You didn't think our New Year's resolution was to retire Yelp Wanted, did you? San Francisco is the heart of the Yelp empire, and there's no disputing that Yelp has plenty of positives. In fact, there's nothing else really like it. Regardless, a lot of people have some issues with Yelp. Hence, our ongoing investigation into the world of Yelp. As always, feel free to share your thoughts.
We've already touched on the shortcomings of the Yelp system that somehow allows users to whimsically review restaurants that haven't opened yet—not to mention the supremely flawed logic that follows such pre-opening reviews—but we recently stumbled upon a Yelp entry that just might take the cake: a listing for Vino Teca.
Now, it's one thing that Waterbar already has 2.5 stars—fairly ridiculous, since the reviews are based on, um, nothing—but at least Waterbar is actually a real-life project. On the other hand, Vino Teca is still in the concept phases, and (A) hasn't even closed escrow, meaning that (B) Luisa Hanson doesn't own the space yet, meaning that (C) Vino Teca doesn't technically exist.
Our feelings on the Luisa Hanson empire have been made pretty clear (we miss the Barleycorn), but nonetheless, this whole pre-opening reviews thing is getting a little out of hand. After all, when nonexistent restaurants are popping up in searches for area restaurants, the site's credibility begins to go down the drain and those "poor" Marina folk looking for a wine bar at 1785 Union will be sorely disappointed. On a more serious note, what exactly prevents completely fictitious listings? And are there currently fictitious business listings on Yelp right now?
Call us crazy, but we're of the mindset that a restaurant review should reference an actual business rather than a concept, or at the very least, carry some indication of its unopen status. How about it, Jeremy S.?
· Vino Teca [Yelp]
· Yelp Wanted: On the Issue of Pre-Opening Reviews [~ESF~]
· Yelp Wanted: Logic Not Needed For Pre-Opening Reviews [~ESF~]
· LuisaWire: Vino Teca Not Clear For Takeoff Yet [~ESF~]
Have you found a fictitious restaurant, bar or other business listed on Yelp? Have other issues with Yelp? Make your issues our issues.
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