When Yelp burst onto the San Francisco scene in 2004, it gave anyone with internet access an opportunity to write and publish opinions on every business under the sun, for better or worse. The lion’s share of reviews fell upon restaurants and bars. Since Yelp’s debut, the hospitality industry has contended with the impact of poor reviews, entitled Yelp Elite behavior, as well as reviews and complaints about mask and social-distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the platform has remained a vital resource for many who prefer their information distilled into a modular, crowd-sourced format (no matter that the average Yelp rating on a restaurant alone can impact its success and longevity). So what do chefs really think about the website that launched millions of micro food critics across the country?
For Yelp’s 20th anniversary, four Bay Area chefs turn the tables on the review site and write their own reviews of the service, detailing what they’ve learned from living in a world that runs on Yelp.
