Do customers check TripAdvisor before choosing a café or restaurant?

Cupán Studio sells café websites. We build them for cafés in Ireland, so we have an interest in the answer.

Some did, in one 2014 thread. The poster who started it wrote that they consult TripAdvisor before booking "a hotel, holiday, or a restaurant", and several replies said they use it too. One poster wrote that they do not tend to look at it for restaurant reviews, and others wrote that they distrust it generally or read it with care. The thread is from 2014 and several replies are about hotels, so read it as what those posters said, not as what customers do today. Our view: a café cannot control what is written about it there, but it can make sure a customer who looks also finds its own menu and opening hours.

What did the first post say?

On 20 February 2014 a poster started a boards.ie thread titled "Do you use tripadvisor", which reached 70 replies. Their first post said: "I always consult tripadvisor before I book a hotel, holiday, or a restaurant. It would not be the only way I would make a decision but it is useful, however you have got to wonder some times." The title asked whether people use it, the first post was about booking, and several replies were about hotels. The spelling in the quotes below is the posters' own.

Who said they check TripAdvisor?

Several replies said they do. On 20 February 2014 one wrote: "Use it all the time, has never led me wrong." Another that day, who also wrote the comment quoted under the reviews heading below, wrote: "I find it very useful and I also contribute." On 21 February 2014 a third wrote: "I love going on Tripadvisor for a general idea of a place." Another wrote on 21 February: "I'd have a quick look at Tripadvisor if I was booking a place but I find people complain about the most trivial things on it." I have not counted the replies, so I do not say how many were for it and how many against.

Who said they distrust it, and why?

Several did, for different reasons. On 20 February 2014 one wrote: "I don't tend to look at Tripadvisor for restaurant reviews because it's generally always the lowest common denominator when it comes to people's wildly different tastes in food." Another that day wrote: "I find that there are a lot of owners writing their own reviews on there. They are quite easy to spot." A third wrote: "I read Trip Advisor but don't take advice from it. I trust my own judgement." On 21 February 2014 one wrote: "I never take TripAdvisor too serious because at the end of the day it just an advisory website not a recommendation one."

How did people say they read the reviews?

Some wrote that they do not take the scores at face value. On 20 February 2014 the poster who wrote "I find it very useful and I also contribute" went on in the same comment: "First thing I check is how many reviews the contributors have submitted. If it is one or two, treat with caution." The comment continued: "Read the comments and assess how reasonable they are. Don't just look at the scores." A reply to it wrote: "Every hotel or restaurant will have one or two bad reviews, but look for the trend." On 21 February 2014 one wrote that they "try to filter out the extremes". These are individual habits from the thread, not a measure of how everyone reads reviews.

What can a café do about it?

In our view, the thread shows that some people read reviews critically, so a café can be judged on more than its reviews. A café cannot choose what others write, so it can make sure the facts it controls are right: the menu, prices and opening hours on its own page, kept current. If you are weighing up how an out-of-date page looks to a customer, see does an out-of-date website lose a café customers. If your reviews are on Google, see how to reply to Google reviews as a café. The free check shows what a search tool or an AI assistant can read from a café's website.

Sources

• boards.ie, "Do you use tripadvisor", 20 February 2014, read 19 October 2026.
• Cupán Studio, does an out-of-date website lose a café customers, read 19 October 2026.
• Cupán Studio, replying to Google reviews, read 19 October 2026.

This is a summary of a public boards.ie thread of February 2014, read on 19 October 2026, not advice for your shop. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland.