Yesterday, I started an account on Yelp. Why? It seems whenever I’m doing a search on a resturaunt, Yelp results are on the top of list. The user reviews are thorough, and generally pretty good. Though whenever reading user reviews, I feel they must be read with a grain of salt. There are too many reviewers who want to rant. The problem with rants is that they often focus on specific problems that are usually particular to that day or that situation. I usually don’t gather that much information from these types of rants.

I eat out a lot, too much really. Given my eating habits, I feel like should be adding something else other than inches to my waistline. Yelp seems like a good community and has effectively leveraged itself as social network and not just a user review site. I also have accounts on Facebook and Linkedin, but I don’t really use them. Yelp seems like a good place for me to make a more active foray into social networking given it’s centered on something I love, food. Of course the beauty of Yelp! is that it’s not just about food like Chowhound. Yelp wants to fry bigger fish.

So what was my first review of? The new Orinoco in Brookline Village. Orinoco is a Venezuelan restaurant and fantastic value. Everything is under $20, and most entrees hover between $13 and $17. It’s hip place, though I hear the South End location is much hipper.