Yelping in Davis

By Lauren Lee,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

UC Davis student Madison Miles steps into de Vere’s Irish Pub with the mindset of a true critic. She analyzes the restaurant’s atmosphere, service and menu options to create her newest Yelp review.

“Nice ambience. There’s a good flow of people. It’s very lively and active,” Miles jots down.

The restaurant has a warm brown glow and vintage decor. Jazz music hums under the murmur of voices. A hostess greets Miles, and she receives seating within two minutes.

She opens her menu and is delighted to find the shepherd’s pie on the menu.

After 15 minutes, the waitress serves Miles her dish with creamy mashed potatoes and a golden fried egg atop.

Miles considered the speedy service, pricier menu and the tastiness to create a four star review for de Vere’s.

Yelp is a useful app that helps many people find the perfect restaurant.

Many Yelpers are part of a group called the “Yelp Elite Squad.” This group consists of the most active reviewers, photographers and “adventurers,” reviewers who find new locations.

According to Yelp’s Davis “community ambassador” Hannah Dillman, the Yelp Elite are invited to exclusive parties and events at local restaurants, bars, shows, galleries and boutiques. Members also qualify for giveaways and interact more with fellow elite members in their area.

To join Yelp Elite, Yelpers must be 21 years old and either submit a request themselves or receive a recommendation from another Yelper.

Four-year Elite member Luke Cheng was invited to a special Yelp event at Smashburger in Elk Grove. He got a taste of every hamburger, chicken sandwich and other menu items.

“It was A LOT of food,” Cheng wrote in an email.

Cheng’s group had the opportunity of touring the kitchen facilities and got to make their own smash burgers. He learned the history of the franchise and the secret to how smash burgers are made.

“It was definitely my favorite Yelp Elite event,” Cheng said.

Because of his selfie style review photos, Cheng receives recognition even in person. As a photographer, Cheng meets people through events like weddings or Sacramento Kings games.

“I always get a kick out of those funny instances,” Cheng said.

Davis High sophomore Gabi Skilling mostly uses the app to find restaurants that satisfy her family’s complicated diets. Her mother has a food dye allergy, both Skilling and her mother have gluten allergies, her sister does not eat red meat and her father will not eat too much cheese and carbs.

“[Reviews are] important because you don’t want to assume that all restaurants will have great gluten free food. We don’t want something that ends up tasting like dog food,” Skilling said.

But Yelp is not always helpful. Sophomore Maya Zingaro was searching for a new eyebrow threading salon and was excited to find a highly rated salon near her house on the app.

When Zingaro visited the salon, she was disappointed with the results. To fix her mistake, Zingaro she tried to dye her eyebrows with beard dye.

“I left the dye on too long and my eyebrows ended up being jet black and boxy. I heard toothpaste got beard dye out […] The toothpaste got into my eye and burned for about 10 minutes,” Zingaro said.