For the last five months, I’ve been acquiring questions via e-mail and social media posts to put together in a single Reader Questions Blog.
I don’t mind interacting with readers at all and love having conversations about one of my true passions in Wichita: trying out new restaurants.
If you ever have questions or want to share your thoughts, feel free to e-mail them to wichitabyeb@gmail.com. I try to reply to every e-mail that is sent in.
With that said, it’s time to hear from the readers. What you see below are real questions from real people. Enjoy:
How do you go about choosing which restaurants you review?
Most of the time it’s all done at random. It’s whatever I feel like trying on a whim. If it’s a new restaurant that interests me, my friends, family or colleagues, we will do our best to try them out soon. I am not a picky eater so I will try anything regardless of the location or type of food.
Then there are restaurants who also invite us out. I would say that accounts for 10-15% of the reviews.
If there are ever restaurants I should check out, I do take suggestions via e-mail.
Do restaurants know they are being reviewed?
I think the whole “secret shopper” method works best. You are getting a true authentic feel for the restaurant. Take for instance Denise Neil with the Eagle. It’s likely many restaurants recognize her and she will get better service based on her position. It’d be like walking into a car lot with a suit on and a briefcase of cash; of course you’ll get better service.
90% of the restaurants I check out have no idea who I am and/or that I’m coming in. That’s the best way to review a restaurant. Then you are getting the experience every typical diner would also receive. The times I go in and someone recognizes me or people I’m with, the service is great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine and all but I’d rather have a true authentic everyday experience than a biased one.
What’s your favorite burger in town?
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| What’s your favorite burger? |
This is a question I receive a lot. People sure do love their burgers in town. I tried out 30 burger restaurants over a 3 month span and came up with this list. It’s nothing I would ever do again and since then I don’t like burgers the way I used to.
Do you plan to do any other blogs similar to your best burger blog?
I have learned that overdoing anything will ruin future experiences with that food although that likely won’t stop me from doing something similar again. My next plan is to possibly eat at 30 different restaurants that serve Pho and rank them all. I did something similar six years ago but it was more limited in scope.
What’s your take on the Eagle’s Best Of voting or even the Wichita Business Journal’s polls for restaurants?
I get why they do it and have no problem with it at all.
What I have a problem with are the cheap services out there that can go spam a website’s poll and increase a vote tally and essentially “buy” a win. It’s really easy and affordable to do.
And besides, food preference is so biased towards the individual. What one person considers the best may not coincide with what you believe. Year after year, I read the Best Of and rarely agree with the results but it is what it is.
You suck at writing.
Thank you. All my Honors English teachers would agree….seriously there wasn’t one teacher in high school who was a fan of my writing. I’m so glad I tested out of it in college otherwise that trend would have continued.
What is the size of your reader base?
For some reason, this is a question I get asked often. On average I’ll receive anywhere from 40-50,000 readers a month. For the month of May that ballooned up to 70,000+ readers. It’s crazy that many people actually bother to take the time from their day to read something a simpleton like myself has to say.
The first year I started writing, I received maybe a couple hundred reads from friends who felt bad for me and gave me sympathetic clicks. Now it’s thousands of people who probably feel bad for me.
Do restaurant owners ever contact you after a blog?
Yes. I get both ends of the spectrum. When it’s a positive review, there are some who will reach out and thank me. They’ll give me updates on how business is doing. Some will mention that business went up because of a blog I wrote which is awesome to know that I was able to positively influence someone’s opinion and help a great restaurant out by word of mouth.
On the flipside, I’ve had some owners reach out to me after a negative review and it can get weird. For instance, I’ve had one get personal and that was a little much.
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| I could eat sushi everyday |
What’s your go to cuisine?
My reviews speak for themselves that I will try anything but my usual go to cuisines are either Asian or Mexican based. I love a good bowl of pho but also love tacos.
Have you ever thought about doing guest writers?
I have and decided against it. This is, first and foremost, a personal blog basically covering the experiences I have with the people in my life. What I do encourage anyone to do who likes to write is start their own blog. It’s so simple to do.
I find blogging to be a great outlet to write your thoughts. You don’t have to be a great or even a good writer to do it….. see myself as the prime example.
Your review on (so and so) was wrong. My experience was different.
I’m sure it was. Not everyone is going to have the same experience at a restaurant or feel the food taste the same way as I do. That’s the beauty of food, everyone’s opinion can be different and that’s OK. I say over and over not to take my word as gospel. If you don’t necessarily agree with what I say, I’ll live. But at least you can read the blog and look at some great pictures of food.
In your Q&A’s, you ask people what their three favorite restaurants are. What’s yours?
It’s very hypocritical of me but I can’t answer that. Having been to around 400 different restaurants there are just too many to name. Instead let me point you to the Wichita Foodie Bucket List. It lists a good number of my favorites.
Do you blog about every restaurant you go to?
No. Maybe 9 out of every 10 restaurants I’ll write about. The ones I don’t write about are either so average it isn’t worth my time, they close by the time I get to it or pure laziness.
What’s your favorite restaurant in town?
Hardest question to answer. It’s like asking a parent who their favorite child is. They can’t do it…. unless it’s my parents. I’m still pretty sure they have a favorite as much as they want to deny it.
Thank you for writing, I’ve been finding many new restaurants because of your blog.
Thank you and you are very welcome. It’s great to hear comments like that and makes me feel like I’m actually doing something good for the community or that this whole blogging isn’t a waste of time.
Before I started blogging every time I found a new restaurant, I loved I would tell all of my friends immediately. So to be able to pass on these great restaurants to a bigger base of people is even better.
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Thanks for reading and thanks for the questions.
If you ever have questions or want to share your thoughts, feel free to e-mail them to wichitabyeb@gmail.com. I try to reply to every e-mail that is sent in.
