Local Guide from Singapore: A Reminder

[Lance-]

Just want to share a story of how I got reminded of why I love the Local Guides program.

My girlfriend and I were traveling around Australia a couple of months ago, and came by a small town along the coast. We checked in at a B&B, was going to research for a place to go for dinner and the host very graciously made a recommendation to us for a restaurant by the water, about 10 minutes walk away. We thought - perfect, there's a local who's suggesting a place so we should check it out. So we got to the place, placed our orders, and when the food came, it was the worst seafood platter we've ever had. We took a few pieces here and there, and left the rest on the plate.

Then, we finally went on Google Maps to check out the reviews of the place, and boy were we not surprised to find out that a good third of the reviews are about how bad the food is, and how some got food poisoning for days.

The next day, we drove by another restaurant that the host had recommended, and we had even seen billboards about that place on the drive over. Outside the restaurant, we decided that we've learnt our lesson - check the reviews first! 2.1 out of 5 stars. We stayed away.

Verdict: Always. Check. The. Reviews.

And this is why I joined the program too.

[JulienH]

Just saw your post. OMG 2.1 stars is bad. I would almost never go to something below 4 stars. Maybe 3. But 2 is really bad.

I'm glad you didn't get food poisoning.

I think the upcoming maps features will promote or showcase more food suggestions. 

[iyudhi]

Thanks for sharing your story @Lance-. That's definitely a good case on how high quality Maps contributions can make someone else's life better. I have to admit there are a few times I'm feeling adventurous and would just go randomly to restaurants, and looked at the Maps review later, but most of the time, I would quickly browse Maps first before deciding if a place worth visiting or not. There are a few cases where the reviews are very polarizing, and making it hard to understand whether a place is good or not, but it seems in your case it seems almost all the reviewers agreed on how bad the place is.