What Do You Think of Positive Restaurant Reviews?

Welcome to Open Threads, where Eater hears from the crowd. Here we try to answer some burning reader questions. Have something you want discussed by the fine readers of Eater? Send it this way.

Erik Chudy's review of the burger at Fat Choy stirred up the comments section of Week in Reviews, and now the critic behind Vegas Burger Blog is speaking out about the positive reviews in other publications and who is qualified to be a restaurant critic.

"While I'm personally friends with some of these folks and hate to call them out, take a look at ANY food review in the [Vegas] Seven, Las Vegas Weekly, [Las Vegas] Review Journal or post from one of our local 'celebrities' and you will see nothing but positivity, brown nosing and praise."

He says readers are being coddled with these positive reviews where nary a word is mentioned about off nights, food that could be improved or bad service. "Meanwhile the average person is continually getting sub-par service, overpriced lazy food from a majority of the Strip restaurants, and inconsistency across the board."

His rant stems from Eater Vegas readers asking, "So a 'burger blogger' is a critic now?" and comments such as "Chudy blew it with his review of Fat Choy. I think it's time to take him off the list of serious food critics."

The real question is what do readers think of the abundance of positive reviews about Las Vegas restaurants? Drop your thoughts in the comments or send them in to the tipline.

In Chudy's words, "?anyone can be a critic. The real trick is to find people that care about what you have to say."
· Week in Reviews: 2 Critics, 2 Opinions on Fat Choy [~ELV~]
· Positivity Rules Here [VBB]
Erik Chudy [Photo: Vegas Burger Blog]