Vox pop: Do you read restaurant reviews before dining out?
Curon Evans, 39, teacher, Cardiff
“I definitely check it out before going, especially if you’re in a city that you don’t know. Sometimes I get reviews on Facebook, if something is new and we haven’t been there yet. If I have a look and it’s a good review, I’m definitely curious enough then to go to the restaurant and try it out.”
Anthony Ryan, 29, shop assistant, Porthcawl
“It depends on what restaurant really; if its something special or for a special occasion then I’ll definitely read reviews before hand, but not usually in the paper. We’ve been to Jamie’s Italian a few times in the past year, and I go onto their website to read the reviews.”
Carol Daley, 64, sales assistant, Whitchurch
“I usually go to restaurants on the spur of the moment, so don’t read reviews at all. I judge a place by the look of it. If I’m planning to go out for a special occasion I might look at the adverts in the paper.”
Sarah Pyves, 39, full-time student, Bridgend
“I don’t really read reviews; I wouldn’t go online but would usually go to through friends who had been to the restaurant. Or if there’s a new place opening you find out what it’s like but I don’t venture online.”
Catherine Pyves, 46, psychiatrist, Bridgend
“I usually go on personal reference, if it’s recommended then I usually go. I don’t use the internet at all.”
Dudley Target, 65, retired headmaster, Windsor
“I personally don’t read reviews, my wife and her friend who we go out with go by their reputation. Whether that is based on some reviews, then that’s quite possible.. There are so many chains now of very good quality that you tend to go to them.”
The winner of the Wales Blog Awards will be announced next week, with the inclusion of a food and drink category for the first time.
The awards acknowledge a move by the public to trusting blogs over reviews in recognised publications.
It may be food for thought for restaurant critics that the majority of people we spoke to fail to read reviews before dining out, preferring to rely on personal recommendations like blogs.
Oliver Hurley, of shortlisted blog Pint of 45, disagreed, “I think a lot of people still have an inherent trust in reading things in print, in newspapers and in magazines.
“In order to be able to write you have to have a certain level or expertise, and a credibility which blogs don’t have.”
Vox pop: Do you read restaurant reviews before dining out?
Curon Evans, 39, teacher, Cardiff
“I definitely check it out before going, especially if you’re in a city that you don’t know. Sometimes I get reviews on Facebook, if something is new and we haven’t been there yet. If I have a look and it’s a good review, I’m definitely curious enough then to go to the restaurant and try it out.”
Anthony Ryan, 29, shop assistant, Porthcawl
“It depends on what restaurant really; if its something special or for a special occasion then I’ll definitely read reviews before hand, but not usually in the paper. We’ve been to Jamie’s Italian a few times in the past year, and I go onto their website to read the reviews.”
Carol Daley, 64, sales assistant, Whitchurch
“I usually go to restaurants on the spur of the moment, so don’t read reviews at all. I judge a place by the look of it. If I’m planning to go out for a special occasion I might look at the adverts in the paper.”
Sarah Pyves, 39, full-time student, Bridgend
“I don’t really read reviews; I wouldn’t go online but would usually go to through friends who had been to the restaurant. Or if there’s a new place opening you find out what it’s like but I don’t venture online.”
Catherine Pyves, 46, psychiatrist, Bridgend
“I usually go on personal reference, if it’s recommended then I usually go. I don’t use the internet at all.”
Dudley Target, 65, retired headmaster, Windsor
“I personally don’t read reviews, my wife and her friend who we go out with go by their reputation. Whether that is based on some reviews, then that’s quite possible.. There are so many chains now of very good quality that you tend to go to them.”