Fake reviews, real consequences for Chicago restaurants
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Names like Joe Root caught Singh's attention. Root is a famous cricket player. Screenshots: Courtesy of Alpana Singh
When Alpana Singh's restaurant was spammed with one-star reviews last week on Google, it was a reality check on running a restaurant in the digital world.
The big picture: Google reviews are like the Rotten Tomatoes of restaurants, Singh says, with more diners choosing where to go based solely on a scan of the numbers — and a constantly rising rating becoming the bar for whether a place is worth someone's time.
Driving the news: Singh noticed late last week that her restaurant, Alpana in Gold Coast, received 15 one-star reviews within a few hours.
- The posters had names that she'd seen before — on other restaurants' one-star Google reviews.
State of play: Singh contacted one of the posters, whose name was also attached to a recent poor Google review at a Montreal restaurant.
- The person requested $200 to remove the bad review.
- She didn't comply.
- The poster "held hostage our digital reputation for ransom," Singh says.
By the numbers: Google removed the one-star reviews within 24 hours, but the damage to Alpana's overall rating had already been done.
- "Even after they [Google] had taken down the 15 one-stars, and people had written in 65 five-stars, our score didn't move," the owner tells Axios.
- After doing the math, Singh calculated the restaurant needed nearly 160 perfect Google reviews to move the needle slightly on Alpana's overall rating.
What they're saying: "As a business owner, it's trying to adjust to this new reality of what are the new metrics that you're being judged by," Singh says.
- In the old days, when more restaurant critics existed, former Chicago Tribune critic "Phil Vettel came in, gave you a three-star review, you were set for two years. And that was like the beacon and the arbiter that this is a fantastic restaurant."
Friction point: Singh and other restaurateurs she's spoken with about this issue are frustrated by how many of these low Google reviews are just stars, with no explanation, leaving business owners with no guidance on what to address or fix.
Her request to diners: Be aware that the food, ambiance and service have to be judged on more than just one number online.
- Do a little more research, talk to friends and neighbors about their experiences and then decide which of the many great Chicago spots you'll try.
- For fellow business owners, Singh tells them to report the suspicious one-star reviews to Google.