Yelp and the Ramsay Effect

I’m ashamed to say that in the past week I’ve been binge watching Gordon Ramsay’s “Hotel Hell,” a show in which Ramsay tears into failing hotels, gives the staff and owner a pep talk, slaps some bright colored paint on the walls, then calls it a day. It’s addictive, if not overly formulaic, and ironically the show is sort of sloppily put together.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire Ramsay at times. He has the capacity to be compassionate, he’s more or less an honest judge of character, and he’s a skilled chef and businessman. What concerns me is the lack of intentionality behind his work.

I’ve been an avid Yelper for a little bit, I’m ashamed to say, but like a consummate food reviewer I attempt to write strictly positive reviews. If I don’t like a restaurant, I just don’t give it any press and I don’t go back. I don’t believe in throwing shade and potentially damaging a person’s livelihood based on one negative experience, you never know the true impact of a one star restaurant review.

Despite my practices, Yelp is still a toxic cesspool of vitriol and spite. Because of this, a star rating says essentially nothing about a business other than a few people’s opinion of the place. It’s best to find a reviewer that you appreciate and agree with for the most part and follow their advice rather than surrender yourself to the opinions of the masses.

One of the most damaging traits of Yelp is the condescension of reviewers who have no expertise or idea of what makes a restaurant or business good. I have to admit falling into this trap as well. I, like many food enthusiasts, believed for a good five years that pushing a burger into heat releases all the juices and leaves you with a dry patty. I went to a burger shop with my dad and saw the chef putting his body weight onto a ball of beef we promptly exited the line and found another spot to eat. Since then I have learned, thanks to the research efforts of J. Kenji Lopez Alt, author of The Food Lab, that if you press the meat into the griddle before the fat has a chance to heat up and melt it leaves you with a crust on a juicy burger.

This sort of false expertise is unavoidable. Sure, it’s our job to question everything we learn, but as lifelong learners we rely on trust. It’s more important to recognize when what you trust might not be an absolute truth.

Gordon Ramsay is an expert in food, and the bulk of his screen time is spent criticizing rather than teaching positives. At the very least, people go out of their way to see clips of him shitting all over some chef’s attempt at a dish. YouTube view counts are evidence of that. What results, unfortunately, is a horde of overly critical and mostly ignorant food reviewers who take pride in pointing out shortcomings even when they aren’t necessarily failures.

Back when I was exploring the donut scene in the East Bay, I had the pleasure of stopping by an amazing vegan diner that was absolutely packed on a Saturday morning. One woman was sitting by the line for donuts loudly complaining to her dining buddy about how she asked for syrup with her chik’n and waffles, but they served it on the side and still went ahead and doused the thing in gravy. Yeah, okay, you made a vague off menu request and they misinterpreted it. Hardly the chef’s fault, but she still made a huge loud stink about it. Then, as I was ordering, she received her side of cooked spinach, which she expected to be raw and a larger portion. Without a doubt, when I got home the whole thing was on Yelp. Of course, if anyone bothered to read the review, they would see that this was a crazy person who just didn’t understand the concept of a diner menu, but the most cutting effect was not the written review but the one star rating.

I bring this back to Gordon Ramsay because his attitude justifies this type of criticism. Being loud and embarrassing a restaurant is only really excusable if you’re about to help them, and if you’re a Michelin star chef. I believe this sort of behavior has spread because of Ramsay’s dominance in the critical space, especially since all his shows have been posted on YouTube in full. It’s easy to get confused by his celebrated behavior and to think that it’s okay for just anyone to waltz into a restaurant and whine aimlessly.

Ramsay’s intention was undoubtedly to help people whose dream it is to be a successful chef, restaurateur, hotel owner, what have you. The effect was stronger, however, in the critical space. Thanks to Yelp and shitty people’s tendency to mimic shitty behavior, Ramsay’s antics have lead to the destruction of more businesses than he ever saved.

I love you, Ramsay, but it’s a good thing we also have positive teachers like Jamie Oliver.