I Don't Trust Food Reviews

I used to trust sites like Yelp to find good food close by, but experiences have shown that I really need to do a deeper analysis of who is reviewing the restaurant and what they are saying versus what I should interpret their posting to mean.
For example, I recently visited two different thai restaurants with a date - Bamboo Thai and Bangkok Spices. Both of these places had the same rating (4 out of 5 stars), with one deserving a 5 and the other, a 3. I got the same dish at both of these restaurants, so it wasn't a matter of preferring one type of thai curry over the other, it was a matter of flavor.
The first place I visited was Bangkok Spices, which is in an old Pizza Hut building on El Cajon Blvd. My date and I started out with the Tom Kah Soup, a coconut soup with a large amount of veggies which managed to be both sweet and spicy. I noticed many reviewers complained about a sheen of red chili oil on the soup, but I've accepted this to be standard on Thai and other SE Asian soups, and all it takes is a quick stir to make everything even and delicious. I got the Musman curry at a 4 out of 10,
and my date got the Drunken Noodles (don't remember the spice level),

both dishes vegetarian. We got so much food that I had enough leftover curry for two meals, and it was so good that I didn't mind. The vegetables were cooked just right, and the curry was so flavorful that I felt sad to ask for a box instead of finishing it. My date assures me that his drunken noodles were really good too, but I wouldn't know as I was too busy enjoying my own food to really test his (I only snuck a couple of bites). I know that the reason that Bangkok Spices got a 4 instead of a 5 is because of the service, but for an asian restaurant the service was actually pretty good. Besides, I'd take good food and bad service over bad food and good service any day.


Our next thai excursion was to Bamboo Thai Cuisine, located in a strip mall on University Ave. I was very hungry by the time we got to the restaurant, so it is saying something when I say I was unimpressed, as things tend to taste much better when I haven't eaten. I got the Musman curry again at a 4 out of 10, and the date got yellow curry fried rice, and both of us felt let down with our meal, as both were rather bland and unimpressive. I didn't care to try his (which is again saying something, as I am a notorious food thief), but my vegetables were overcooked (carrots should never be soggy) and the curry sauce was incredibly bland, no flavor and little heat. I would expect this from a mediocre yellow curry, but not my beloved Musman!! They then gave us this weird complimentary dessert, which was sweet but again not very flavorful. I would give them a 3 in hopes that this was just a bad night on their part, but I have no interest in testing that theory with a return trip.

My later readings of reviews led me to the conclusion that those giving high ratings were white people who didn't eat much Thai food before and therefore found this place flavorful and full of friendly staff. As I said before, I don't care about service, because as long as you serve me my food warm then you are getting a good tip, everything else is unnecessary. I'd rather be talking with my company and enjoying my food, not answering a waiter's annoying questions every few minutes.

This compared with my Indian food experiences has led me to the conclusion that people on the internet are not to be trusted, and care must be taken when selecting places for yummy food.