Plus, you never know who has an axe to grind, who may be writing a review for a financial incentive, and a million other factors. Its good to go somewhere where there are some consequences to people’s opinions, in a matter of speaking.

I will add track-record and aggregate to your list if I may.

I find that track-record is increasingly important to me. Consumer Reports has the best track-record for me. The way I define it is simple. Did the review live up to the actual product. In most cases, CR.org has exceeded my expectations. I have purchsed cars, paint, cameras, Barbecues, fridges, etc. based on their thorough reviews. It is not all perfect, their Computers and Electronics reviews get dated rather quickly but with a little cross-referencing it usually works out OK.

I have become fond of aggregation sites like metacritic and rotten tomatoes for movies and games as a commenter already mentioned. I don’t, however, read any of the reviews until after I see the movie. There is almost always a spoiler in there and worse, the review can ‘plant’ expectations that I would not have otherwise.

I have a very simple restaurant selection process while on the road. I go to the restroom first to wash my hands. If they can’t take care of their public facing potty, they are not going anywhere near my food.

-WR

As someone mentioned, spamming yelp isn’t totally simple, and a lot of “active” yelpers are accountable to their yelp peers. Which is not the same, but it isn’t nothing. From reading reviews, it seems like some of them even get together in person to try new places. I am not an active yelper, so I’m just a lucky eavesdropper on some foodies. Plus, you can start following a reviewer you trust. These aren’t really “known reviewers” or “personal friends” but something sort of in between. Kind of like how people trust your financial advice without knowing you personally or without you having official credentials!

While I definitely trust friend’s recommendations highly, if I’m looking to try a new thai place, only a handful of my friends are even into Thai food. Through yelp, I found my favorite dish in the world.

(This seems to mostly apply to food. For a new washing machine, I’d be much more likely to trust consumer reports than online reviews.)

If I thought my comments regarding any product or place were going to make me “accountable” to my friends & family, I don’t think I’d ever offer my opinion!

It just seems like a simple sample size issue.

If you have a friend who had a great experience at a restaurant, he/she could give you their honest recommendation and you could go and have a horrible experience for any number of reasons. I think it’s kind of weird to then hold that friend accountable for that.

Meanwhile you could probably consult a resource like Zagat or Yelp and it would give you a much more realistic expectation for that place based on hundreds of visits.

I would also suggest finding local food bloggers in your area. Their opinions should be fairly objective, especially if they have established a reputation.