvisor.  The food and service was terrible I gave it a 2 in tripadvisor.  Next I ate at the number 2 restaurant and it was much, much better in every category.  I asked the owner of the second cafe why the other restaurant was rated higher than his.  He said it was because the other restaurant got all the people they knew to turn in a good review for them in tripadvisor.  This way people traveling down the highway would see the review and eat at their place. The most popular restaurant I ever owned was a mennonite one and I had people driving 60 and 70 miles to eat there.  I was not on a major highway so I am not sure if I was even in tripadvisor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...