The totally off-topic thread

[JohnK]

Was dining out last night at a nameless restaurant.

I think it would be best for the restaurant to have a name otherwise it would be very difficult to recommend nameless restaurants to other people.

 

[Mal]

In other news. Love the plates at a restaurant I've visited.

... Edit. Uploading of images isn't working. To be corrected.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Mal]

Photo that should be in the above post.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[PineappleSkip]

I think it would be best for the restaurant to have a name otherwise it would be very difficult to recommend nameless restaurants to other people.

+1 If you can name names on tripadvisor, you can name names here.

Posted from outside Salties fish shop, Chinchilla, which serves the thinnest, reediest cappucinos imaginable

cheers skip

 

[anat0l]

Photo that should be in the above post.

EDIT: Note: I'm guessing this is the nameless restaurant you went to. Could be very wrong, but love their attention to detail. Apart from that.........

Not too many good reviews on this restaurant, but of course reviews don't mean everything.

Oddly enough I had to use Google and other sources to find reviews of any sort on this restaurant. You'd think that someone would've put them on Urbanspoon by now.

Most reviews seem to bag the service (and the attitude of the owners), with some select ones saying the food quality is rather depressing. Another complaint apparently is the price.

 

[Mal]

Tripadvisor has pretty good reviews of that restaurant.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Flashback]

I love how restaurant is spelt incorrectly :mrgreen:

 

[JohnK]

Not too many good reviews on this restaurant, but of course reviews don't mean everything.

And in my experience reviews should only be used as a guide and not to be taken as gospel. Just because 70% of people think a restaurant, or hotel, is good does not necessarily make it good.

Perfect example is my recent trip to Singapore where I stayed 3 nights in 3 separate Geylang hotels which cost ~AUD in total for the 3 nights. If you read the whimpy and strange reviews these places should be avoided at all costs. Of course I did not have a single issue and could have done what everyone else had done and spend ~$170/night for the Holiday or ~$250/night for the Hilton. No thanks and now I have my own experience of these hotels which means a whole lot more than some strangers view.

 

[anat0l]

And in my experience reviews should only be used as a guide and not to be taken as gospel. Just because 70% of people think a restaurant, or hotel, is good does not necessarily make it good.

The devil in the detail works both ways. A positively reviewed place could result in a negative experience, and vice versa.

Also, we are creatures of limited precedent. If you have a good experience you'll probably come back even if the "average" review is bad. If you have a bad experience you may never, ever come back again, regardless of the existing precedent (i.e. you'll never come back even though in reality your experience may actually be just a "one off", though it can also work the other way - your bad experience may be so because the place is genuinely bad).

As you say, of course it's supposed to be just a guide but that's why I also qualified my response as saying that "it isn't everything". Reading some of the reviews gives you an idea what people complain about. It's very difficult to judge people on how they take reviews and it's even difficult to recommend to others how to take reviews because of just this - it is purely a guide. But the paradox is that if it's just a guide and not that dependable (especially when those who have an opposite experience report back as such), then what is the purpose of allowing people to write reviews in the first place, because it's just making very bad precedent. (Of course, this also would be a case to put every other "professional" reviewer - e.g. film critic, restaurant critic, hotel critic, etc. - out of a job and out of business).

We also have to be aware of shills, anti-shills and businesses deleting or denying reviews. TripAdvisor - probably unfairly targeted because it is the biggest such site - has all of these.

 

[Mal]

My lunch today was very basic. Chicken schnitzel at the casino. Including a schooner of boags draught it was $16.

Overcooked bland chicken reconstitute. It was almost as white as a white shirt put through 10 hours of bleaching. Something wrong there. Side of beans and potato mash were ok but nothing special. But it wasn't fine dining.

Now at a well regarded seafood restaurant for dinner. Usually i avoid esplanade restaurants as i think they are tourist tacky. So far i am correct in my assumption.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[JohnK]

As you say, of course it's supposed to be just a guide but that's why I also qualified my response as saying that "it isn't everything".

Apologies as I was not having a go at your post.

Reading some of the reviews gives you an idea what people complain about. It's very difficult to judge people on how they take reviews and it's even difficult to recommend to others how to take reviews because of just this - it is purely a guide.

If I do not see anything "horrendous" or some sort of pattern in a review(s) then I totally discard these reviews.

Isolated comments like

- the staff were rude
- the shower is small
- the room is small
- the hotel is a ~10 minute walk from train etc

mean absolutely nothing to me and would not influence my decision.

And by the way maybe I am extremely lucky but I have stayed in a lot of 1-2 star hotels and there are not many on the list that I would never visit again so either a lot of people are picky or I am simply content....

 

[Princess Fiona]

Ohh to be a teenager again. Txt from no 1 daughter at boarding school tonight :

Politics has never been a family strongpoint

 

[Greggsy]

There's a ballot? Wow!


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[PineappleSkip]

Most reviews seem to bag the service (and the attitude of the owners), with some select ones saying the food quality is rather depressing. Another complaint apparently is the price.

OK, so apart from the service, the owners' attitude, the food and the prices, its a great restaurant??

Heers skip

 

[Must...Fly!]

sitting in the singapore J lounge munching on some cheese and crackers, and fruit, awaiting big bird...i'm very excited, hehehe might jump out of the lounge a bit early though, and hit up a fast food joint for some "proper" dinner. im quite hungry, Y food wont do for the long flight ahead i dont think!! (i did pass a dunkin donuts store that intrigued me.... )oh, and what is with me and getting that seat in Y that just slowly reclines backwards as you sit in the seat. its quite annoying. almost as annoying as those who recline their seat and sleep on a flight that lands at 8:30pm local time!

 

[docjames]

Didnt make the news (unusual for nonews) but following the JQ checkin meltdown Friday, The QF BagDrop failed at MEL yesterday morning.

75 pax out of ~ 150 on the midday flight arrived in ADL (incl my sister) and had no luggage on arrival (strangely despite delayed departure and the pilot announcing they were "waiting for the last of the luggage to be loaded").

 

[markis10]

Didnt make the news (unusual for nonews) but following the JQ checkin meltdown Friday, The QF BagDrop failed at MEL yesterday morning.

75 pax out of ~ 150 on the midday flight arrived in ADL (incl my sister) and had no luggage on arrival (strangely despite delayed departure and the pilot announcing they were "waiting for the last of the luggage to be loaded").

It made the news

Backlog clears as hundreds of Qantas passengers delayed after baggage fault | Herald Sun

 

[anat0l]

According to the news there's a lot of rain falling in Melbourne with chance of (flash) flooding?

Any Melbournians want to comment on this?

Hope you're all staying relatively dry.

 

[docjames]

The rain is heavy in some areas - but nothing compared to living in Qld.

Still, predictions of monthly rainfall in one day by the end of the day.

 

[Nigelinoz]

For those who care-Gillard 73 Rudd 29.
Cheers
N'oz