There was the diner at Steamworks Brewing Co. who complained online about the mac and cheese being too cheesy. Another barked that the smoked brisket was smoky. Then someone wrote a negative review saying the nachos had cheese on the chips.
For Durango’s many restaurants and hotels, online reviews matter. With dozens of restaurants to choose from, many within a few blocks of each other, tourists often turn to Yelp, TripAdvisor or Google reviews for advice.
Restaurateurs are paying attention.
“It’s become a part of our daily grind to be sure we’re keeping a finger on the pulse of what’s going on with those social-media sites with a review component,” said Brian McEachron, co-founder of Steamworks and El Moro Spirits and Tavern.
The websites have democratized restaurant reviewing, once the province of a few experienced professional writers.
“It’s a day and an age where everybody’s become a critic, and everything’s your last impression,” McEachron said. “I remember when we opened in 1996, when there were restaurant critics. These people were experts. It was nerve-wracking.”
Now, he said, “everyone’s been given this power.”
That can lead to some curious rankings. Yelp’s top-rated restaurant in Durango earlier this week was Zia Taqueria, a casual Mexican joint that offers fresh, locally grown foods but is a far cry from the white-tablecloth restaurants with extensive wine lists that typically impress professional reviewers.
According to TripAdvisor’s rankings, Durango Joe’s drive-through coffee stand at 3455 Main Ave. is the fifth-best restaurant in Durango, ahead of fine-dining establishments such as Ore House and Seasons Rotisserie & Grill.
Michel’s Corner Crepes, a stand at Main Avenue and College Drive that serves only crepes, holds the top spot on TripAdvisor.
Restaurants have little recourse against negative reviews. Courts have held the sites aren’t responsible for what users say. Business owners can write responses that appear below the reviews.
“It’s hard not to take them personally,” McEachron said. “We do take them personally – you’ll see we respond.”
Tim Turner, owner of Zia Taqueria, said he doesn’t do anything to encourage positive reviews to achieve Zia’s perch atop the Yelp rankings.
“We don’t have any particular strategies on social media as far as getting reviews and ratings,” he said. “We just do the best we can every time someone walks through the door.”
Karen Barger, co-owner of Seasons, said the demographics of the websites’ users probably skew young, benefitting more casual restaurants.
She said people rarely leave negative reviews for Seasons. Yet some are strangely off-base – one review praised the airport restaurant’s breakfast. “Which is funny, because we’re not in an airport, and we don’t serve breakfast,” Barger said.
Barger said she tries to avoid replying to negative reviews in ways that could worsen the situation. In general, she finds the review sites helpful. “Just as often, somebody will leave a comment about how lovely it was,” she said.
At Steamworks, one of Durango’s busiest restaurants, McEachron used to award gift cards of $20 or $30 to members of the restaurant’s loyalty program who wrote four- or five-star reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp. Not anymore.
“We stopped doing that once I read that Yelp frowned on it,” McEachron said.
Yelp discourages business owners from soliciting reviews, and says it violates the site’s terms of service to pay for positive reviews.
One California restaurant made news by actively courting negative reviews. Botto Bistro of Richmond, California, asked customers to “hate us on Yelp.” The campaign worked, generating a flood of one-star reviews and, not incidentally, reams of free publicity.
Durango’s business owners may grouse about the sites, but they’re not about to fight them. Turner said he often uses the sites to guide his own decisions when traveling.
Kirk Komick, owner of The Leland House & Rochester Hotel in Durango, said the sites have “created a lot of work for businesses.”
Komick will respond to negative reviews, which he said guests seem to appreciate. Not that his hotels get many negative reviews – Rochester Hotel is Durango’s top-ranked hotel on Yelp, and comes in sixth under TripAdvisor’s bed and breakfasts and inns category.
“Generally, I think it’s an incredible tool, and it’s a really helpful tool, for the traveler,” he said.
As for negative reviews, he trusts that travelers are savvy enough to discount off-the-wall complaints.
“They kind of take it with a grain of salt,” he said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
