This is something which has bothered me for many years and I figure why not bring it up now. The job of a food critic is one in which I envy, question, and look at every time I read a review. Each week I read reviews from different critics in different cities across the country all reviewing a variety of restaurants. Most of these I will never get the chance to dine at or have no wish to dine at period. Whether the review be good or bad I always find myself angry after reading the comments section which follows the reviews. This gives everyone the chance to weigh in with their opinion and thoughts on the restaurant and what the review had to say. Some people agree and some disagree, that is the beauty of cuisine in which people can universally disagree on what is good and bad, new and outdated, or creative and bizarre. What really pisses me off is the people who think this is an open forum to bash the food critic because they didn’t like that particular restaurant. They feel as though a critic must love every meal they have or they are somehow out to destroy these restaurants they consider sub par. It is the job of the critic to give an unbiased opinion of these restaurants so the public has something interesting to read and at the same time it provides free PR to these restaurants. Food critics have no obligation to restaurants to give them great reviews their obligation is to the reader who spends the money to but the paper they write for and give them a review that is honest and fair to their customer, the reader. If you want your favorite restaurant to stay open and busy continue to patronize the establishment and spread the good word but don’t sit at home and cry and criticize these people for doing their job. Are some reviews biased, of course, a good way to figure out the truth is to get up and go try the place yourself. Maybe you will find out you disagree with the reviews, maybe you agree, or maybe you will realize the job is harder than it seems.
