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That's a pretty good (and unorthodox) way to promote yourself and get some free press. Never really trusted Yelp anyway, too many stupid people pretending they're experts.

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It is untrustworthy when a restaurant has only 4 or 5 reviews, even if they're written by "Yelp Pros". But when hundreds of people have "Checked In" at a place, you can usually rely on the star count to give you a fairly accurate estimation of how good it's going to be.

I've also noticed some cities are way more into it than others, making it more reliable. Everyone in Halifax, NS depends on it, but when I visit my home Little Rock, AR, it's worthless, even though Little Rock is technically a larger city.

Yours seems like anecdotal evidence.

I've had great experiences without reviews or guides, and also with places that aren't supposed to be good.

McDonalds is really popular, but I don't eat there.

The yelp reviews for the McDonalds near me seem pretty accurate.

Well, luckily, I don't go to Yelp for fast food reviews. You are aware that hundreds of people can review a local restaurant, yes?

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