As the founder of an online reputation management platform, I’m often asked by clients about best practices for managing customer reviews.
We see restaurant owners handling their online feedback differently across platforms like Zomato, Google, and TripAdvisor—everyone uses an approach that works for them. So, we reviewed all these different strategies and created this ultimate guide for monitoring, responding to, and analyzing all reviews.
We’ll also highlight various methods to generate more positive feedback by turning your customer greetings into 5-star ratings—helping boost your conversion from online search to offline sales.
Once these key goals are defined and you have buy-in from various departments in your organization, the steps needed to achieve them will become clear to everyone.
But before we discuss each goal in more detail, let’s talk about why engaging with customers and potential customers through reviews is so important—and the impact it has on your restaurant or local business.
There’s no doubt that consumers trust online reviews more than a company’s own description. Survey after survey has shown that 90% of users read at least 10 online reviews before choosing a restaurant.
More importantly, a study by Harvard Business School found a direct correlation between increases in a restaurant’s average rating and its revenue. The study showed that an increase of one star in ratings can lead to a 5–9% boost in revenue.
Additionally, how customers respond to a restaurant’s average rating is influenced by the number of reviews it has. Another U.S. study estimated that one negative review alone can cost you an average of 30 customers or more, depending on your market size.
Moreover, a 2014 study by the Mobile Marketing Association found that 60% of consumers make restaurant purchasing decisions through their smartphones. This means that if your business can’t be easily discovered on Google, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.
A final study worth sharing—especially relevant to the Middle East—examined the impact of social media reviews on marketing spending in the UAE. Conducted in 2017 by Anna Yakovleva from the University of Wollongong in Dubai, the study essentially concluded that the effectiveness of marketing spend increases for restaurants with higher ratings—but it can also generate more negative reviews if service is poor.
This is huge because it proves that if you don’t fix your service, operations, and improve your average rating first, your advertising can have a reverse effect, leading to more negative reviews. The good news is that the opposite is also true—great news for marketers who want to boost ROI on every advertising dollar spent.
If we consider online reviews as part of the social media ecosystem, then we need to distinguish between the different types of social media monitoring.
Both are important for customer monitoring and engagement, but they need to be handled differently for a successful online presence.
Brand-level social media comments impact the brand as a whole and don’t necessarily offer insights into the customer experience at a specific outlet. These comments typically react to your community manager’s posts—ranging from promos and new openings to seasonal offers.
On the other hand, reviews reflect customer experiences at specific locations, covering aspects like food quality, service levels, and restaurant ambiance. They often point to operational issues and offer valuable insights into what needs improvement at a particular branch.
Managing the volume of reviews can be particularly challenging in a region like the Middle East, due to the large number of review platforms that operators need to monitor.
Here is a list of the top restaurant review platforms:
Although some review platforms notify you as soon as a customer leaves a review, your inbox can quickly become overwhelmed—especially if you're managing multiple brands and/or locations.
This is where a centralized review management platform like Localyser can save time and improve your online presence.
Tools like Localyser gather all your outlet reviews from across the web into a single dashboard, so you can easily monitor them. These tools usually send you a consolidated daily email alert with all the reviews you've received.
Managing Your Location Listings
Before you start replying to reviews, you must ensure that all your location listings across various platforms are accurate and verified.
For example, restaurant listing sites like Zomato make the process easy, as they usually assign an account manager to upload your restaurant's details for you. Unfortunately, this is not the case for platforms like Google (via Google My Business), Facebook, and TripAdvisor.
Simple: you can’t respond to reviews if you haven’t claimed your listing. More importantly, you’ll want to control the information shown about your brand and locations.
Ask yourself:
Google My Business is especially important for location accuracy due to the massive number of users relying on Google Search and Maps to discover places nearby. If your information is inaccurate, you risk losing foot traffic to your outlets.
Now that you've claimed all your location listings, you’re ready to start replying to reviews.
There are two main approaches to managing review replies:
Once you’ve chosen your approach, start categorizing the reviews and create response templates. Reviews typically fall into three types:
And they usually touch on these aspects:
We recommend preparing several response templates for each review type, while leaving flexibility to personalize for specific compliments or complaints. The key is to always acknowledge negative reviews and thank positive ones. Even if you can’t offer a direct solution, recognizing the issue shows that you’re listening.
