It's time for another edition of Adventures in Shilling, in which we fight shilling the best way we can, by shaming tasteless, unscrupulous shills into submission. Well, that's the plan, at least. Fight shills yourself by dropping offensive links to tips@eater.com
This week we spot shills in Citysearch, Savory Cities, and our own comments for restaurants across Midtown, Chelsea, Grammercy, FiDi, and Soho. Another attempt to keep the shillers at bay:
This is one of those potential shills where it's hard to tell whether this is just an overexcited Citysearcher or a straight up friend of the owner. The exclamation points are a tad overdone: "What a place.. Huge space with balance energy. Great decor, unbelievably great food, quite reasonable.. Satay bar is offering some cool items.. Was at the oepning party!! It was grand..Lots of veg choices..Go with colleagues, spouse, girl/boy firend, family, business clients..it offers different sections to meet your need & mood.. Just go.. And, have best ever dining experience!! i am surely going to be a regular visitor!!"
Shill Probability: 59:%
A touching response to the Houston's/Hillstone name change and the assertion it's all a scheme to avoid listing calorie counts: "I've eaten at Houston's since I was a child and it has never once disappointed me. Whether it's Houston's or Hillstone, calories or not, it is a heart-warming atmosphere to have great, soul-fulfilling food and reliable service. Anyone with the time to knock it, needs to look elsewhere to the new, modern and cold, trendy restaurants quickly consuming manhattan and other big cities. Houstons is not just a name but a tradition that will be around for a long time."
Shill Probability: 62%A couple of suspect comments on the Perle page on Citysearch. Here's one: "I stopped in to this new restaraunt a few days ago and was thrilled to find a place that be ZERO pub atmosphere and all classy ambiance. I had a wonderful dinner: the grilled octupus was so good we ordered another! The salmon was presented beautifully and was as good as it looked and the duck was to die for! Their wine list is extensive and the service was perfect. We followed the owner downstairs for a tour of the lounge and it was filled with a happy after work crowd, enjoying the candlelight atmosphere of the lounge. I couldn't belive my eyes when he brought me around the corner and ther i a HUGE second ANDDDD third space to chill out and have some drinks. very posh!"
Shill Probability: 84%Over on Savory Cities, we have a member "James Bond" who has written two reviews, both extremely positive, for sister restaurants Delicatessen and Cafeteria. His thoughts on the former: " great food, great service. a must try!" And the latter: "I love the food here! Great "down home" cooking with a slightly upscale feel - and the prices are very reasonable!"
Shill Probability: 92%
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