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10 Restaurant Review Sites & How to Manage Them
Sevenrooms
5 min read
Aug 29, 2023
Sevenrooms
5 min read
Aug 29, 2023
Like it or not, reviews speak volumes about your business and ultimately guide diners’ decisions about where to eat. For example, 33% of people use Google to find new restaurants — if your Google reviews are negative, you could be in trouble.
We don’t say this to scare you! Restaurant review sites can be powerful resources that help you drive business when you manage them correctly. If you want to harness their potential, it’s vital to understand how popular review sites work, and how you can leverage them to grow your business. In this article we’ll cover the top 10 restaurant review sites and give you actionable ways to manage and source stellar reviews.
Top Restaurant Review Sites
– Yelp
– Zomato
– Gayot
Every review site is different, so it’s helpful to have an understanding of each platform’s unique features and functions. The overview below will help you decide which sites are most relevant to your restaurant.
There are 6.2 million restaurant-related searches on Google a month, so managing your reviews on Google Business Profile is imperative to increase visibility and reach. Listing your restaurant is free, and doing so can boost the chances your business appears in relevant searches — especially if you have a lot of positive Google restaurant reviews.
You can — and should — list each of your locations separately, and respond to any review you receive. You can also optimize your Google Business Profile listing by adding photos, integrating your reservation platform and customizing your description.
Google’s relevance is worldwide, so if you run a restaurant, actively monitor this review platform and respond to reviews as they roll in.
Tripadvisor is an excellent resource for businesses that want to capture a worldwide audience since it allows people to review everything from hotels and tours to restaurants. Travelers searching for a bite to eat often drive a lot of traffic to Tripadvisor, so it’s crucial to have plenty of positive reviews to lure them in.
Tripadvisor allows for reservation integrations, so having good reviews is the perfect way to increase bookings. Claiming your restaurant business listing on Tripadvisor is free, so (as with anywhere you appear on the internet) you should ensure your listing represents your brand voice. You should provide plenty of details such as your location, menu, hours of operation and photos.
If your business is in a popular tourist spot or an area that attracts seasonal crowds, focusing on TripAdvisor reviews will be particularly impactful.
With 92 million daily users, Yelp is one of the biggest players in the restaurant review game. Yelp is usually one of the first results that appear when people search for restaurants online. Many people go directly to Yelp to both look for new restaurants and to check out online reviews of destinations they’re already interested in. Since it has such a prominent reach, it’s essential to manage your presence diligently.
Claiming your listing is free, but you can also pay for added features like removing competitor ads and more advanced photo options. Yelp allows you to respond to reviews, which can bolster customer engagement and mitigate the damage if/when a bad review happens.
Foursquare has changed its model over time, but it’s still an important restaurant review website. It used to operate on a location-based, check-in model, but now functions more like Yelp since it allows people to search for restaurants and read and write reviews.
Though Foursquare’s reach isn’t nearly as broad as Google or Yelp with 50 million users, its following is large enough to warrant attention. Claiming and editing your listing is free, and it also offers paid features, such as location-based ads, that can help boost visibility.
Social media channels are how 29% of diners discover new restaurants. Even in the age of Instagram and TikTok, Facebook is still the largest social media platform in the world with about 3 billion users. Making the most of your reviews is crucial if you use the platform as part of your social media strategy (don’t forget: Facebook can help you boost revenue).
Creating a Facebook Business Page where customers can leave reviews is free, and you can pay for added features like ads. It’s easy to respond to reviews and engage with customers on Facebook, making it valuable for fostering a positive reputation and making guests feel appreciated and heard.
OpenTable is both a reservation platform and restaurant marketplace that has consumer review functionalities. Guests can’t review your business on this platform if you don’t pay for OpenTable’s reservation channel. However, if you are on OpenTable, you should monitor your online restaurant reviews carefully.
The platform’s diner network is robust, and since people use it to book tables, negative reviews can easily scare them away, while positive ones can lead them to click “book now.”
Formerly known as Urbanspoon, Zomato has approximately 15 million monthly users. Zomato differs from sites like Yelp and Google Business Profile because it aggregates reviews from customers, food critics and bloggers alike to provide guests with various points of view. Claiming and building your profile is free. You can also pay for additional features like ads and online ordering integrations.
The Infatuation is a popular restaurant guide and review site. Unlike other sites, The Infatuation doesn’t publish or consider customer reviews or feedback. Instead, it relies on curated content written by its young, hip staff.
If you want to capture the business of “foodies”, getting published on The Infatuation is crucial. However, the site only reviews restaurants in major cities like New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, so you’ll want to check if you’re in one of their coverage areas.
