Online Reviews

Something like 64% of all statistics are made up so it is hard to trust numbers when you see them. Instead of looking up the article and providing a link, I'll cite loosely . . . the average rating on the internet is 4.3 out of 5. I'd argue that people really aren't very critical or qualified to offer up more than basic opinion when it comes down to it. As a business owner, I find Yelp reviews both maddening and hilarious. It pains me to read reviews that are extreme to one side or the other in comparison to the bulk of reviews. Given that "yelpers" are not professional reviews, they are prone to allowing personal bias, mood, and exception shape their comments. I have read bits that are borderline slander, stemming from someone's feelings of rejection because the staff at a restaurant didn't instantly befriend them and comment on how cool they were. I could fill pages with my heartaches with Yelp reviews, but there is another segment of criticism that I find far more amusing.

Sunday night seemed like a good opportunity to cook an actual meal of food, so we fired up the grill and made some Lamb Burgers. This is a pretty straight forward recipe and based on the ingredients, I knew what to expect flavor wise. It received an overall rating of 3.5 out of 4 forks and 94% of those who rated it would make the recipe again. I used that as a good indicator that the recipe was probably pretty safe to try.

Looking deeper into the reviews, there is some good humor buried in there. "The recipe was good as advertized. We used Cilantro instead of parsley." (4 forks) . . . seems to me that's not how the recipe was "advertized" if you are making substitutions. There are plenty of other recipes that have similar types of reviews, some with substitutions so extreme it is a whole different dish!

Call it what you will, but I have deemed this type of review a critical non-sequitur. 'My family loves _______, so I picked this recipe, but they don't like avocado so I substituted watermelon and pine nuts. Half way through, they decided they wanted cereal for dinner so I added rice crispies ... I would not make this recipe again, 1 fork.' Incidentally, our lamb burgers were delicious, but we changed the recipe . . . and added feta cheese and made the burgers smaller than the prescribed size.