Online restaurant reviews (and doctor reviews) always skew negative because those who have had bad experience are left frustrated and impotent and a scathing online review is one of the few avenues open to them, while those who have had a good experience are unmotivated to write anything.

On a related note, I’ve been getting overwhelmed with “How’d we do?” after the fact online surveys lately - doctor visits, rental car, retail shopping - and I can’t help but wonder if along with actually trying to improve their services, these surveys act to manage the narrative. That if I can complain to them, I won’t complain to Google, yelp or TripAdvisor.

> I can’t help but wonder if along with actually trying to improve their services, these surveys act to manage the narrative.

Absolutely, that's precisely what they are for.

And they direct you to Google/Yelp once the screen you as positive

Friend of mine runs a bar, he loves these 1 stars (does not care for walk-ins, it is a very much regulars only place) and we regularly check them out.

One of the best is a person who wrote: "Shitty service, never been there" and it their only review.