The Infatuation acquired Zagat in 2018, which previously published printed restaurant review guides. The two now represent a respected pair in the dining world. Zagat has historically used a more traditional rating system that combines customer ratings into a single number.
With its impressive 50-year history, Gayot has established a global reputation as a trustworthy source for restaurant reviews. The site rates restaurants based on a 20-point system that solely accounts for the food.
However, decor, ambiance and service are also noted in the commentary. Reviews aren’t user-generated; you submit your business for consideration rather than claiming your listing. The site has an international following but is best suited for restaurants in big cities.
Delivery apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub should be seen as more than just services to facilitate takeout orders. Although these apps don’t let customers post in-depth, written reviews or pictures, they do allow users to rate restaurants — so you need to monitor your ratings if you use these platforms.
A one-star rating on Uber Eats will certainly impact your delivery business, so don’t let your ratings fall by the wayside if you offer off-premise options. Luckily, Uber Eats allows you to respond directly to customer reviews, which gives you the opportunity to mend relationships.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to receive reviews — but simply creating a listing isn’t enough if you want them to make an impact. You’re not totally at the mercy of your guests’ opinions, either. You can take steps to increase the number of positive reviews you receive and manage them in a way that both drives traffic and encourages repeat business.
It’s crucial to develop a trustworthy online presence everywhere your brand appears on the internet. To create robust online business profiles on review sites, ensure all your contact information is correct and up-to-date, look for typos and write descriptions that capture your overall brand voice and essence. To improve local search engine optimization (SEO), it’s also important to keep your profiles and business information consistent wherever your restaurant is listed.
Some sites allow you to post your own pictures, so investing in professional photos is often worthwhile. People eat with their eyes, after all!
While receiving a one-star review is always going to sting (and, let’s face it, probably going to happen at some point or another), you can mitigate the damage by responding appropriately.
When you make customers feel heard, they are much more likely to give your restaurant another chance — plus it lets readers know you take reviews seriously and are on top of any issues.
While responding to negative reviews is a no-brainer, it’s equally important to respond to positive ones, too. Expressing your gratitude to guests for writing good reviews will keep your online momentum going. People appreciate you showing that you value the time they took to help your business.
Pro Tip: Follow these steps when responding to negative reviews: apologize, empathize, take the communication offline (email, social media or phone) and ask for the opportunity to make things right.
Not everyone thinks about writing a review when they leave a restaurant (even if they’ve had the best meal of their life), so sometimes, you just need to ask. While you can always use your social skills to gauge when it’s appropriate to ask a guest in person, you can cast a wider net by using automated marketing strategies.
Sending automated follow-up emails after your guests dine with you presents the perfect opportunity to kindly ask for a review. This way, you can point them to whichever review site makes the most sense for your business. Learn more about how marketing automation can help you drive engagement and build loyalty.
If managing reviews in every corner of the internet stresses you out, don’t worry. You can use review aggregation software to manage all your reviews in one place. SevenRooms’ review aggregation features allow you to consolidate reviews from Yelp, Google, Facebook, Grubhub, Seamless, Tripadvisor and direct feedback surveys to stay on top of guests’ experiences.
We also make it easy to send automated surveys, link reviews to guest profiles and use data to discover diner patterns and trends.
Vandal, a popular vegan restaurant in Sydney, Australia, tripled their reviews in just six months by using SevenRooms’ review aggregation software. They focused on responding to every review and, in turn, were able to reclaim the business and trust of people who initially felt negatively.
“One hundred percent of the time, we get those customers back. You can make a negative into a double positive.” Vandal’s owner, Peter Varvaressos, shared with SevenRooms. “It’s all about experience and hospitality. Don’t do one thing positive, do two things. You just shower them with hospitality until they have no choice. You’ll get them back.”
Don’t avoid review sites because you’re nervous about feedback — harness the power of social clout to boost your restaurant’s success. Staying on top of popular review sites is essential to ensure you don’t lose business because of mismanaged reviews.
When you add review aggregation software to the mix, you can manage all the top review sites seamlessly — and turn reviews into invaluable data. SevenRooms’ review aggregation functionalities make it easy to review your reviews, respond to feedback and make decisions based on data. Book a demo to learn more.
Pay attention to reviews you receive across all review sites, respond to negative and positive reviews and create robust online profiles. You can also use review aggregation software to make managing reviews on multiple platforms easier.
Google is the most popular restaurant review platform.
Reviews can alert you to issues you might not have noticed otherwise, so try to address any pain points your customers point out in their reviews to provide a better dining experience. You should also encourage guests to leave reviews both in-person and with tools like automated follow-up emails.
