Recently a Yelper asked, "I am going to NYC for the first time and don't know what to do up there. There seems to be a lot. What is your favorite things in New York City?" So far, the suggestions he's getting are a bit lacking, and coming mostly from other tourists. For example, the first commenter suggests mostly spots found in the movie Serendipity: "Serendipity (the original! We sat next to the table Kate Beckinsale & John Cusack sat in, in the movie!!), Waldorf hotel (where movie Serendipity was shot—elevator scene!!)," etc. more ›

Coming To America, Eddie Murphy's first foray into playing multiple characters on film, is one of our favorite movies of all time. When we heard about a real life taxi fleet owner who happens to be an African Chief, we were screaming "Good morning, my neighbors!" to everyone we came across for a week. So you can imagine our glee when Vulture pointed us to a Yelp review of McDowell's: "Yeah, that place is a dump. Stopped going there 'cause some mutherfucker that looked like Samuel Jackson kept on robbing the place. WTF?" more ›

With more and more consumers needing to be told where to eat, what to buy, and the best place to be jailed, businesses see a legitimate reason to outsource illegitimate, positive reviews of their products and services. The stakes are high! One Craigslist ad asking jobseekers (AKA everyone) to "Write Yelp Reviews" is looking for people who "have an active Yelp account and would like to make very easy money." You mean, we can't trust everything we read on the internet? more ›

Yesterday, we heard about a lesbian bride-to-be who was scolded, and then turned away, from a bridal shop in New Jersey because of her sexuality. The story inspired outrage and vitriol toward the bridal shop across the internet, but nowhere more pervasive than on the Here Comes The Bride Yelp page, where around 400 people have posted negative reviews in the last day, with such gems as: "Therefore, myself, an American that believes in the right of everyone to live a life free of inequalities, I will never ever without a gun to my head step foot through your threshold...unless I'm a zombie and if that happens, I'm coming for your brains first." more ›

If a place isn't reviewed on Yelp, does it even really exist? It's a haunting existential social media question, but we have been able to confirm that Rikers Island, Manhattan Central Booking, and the 19th precinct station house are all real legitimate establishments—the Post reports today that Yelp users "have started branching out from their foodie focus by writing reviews of the city's jails. According to Yelp, Rikers Island is the Per Se of pokeys, getting an average rating of 4½ stars." One reviewer who gave it five stars writes: more ›

Knowing that your food came at the expense of another animal's life is the eternal plight of the omnivore. And though it's impractical to hunt for your own meals in the city, New Yorkers must come to terms with the deed often done for them like anyone else. But given the option, could you kill your own meal? Some New York Yelpers have and lived to tell the tale. more ›

There's a breeder rage outbreak on Yelp over the new Fornino in Park Slope. The pizza joint, which also has a restaurant in Williamsburg, just opened and the parents in the neighborhood are outraged that there's no children's menu. FIPS points to some of the reviews, which make mention of $16 ravioli dishes—too high a price for some people to spend on their flesh and blood miracle of life, apparently. more ›

Back when antediluvian diners sought opinions without the help of the Internet, Tim and Nina Zagat built a restaurant survey and ranking empire, which grew into a sprawling international family of guides on everything from dating to dumping. Just before the financial collapse really got nasty, they tried to sell the whole enterprise for $200 million, and are rumored to have turned down offers as high as $100 million. Today, the Post finds the Zagats in deep weeds, largely due to competitors like Yelp, which now boasts more than 7 million U.S. visitors per month with reviews on all sorts of things, including Zagat! By comparison, Zagat's website, which requires a $25 annual fee, averaged just 270,000 unique visitors last month. The company laid off 16 people, and the Zagats have given up trying to sell it. As one Yelper opines, "If Zagat was the bomb, [Yelp] wouldn't exist, so thanks for sucking so bad, Zagat. I almost was forced to go to Chinese food in Chinatown due to an out-of-town colleague who had armed himself with Zagat and biblical notions of self importance... In the end, I won and we ended up at a real restaurant that didn't have to pay for a review." Well, not exactly. more ›

Yelp, the influential San Fransisco-based website that gives every Tom, Dick and Harry a forum to criticize everything from plastic surgeons to restaurants, has agreed to let small businesses publish their responses to criticisms on the site. Previously, businesses owners could only contact their haters directly or—more controversially—pay Yelp to bury negative reviews. But starting next week, businesses like this SF pizza restaurant will no longer be reduced to ironically printing quotes from bad reviews on their T-shirts. Come Monday, according to the Times, they'll be able to tell their side of the story of restaurants such as Otto Pizzeria, about which one Yelper opines: "The best part of the meal was when we walked outside and realized that we had just escaped HELL!" more ›

Today the Times takes a look at the obsessive lifestyles of Yelp nerds, making some of them famous in the process, like local secretary Nina Cheung, 30, who's been "Yelp Elite" for three years. It doesn't just happen, people. Her advice to aspiring Yelpers: "You have to be there to review, not just to hook up." All Cheung's friends are Yelpers, and, as one user puts it, "It’s kind of like a cult, except instead of Kool-Aid we drink alcohol." And Megan Cress, who says she "networks for a living," became one of the site's biggest stars by reviewing the plastic surgeon who enlarged her breasts and posting a picture of her torso in a bikini: "If your wife, mom, sister, or girlfriend are looking for a nice new rackjob or some reconstructive surgery, and they want to avoid hacks and frauds, this doctor is the real deal. He is amazing!" Thank you Yelp—for once Mom won't be getting the same old boring soap basket for Christmas. more ›