Hi {First Name}, thank you for the positive feedback!
We're always happy to hear good things from our customers.
Glad you enjoyed your experience at {Restaurant Name}—hope to see you again soon!
Hi {First Name}, we’re very sorry to hear about your experience.
We'd love to learn more so we can help resolve the issue.
Please let us know how we can contact you by sending your details to {support email} or filling out this form: {contact form URL}
We apologize for falling short and will have our customer success team look into this right away.
Hi {First Name}, thanks for your visit.
If there’s anything we can do to improve, please let us know.
At {Restaurant Name}, we always strive to deliver the best service and will take your feedback into account as we work to improve.
Many restaurant operators and marketers are not taking full advantage of the deep insights that can be extracted from online reviews. While identifying frequent compliments or complaints is essential, there’s much more to learn if you have the right reporting tools in place.
If you manage multiple branches, start comparing the average ratings side-by-side. This lets you identify top- and low-performing outlets weekly. At Localyser, we call this the “Location Ranking Report.” It ranks your outlets by average rating and the number of reviews over a specific timeframe.
This allows you to dive into underperforming outlets to uncover the top 1–3 issues dragging down ratings. On the flip side, analyzing high-performing outlets will reveal what makes them excel — often it's enthusiastic staff or consistently high food quality. The goal is to ensure a consistent customer experience across all your locations.
Monitoring the volume of reviews over time is crucial. A declining review count could signal an upcoming issue — such as fewer new customers or a shrinking customer base.
You should also compare your results with those of at least three nearby competitors for each outlet. This includes average ratings and review volume. Why? Because having a lower score and fewer reviews can drop your business down in Google’s local search results — affecting visibility and traffic.
Google’s search algorithm for local businesses and its Maps app relies on several signals to rank restaurants:
Together, these factors play a big role in ranking high in Google’s search results.
Once you're tracking reviews and responding properly, focus on keeping your average rating as high as possible. Never fake or buy reviews — this can lead to being banned from review platforms.
Instead, provide your customers with an easy way to leave real feedback on their favorite review platform. For instance, TripAdvisor provides hotels with an online tool that prompts guests to leave reviews directly.
For restaurants, the perfect time to ask for a review isn’t at the table or a week later — it’s the next day:
Train staff to ask for reviews — but don’t rely solely on them. A more automated approach is needed.
The most reliable way is to contact customers via email or SMS (if collected) or provide a "Rate Us" card with a QR code linking to review platforms.
Example: Localyser provides a customizable review request page per location to drive more traffic to the desired review site.
There’s more to reviews than meets the eye. Your digital presence and online reviews are now a core extension of your restaurant business and need to be actively managed for each branch.
Local, location-based marketing is growing rapidly in the Middle East. If you're interested in learning more, a recommended resource is the book Found Online by Jack Jostes.
Should I respond to all reviews?
Start by replying to important ones: negative and highly detailed positive reviews. Once comfortable, aim to reply to all.
What if the customer is lying? Should I confront them?
Never engage in public battles unless the review is libelous and legally actionable. Otherwise, take it offline and attempt a resolution. If successful, you can request the reviewer to update or delete the review.
What if it’s a food poisoning case?
Immediately contact your local health authority and fully cooperate. Take responsibility if it’s your fault and show online the proactive steps taken.
Can I use canned responses?
Templates are fine as long as you have enough variety and tailor them to each review’s content. Personalization is key.
I can’t respond to reviews — why?
You may not have claimed your business listing. Refer to the "Business Listing Management" section to fix this per platform.
Can I use positive reviews in my marketing?
Yes — they’re public. Feature them on your website, social media, and marketing materials to build trust.
Can I delete a review?
Not directly. You can ask the customer to delete or update the review after resolution. If the review is fake or abusive, report it to the platform for removal.
How should I deal with influencers or celebrities?
If an influencer asks for money upfront, it’s best to avoid them. However, working with an influencer who genuinely reviews your restaurant is common. Just negotiate terms that work for you.
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