So one of my little email updates comes to me in the form of Yelp reviews in Sunset Park. Occasionally a place like Ba Xuyen or Tacos Matamoros or Pacificana will receive more than one review on the same day, but it's rare. Imagine my shock to see that Maria's Bistro Mexicano received four 5 out of 5 reviews and one 4 out of 5 review on the same day. Yes folks, April 6th was a busy day for Yelp regarding Maria's. You know I had to check out these reviews.Sure enough, all of the aforementioned reviews except for one were by people who had (as of Tuesday) only written one review: Maria's Bistro Mexicano. This is always suspect, at least to me. Whether the review is good or bad, it's never truly trustworthy when it's the only review a person has written.
My unscientifically arrived at guess would be that someone who is a friend or associate of Maria's Bistro Mexicano saw a review by Marcus V. that resulted in one star ; Marcus arrived at that score never having been to the restaurant. He was actually only opining on an inspection in February that resulted in 47 violation points. (The March inspection lowered that to 16 points.) That's not a valid review. But then, neither are reviews that are merely written to counter a negative review.
I'd like to think that Maria's has improved of late; I've made no secret of my disappointment with it. However, I've also had some delicious and sociable brunches and dinners there. Has anyone been to Maria's lately? Will their happy hours and outdoor garden draw in more clientele?
