New York is the perfect place for a web site like Yelp.com to thrive.  Yelp is a review web site – users write reviews on restaurants, dentists, florists, dry cleaners and even television shows.  One guy reviewed his mom’s house.  The thing that sets Yelp apart from the competition is the cozy, friendly vibe that the site admins have created.  And they’ve extended it into real-time by hosting Yelp parties.  In NYC, there’s a Yelp event once every other week at various trendy bars with various liquor sponsors.  People wear name tags with their Yelp handles and you get to meet all of these people you have become friends with online.  And if you happen to travel and want to pop in on a Yelp event in San Fran or Seattle, people welcome you with open arms. 

A recent addition to Yelp are the daily conversations had by the members.  People can start a conversation about anything – everything from Gitmo to New Yorker articles to Personal Trainer referrals.  If you had nothing to do all day, you really could spend all day on Yelp and not get bored. 

All in all, it’s a satisfying blend of on and off-line community, and it’s a phenomenal resource if you want a restaurant recommendation in any metropolitan city in the United States. 

Yelp has really become my Go To site for all restaurant questions/suggestions.  I feel like they really got the content balance right, where as sites like CitySearch always seemed so bare to me.  There was tons of information but you had no idea where it came from or what to do with it.  I tend to really trust the reviews by Yelpers b/c you know they are from real people, most of them even have pics.  Definitely a great site to check out when you are looking for that new cute restaurant.

By Kate on December 07, 2007