Online Reputation Management for Restaurants

Yes, when it violates Yelp's Content Guidelines, which fake reviews, non-customer reviews, extortion, and coordinated attacks do. We document the specific violation and file the formal case, rather than relying on Yelp's public report button, which is routinely auto-denied.

Often, and it's one of the strongest cases there is. Review extortion, demanding a free meal, refund, or other concession under threat of a negative review, is against the rules on platforms including Google and Tripadvisor, and both have a way to report it. The key is preserving the evidence: save every message, email, or text showing the demand before you do anything else.

A specific, verifiably false factual claim, a health violation or illness that never happened, is a false statement of fact, not a protected opinion. We document why it is false (health inspection records, no report to the health department, no matching reservation or ticket) and file it for removal on that basis. These do outsized damage, so we prioritize them.

Review tools automate review requests, but they cannot remove a fake or extortion review, and they rarely account for each platform's rules. We work both tracks: we take the reviews that violate policy or the law down at the source, and we build compliant review flow, Business Profile completeness, and a response program, tuned to each platform, including Yelp, whose policy discourages asking for reviews at all.

Not on Yelp. Yelp's own guidelines say businesses should never ask customers to write reviews, and its recommendation software tends to filter reviews that look solicited. On Yelp the build levers are a complete profile, current photos, and prompt, professional responses. Save the direct asks for Google, which permits requesting reviews from real customers, and where the map pack drives covers.

Ask real diners, consistently. A simple ask at natural moments (on the receipt, a table QR code, a follow-up to online-order customers), to every diner, plus a complete Business Profile with menus, photos, hours, and attributes, is what moves map-pack visibility.

Yes, respond to both praise and criticism, and do it promptly. A response is not really for the person who wrote the review, it is for the next diner reading it, who is deciding whether to book. A calm, specific reply to a critical review often does more to win that undecided reader than the complaint does to lose them. Our build track runs a response program that answers reviews across Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor in your voice, and for a serious complaint we acknowledge it publicly, then move the resolution to a private channel.

Delivery marketplaces carry their own ratings that never appear on Google or Yelp, and they shape whether a hungry customer taps your listing or scrolls past. Removal options vary by platform, so we dispute reviews that violate a platform's rules where it allows, and we monitor these ratings so a slipping score or a pattern of complaints (often about packaging or delivery time, not your kitchen) gets caught early.

Yes. Reservation platforms let only verified guests review, so those ratings carry real weight with diners comparing where to book. We dispute reviews that break a platform's guidelines through its channel, keep the profile complete and current, and fold reservation-platform responses into the same response program we run for Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor.

We compare the review against your own records: reservation and point-of-sale data, closed days, menu items you do not serve, or a location you do not have. We do not ask you to expose guest data. The evidence goes into the formal case, and we tell you up front how strong it is.

Yes, when the connection can be shown. Platforms treat reviews from people with a connection to a competitor, or a conflict of interest, differently from honest diner opinions. The hard part is proof, so we document the connection from public information and your records before filing, and removal is billed only after it is confirmed.

Do not delete your own reply history or argue in the comments, and save screenshots with dates. We document the wave as a pattern, report reviews that break platform rules, and monitor so new ones are caught early.

It can be. A suspended or duplicated listing costs covers like a bad review does. We treat it as its own scoped project, covered on our Google Business Profile suspension page.

AI assistants summarize the listings and reviews they can see, so a fake review that stays up can be repeated in an answer. We audit what it says about you, then correct the sources it draws from, which is the lever that works.

We audit your Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor profiles, then walk you through which reviews qualify for removal and where your presence has gaps. You get a plan with scope agreed in writing. Removal is billed only after it is confirmed, and nothing starts until you say yes.

An accurate statement of fact is best met with a calm, specific public response, fixing the issue, and building steady genuine review volume so a single true complaint does not define your rating.

It depends on the platform. Platforms tie reviews to the listing, and each decides when a change is big enough to count as a new business. We check what each platform's published policy says for your situation. The realistic levers are updating the listing, replying to older reviews with the facts of the change, and building fresh reviews from real diners, since recent reviews are what many readers look at first.

Yes. A GM or operations lead can run the audit and the day-to-day with us. We will need someone with manager access to the listings and the authority to approve replies and sign the written scope, which is usually the owner or the group. The free audit itself needs nothing but the restaurant's name and location.

Removal has no upfront fee and no monthly subscription: you pay only after a specific review is confirmed removed. Build work (review flow, profile completeness, the response program) is scoped and quoted in writing during your free consultation, before you commit to anything.

An extortion review with saved evidence or a clear policy violation can come down within weeks, and a fabricated health claim often within 30 days. We give you a specific timeline for your situation during the free consultation.

Ratings and revenue are linked: a 2011 Harvard Business School working paper by Michael Luca found a one-star increase in Yelp rating was associated with a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue, an effect driven by independent restaurants. A removed fake review stops counting toward your average, which is why it is worth fixing.

Yes. Groups face the same issues at scale, often including coordinated attacks tied to a specific location or a staffing dispute. We map every location's profiles across Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor and prioritize by impact.

An honest opinion about a real visit is best addressed with a thoughtful response and operational fixes, which is exactly what the response program on our build track handles. On removal, we focus on the reviews that violate policy or the law, and tell you which of yours do.