- On
- 11 Feb 2025
- Reading time
- 3 minutes
Dining out at a restaurant does not seem as simple as it happened to be previously. We used to be able to just select a place and head to it, but nowadays online reviews guide us, especially when we are in some new town. However, these restaurant reviews can sometimes be misleading with false comments and star ratings. What usually happens is that owners of restaurants try to bring in more customers, especially when they’ve just opened. Luckily, there’s a way around this by spotting fake reviews. In this article, we’ll have a look at why reading reviews is important and the many ways you can pick a fake one out of the rest.
The Annoyance of Fake Reviews
The deceiving comments from fake reviews can seriously damage a product or service’s reputation. In addition, it also lures consumers into buying a product that won’t satisfy their needs. In the case of restaurants, this can be extremely misleading, and possibly lead to food poisoning if not bad customer service. This follows up with a load of actual bad reviews from customers who were misled entirely. Not a lot of restaurants take this into account when they start posting false reviews. However, there are a few tactics people can use to seek out fake reviews.
Over-positive Comments
A massive tell-tale of a bogus dining experience review is when they sound overly positive in praising the restaurant. The point of suspicion raises an eyebrow when every aspect of the restaurant seems to be perfect. For example, you might see “the food is incredible, no complaints” posted. However, real customers find a good balance between where the company has done well in their restaurant and where there is room for improvement. These are always worth double-checking to see if the comment was written from a script or if it's genuine.
Use an AI Detector
If you still have a bit of a high eyebrow because of a false review, you can use an AI detector to scan the piece of text. The sole purpose of an AI tool is to flag sentence patterns that sound robotic and predictable. In addition, AI writers try to mimic human speech but in turn, end up sounding vague and dull. So if your AI detector picks up on text that reads overly formal tones with vague information throughout the sentence structures then it is AI-written.
Multiple Reviews in a Few Hours or Days
Another suspicious pattern is seeing a whole bunch of reviews left in a very short time, sometimes hours or days. This can suggest that these comments were part of a deliberate effort to artificially boost the ratings of some restaurants. On the other hand, real reviews tend to come in with time seeing that people always have their unique experiences. So when they show up all at once, that is usually a sign that a company is trying to rig the review system.
Look at Review Profiles
Another way to detect a fake review is to browse through the reviewer profiles. For example, you can answer whether the review leaves reviews on different topics or only on one sort of comment. Also, does the reviewer have good knowledge of the topics they’re reviewing? A page that looks blank with general descriptions on the reviewer’s profile and only 5-star ratings posted by them will be a massive sign that they are unreliable.
Read through the Language Used
Authentic reviews feel more personal and specific so skimming through the language used is important. As mentioned earlier, an honest review will mention specific features of their dining experience like the aesthetics of the place, how the food and drinks were served, and if the food was good or not. If it wasn’t good, they’ll surely give a valid reason for why.
Conclusion
Checking out a new restaurant might seem like a minefield, but there are ways around it so you can have a pleasant experience. By taking the tips we mentioned in this article such as using an AI detector and examining reviewer profiles while dining out, you’ll be safe to visit most restaurants around you. Not to mention, you will have the time of your life.