Yelp! to the Rescue!

What was supposed to be a fabulous evening with impeccable company, turned out to be everything but.

He consumed his first four Glenlivets like a premature adult and began talking in what I can only call “tongues.”

I quickly devoured my roasted salmon and sauteed dandelion leaves (which happened to be recommended in a few Yelp! reviews) and after shooting down his seventh Glenlivet, I knew I had to come up with a plan of action.

With blackberry in hand, I excused myself to the restroom.
Being that it was only 9p, it was way too early to call it a night. So I did what any normal girl would do: adamant that my evening be salvaged, I called my closest friend in the city and made plans to meet at Beauty & Essex at 9:45p.

Prior to constructing Plan B (Beauty & Essex) to Plan A (dinner with Mr. Lush), I referenced Yelp! about B&E, and the reviews matched what my friends had told me about this place. Even free champagne in the restrooms? How fab!

Yelp! to the rescue! (Fast forwarding a bit…)
Dinner was finished and Mr. Lush took care of the bill.

After suggesting we walk a few blocks to a tequila bar, I smoothly told him I was dog sitting for a friend and had to get back home to Rover.

Who can blame me?

The last thing I wanted to do was end my night taking care of someone who clearly honored the Libation deity.

Truthfully, who hasn’t been in this situation before! It’s all too common: you’re on a date and date goes awry. What do you do?

Luckily, I was in the Mecca of East coast nightlife and had Yelp! on my side.
Yelp!: perfect for restaurants, shopping, professional services (salons, pet grooming, event halls, doctors, life coaches, cleaning services, etc.), nightlife, hotels, gyms, and a plethora of other business categories! And yes; it’s even the perfect go-to “accessory” for damsels in date-distress.

It’s a fusion of social networking, user review and local search web; the prevalent crowd-sourcing review site that’s had a substantial result on the restaurant business.

In fact, Yelp! has a social networking element that’s made it such a successful review site. Its on-line community contributes their reviews of a service or business along with feedback to other reviews and reviewers.

It’s one of the very reasons why businesses are attracted to advertise on it. And what's better than circulated word-of-mouth advertising where millions of members and non-members share and discover opinions.

It’s a place where merchants can continue to build customer relationships without having to dig too deep into their budget. They get to see exactly what their customers say and even have the opportunity to resolve concerns. And we all know this much: a happy customer is a loyal customer.

Now, it’s not to say that there are no cons to the pros. Of course there will be a few reviews declaring “I will never visit this place again,” or “the service I received was less than adequate.” But hey, it’s a place where ALL opinions are articulated. Gotta respect that.

Although being that it’s not the most advantageous mode for self-promotion, we won’t see P.Diddy broadcasting his Ciroc label or reading what Hank Williams really thinks about Obama and Boehner playing golf together.

And quite frankly, I don’t care. I just want to know what people think about the dinner menu at Le Cirque: yay or nay?

…Jenn Olivencia, Kelly Davis, Josh Bower & TanTan (??)