YelpReviews 1,585

Yelp s a real up and comer. But has some more difficult navigation options. I would love to see an easy to use system that is tabbed out for getting real time info.

They are a great connector for small business though. Right now in this flailing economy we need a champion to promote small business. Their review sections really help to accentuate those businesses and places that provide good service and food.

So if you are particularly adventurous and would like a nice night on the town or a sweet seasons trip. Yelp is definitely the way to go.

I am an avid yelper, and I absolutely love this site.
I love yelp because it helps me make informed decisions about a business.

Since all the ratings and reviews are made by many different individuals (much like this site). You must sift through the different opinons and figure out what you think for yourself. It's just nice to see what people think about a place, and help you make that informed decision.

I know one might be weary to believe the reviews here, because you would think that they are biased and maybe even made by the business owner, but actually, yelp has a pretty great filter system for their reviews. Watch the video.

And if you're a yelper like me, you can get to what they call 'elite' status and get invited to free events in your area that let you meet other yelpers and check out a restaurant. A nice perk:)

The owners of Yelp try to hard sell all of the businesses that are listed on their site.
They now have a class action law suit filed against them for intimidating businesses and other unethical business practices.
Typically, they list a business without the owners permission.
Once they business is reviewed on their site, they start calling that business and hounding them to buy advertising on Yelp.
If the owner refuses, they will find that their ranking on the site drops, that they will get anonymous negative reviews and or that their positive reviews disappear.
The reviews and star rating that your business has on Google will be affected by your Yelp ratings.
It's very scary for a business owner.
Many businesses have asked to opt out of Yelp and all have been refused.

Secondly, not all Yelpers are nice people. Many are arrogant and condescending and could careless about what a business goes through.
Restaurants might have a waiter or waitress who might make a mistake and they will get a bad review and a low star rating.
The intention of these people, is to hurt your business.
Now there are a number of businesses that deserve this, but there are also a number of businesses that don't. But these people don't care.

Edit: I have come to see the light with regards to yelp.com. I have in the past year found some great restaurants talked with the community manager and discovered that it is not the system that is a problem, but the few bad reviewers who are sour grapes and ruin a good thing that yelp has going.
I have also been able to meet some cool people through yelp and have discovered that the fake reviewers pan out and are pretty obvious to spot in the end once you read enough of the reviews. I am pro-yelp.com and wish them well.

Utter nonsense and a load of garbage. Can't really trust the reviews on here as they are mostly done by employees or competitors. Use yelp as a directory which it is good for, but don't pay attention to the star ratings or reviews.

I've gotta give this site brownie points for being so gosh darn helpful! I can't even tell how you many times I've used it to find restaurants, venues, services, etc. I like how it's become interactive because there have been a couple times when business owners have read my reviews (yeah, the bad ones unfortunately) and contacted me directly to apologize and to correct the problem, and I'm glad yelp provides that kind of forum.

I actually like using the site to search FOR services and businesses in certain areas, like when I'm going on a day trip somewhere and want to make the most of my trip, it's nice to see what restaurants in the area are top rated by yelpers.

There are a couple things I get frustrated with about the site. First the chat section is kind of cold sometimes... like there's some trolling going on. So I kind of avoid it. Ohhh well. That's expected with a site with so many users I'm guessing. AlTHOUGH, it's kinda cool how you can chat with people within your area. I can see how that can be handy.

Another thing I have trouble with on the site is search terms. It's hard to predict exactly what an establishment will be tagged with, so you kind of have to get creative if you're really trying to comb an entire area. For ex., the other day I was looking for banquets and nothing came up so i had to put "reception", etc., so that gets kind of frustrating although it isn't really yelp's fault.

Overall, there are a couple kinks in the system but it's super useful so I'm definitely a regular user!