Yelp--Great Reviews with 4 stars

[Brady]

Of course I get my share of reviews that land all over the board but the average is just above 4 stars on Yelp. I probably just need to get this off my chest in a forum consisting of those who understand but I'm also wondering if anyone has had experience with this. I have some theories and thoughts to share:

1. It is hard to get 5 *'s without exceeding expectations.
2. An upscale restaurant with very high expectations has a hard time exceeding those expectations.
3. Restaurants that invest heavily on staffing, landscaping and general experience are forced to charge a premium to maintain these aspects. Regardless of that investment, i believe pricing from the guest perspective is still assessed based on the food on the plate. Value seekers don't care about art, flowers, or perfect service.
4. We will go crazy comparing star ratings with restaurants outside of our own categories. For example: a full service white table Italian restaurant may have 3.8 stars and the pizza delivery place may have 4.7... Out of category ratings don't really hold water. 
5. Maybe concentrating on "teachable moments" and looking for something to gain from all reviews is the way to reframe it? There is always something to learn.

Please add or comment! Thanks for your thoughts

[AH22]

I don't have an answer to these questions, but I have had the same experiences with Yelp since they came about. I can get 5 star reviews consistently on every other place besides Yelp. Every time I see a review come through on Yelp, I can almost guarantee it is not going to be a "good" one. It is really frustrating as a business owner. I always just thought that maybe all the crabby people used Yelp, LOL. 

[shone]

This is spot on and I feel that most restaurants don't do a good job of managing reviews (or we stress too much about managing ours, however you want to look at it).  We tend to respond to all negative reviews (2* and 1*, as well as 3* if there's something actionable or correctable).  We often are able to turn 1* and 2* reviews around to 5* or at least the customer may update or delete their review.  Many times customers are just impressed if you treat them like they matter.

 I find that lower reviews usually fall into the following categories for us (fast casual):

1. Service experience was poor in some way, including delivery even if it's out of our control
2. Customer felt the price was far mismatched from perceived value
3. A mistake was made or the food quality was off.

To your point, reviews seem to all be relative to the expectations.  People rate takeout places such as pizza delivery 5 stars all the time, but will rate a fine dining restaurant a 3, often due to mismatched expectations.  And the more money someone pays for something, the higher their expectations tend to be

[adamj]

I agree that Yelp's unverified reviews are a major challenge. It's easy for people to leave fake or biased reviews on Yelp, which can damage a restaurant's reputation.

I would hope that Toast is considering offering a review service that would require customers to have actually visited the restaurant before leaving a review. This would be a valuable service for restaurants, as it would help to ensure that reviews are more accurate and reliable.

I also think it would be great if Toast could provide restaurants with a way to analyze their reviews for quantity trends and components for celebration and coaching. This would help restaurants to identify areas where they are excelling and areas where they need to improve.

I feel your pain with YELP. It can be difficult to deal with negative reviews, especially when you know that they are unfair or inaccurate. However, I think it's important to remember that negative reviews can also be an opportunity for learning and improvement. Empowering your team to respond to every review both positive and negative is invaluable!

Here are some thoughts on how to deal with Yelp reviews:

Thank customers for their feedback and address any concerns that they have raised.
Be professional and respectful, even if you disagree with the reviewer.
Don't be defensive. Instead, focus on learning from the feedback and making improvements to your restaurant.
Encourage your customers to leave reviews on Yelp and other platforms. The more reviews you have, the less impact a few negative reviews will have on your overall rating.
I also agree with your comment about the importance of focusing on "teachable moments." Every review, whether it's positive or negative, can teach you something about your restaurant and your customers. By taking the time to analyze your reviews, you can identify areas where you can improve.

Thank you for sharing!