Restaurants struggle to deal with pandemic-based Yelp complaints | Pam Kragen

Over the past decade, North County restaurant owners Roddy and Aaron Browning have looked upon Yelp, the high-profile crowd-sourced reviews platform, as something of a necessary evil. A diner's positive 5-star review will make their day, but a negative 1- or 2-star review will ruin their week. But since the pandemic began in March, the Brownings and many other local restaurateurs say recent bad reviews on Yelp — many of them for county-ordered safety and service requirements beyond their control — are making the struggle to survive even harder. Some owners' classy, clever and angry written responses to recent low-starred reviews have gone viral. Meanwhile, Yelp says it has stepped up efforts to remove unfair reviews and it is encouraging its diner-members to show compassion for restaurant owners before they push the publish button.