Shanghaiist: Never trust a restaurant that takes out an advertorial

Josh

Thu, 18 May 2006 00:54:34 +0800

I don't trust any restaraunt that doesn't think its own food is good enough to get a good unbiased review. And nice burn on Beijing btw.

CJ

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:51:31 +0800

I did not say the expat mag in question was 8 Days. I know you didn't review it. You mentioned it was a new opening. Other expat mags, without naming names, based ther "review" on the Shanghaiist post. That's why I thought the comment was funny. CJ

Nick Withycombe

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:42:24 +0800

Jay didn't claim to eat it. He claimed to have done all the research he could to find out about it, and found out that the restaurant is fairly shite in some people's opinions. Jay knows where to get unbiased restaurant reviews - he was questioning a restaurant that doesn't want an unbiased review. Don't worry Jarret, we know that you review restaurants well - and I wouldn't give out that compliment easily.

jarrett

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:09:40 +0800

CJ - It wasn't a review at all - and it certainly wasn't critical. I never claimed to eat it, all I did was tell people that Chicago pizzas were available here in Shanghai, and provided a phone number. Get your facts straight pizza man.

CJ

Wed, 17 May 2006 17:39:10 +0800

Jarrett... you are a funny guy. I know of two expat mags who published a "review" for CJ CHICAGO based on the nice comments made by the Shanghaiist's Eat Me section. I know they (the expat mags) didn't order it to try it first because I'm the owner. CJ

Jay

Wed, 17 May 2006 12:05:48 +0800

Hey Jarrett, My intention wasn't so much to write "critically" about lijiacai as to provide a more factual counterpoint to an one-sided advertorial, especially when the product in question is so exorbitantly priced. Of cousre, I'd like to speak from personal experience, but there are just a few 100 kuai bills standing between me and the imperial feast, so I resorted to the next best thing, dianping. Based on my(and several of my friends') experience, the site is pretty much spot on, cuz the reviews are mostly unbiased, written by other diners. At 16/16/17, Lijiacai seems a bit underwhelming, especially if it intends to charnge 1000 rmb per in Shanghai. And about the whole "advertorial" issue, to be honoest, I'm not a fan. there's nothing "as is" or "a grain of salt" about it, the very nature of the beast is it's trying to pretend to be something else, no? Of course, I understand it's a business call and is completely separate from the qaulity work you guys are doing on the editorial side. Hope that clears things up a bit.

Jarrett

Wed, 17 May 2006 10:51:39 +0800

Hi Jay - Does doing a little internet research on dianping.com really provide you with enough material to write critically about a restaurant? Paid advertorial is exactly that (it's not an 'unobjective story,' it's an ad) and should be taken with a grain of salt. If you want unbiased restaurant reviews, turn to the review section of (certain) magazines. You will be assured that they actually visited the restaurants, and ate the food, before they wrote it. And from my experiece, Lijiacai in Beijing is actually quite good.