The first rule of restaurant reviewing is that you never tell your server that you’re reviewing their restaurant. But Brad Newman, the serial entrepreneur behind ReviewerCard, is looking to change all that. Send him $100 (and proof of your Yelp/Zagat/TripAdvisor bona fides) and Newman will mail you a shiny black card to flash at maitre d’s in an attempt to get preferential treatment.
A faux-testimonial from ReviewerCard’s promotional video above explains the concept well: “The host came over and comped my entire meal and dessert, because he knew the power I had. Five stars. I love this place.” While most of the foodie Internet is tearing Newman to shreds for the unabashed moral corruption at the heart of the whole concept, we’d like to point out another problem with this scheme: it probably won’t work. Because nothing evokes an eye roll from a server quite like a self-proclaimed Yelper in their midst. [LA Times]
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