It's funny that this is your take on those two reviews, because my initial reaction was exactly the opposite: I would weigh the pub review more highly. In general, I have found that people (especially Americans) tend to vastly over-exaggerate service issues at restaurants, and it's always unclear from those kinds of reviews whether this was just a one-time thing or something systemic. Plus, I'm not sure how it's possible to tell that "everyone hates their jobs" from one visit. On the other hand, someone saying that the crab cakes were "mostly batter" is a pretty objective observation about the food (you know, the most important part of going out to eat) that I can use to make my decision.

Either way though, I think we're mostly in agreement about how to find good places to eat.