In the course of our work Angela and I are lucky enough to travel a bit, and also to eat in some very nice places. Occasionally I have taken the time to share my experiences on Trip Advisor – nearly always positively, giving my honest opinion based on my years in the food and wine industry (plus my degree in hotel management). I would like to think that at least a few people have benefited from my observations, and that the establishments themselves might have gained a small amount of additional business. Otherwise there would be no point in commenting at all.

I have to confess that I quite often use the internet for researching products and services, but I always take care to ensure that the goods that I want to buy, or the restaurant that I want to visit, at least have an extensive cross-section of reviews. A good example of why this matters can best be illustrated if I search Trip Advisor for restaurants in Pontevedra, my home city. The venue that emerges as the best in our city, with five-star reviews across the board, is a small, back street place that I have never heard of. However, if you look carefully, you might notice that each one of the 11 or 12 reviews (giving maximum ratings) have been made in the last couple of weeks, all in Spanish – none from overseas visitors. Of course this automatically rockets this establishment to No.1 on the list, but I can’t help but feel that this result might possibly have been ‘manipulated’ by well meaning family and friends. Old cynic that I am, I will have to go one day to try it for myself….. if only to prove my theory.

Of course the other weakness of the self-rating system is that different consumers are possibly looking for different things. My favourite restaurant in the area, Pepe Vieira, provides a good example of what I mean. They trade exclusively on tasting menus, several small courses of local produce, cooked and presented in an innovative style, which suits my personal taste perfectly. I always leave the restaurant pleasantly sated, and not feeling like I need to loosen my belt (a feeling that I never seek and don’t really enjoy). For me personally the Pepe Vieira experience merits five-stars, but looking at a few other Trip Advisor reviews, there are certainly some who are less impressed, complaining about the small portions, and not really understanding the concept of a tasting menu. The moral is, if you’re looking for ‘trencherman’s’ portions, then don’t visit this style of restaurant….. it’s horses for courses, as they say. Unfortunately some of these people post their ‘complaint’, giving the establishment only one star, the result of which is to drag down the overall average, thereby distorting the picture for others using the site. 

In the course of our work Angela and I are lucky enough to travel a bit, and also to eat in some very nice places. Occasionally I have taken the time to share my experiences on Trip Advisor – nearly always positively, giving my honest opinion based on my years in the food and wine industry (plus my degree in hotel management). I would like to think that at least a few people have benefited from my observations, and that the establishments themselves might have gained a small amount of additional business. Otherwise there would be no point in commenting at all.

I have to confess that I quite often use the internet for researching products and services, but I always take care to ensure that the goods that I want to buy, or the restaurant that I want to visit, at least have an extensive cross-section of reviews. A good example of why this matters can best be illustrated if I search Trip Advisor for restaurants in Pontevedra, my home city. The venue that emerges as the best in our city, with five-star reviews across the board, is a small, back street place that I have never heard of. However, if you look carefully, you might notice that each one of the 11 or 12 reviews (giving maximum ratings) have been made in the last couple of weeks, all in Spanish – none from overseas visitors. Of course this automatically rockets this establishment to No.1 on the list, but I can’t help but feel that this result might possibly have been ‘manipulated’ by well meaning family and friends. Old cynic that I am, I will have to go one day to try it for myself….. if only to prove my theory.

Of course the other weakness of the self-rating system is that different consumers are possibly looking for different things. My favourite restaurant in the area, Pepe Vieira, provides a good example of what I mean. They trade exclusively on tasting menus, several small courses of local produce, cooked and presented in an innovative style, which suits my personal taste perfectly. I always leave the restaurant pleasantly sated, and not feeling like I need to loosen my belt (a feeling that I never seek and don’t really enjoy). For me personally the Pepe Vieira experience merits five-stars, but looking at a few other Trip Advisor reviews, there are certainly some who are less impressed, complaining about the small portions, and not really understanding the concept of a tasting menu. The moral is, if you’re looking for ‘trencherman’s’ portions, then don’t visit this style of restaurant….. it’s horses for courses, as they say. Unfortunately some of these people post their ‘complaint’, giving the establishment only one star, the result of which is to drag down the overall average, thereby distorting the picture for others using the site.