Yelp Review Problems: Top 9 Reasons You Can't Always Trust The Review Site

In a pinch, Yelp can be a great resource for restaurant recommendations. If, for example, you're looking for a Thai restaurant in North Myrtle Beach, there's no easier, faster way to find your answer. The same goes for a laundromat or nail salon if you're just moving to a new town.

But for bigger decisions, like where to have your 30th anniversary dinner, Yelp may not be the best pick, for a whole host of reasons. If you need proof, you might want to take a peek at the top-rated restaurants on Yelp's Manhattan homepage. One of the five, Per Se, is a universally-admired restaurant with four stars from the New York Times and three stars from the Michelin's Red Guide. It's ranked number four. Number one is a Chinatown food stand called "Tofu Guy," and number three is a bakery called "New Kam Hing Coffee Shop." Given that we at HuffPost Food have never tasted said Guy's bean curd, we won't knock it too hard -- but better than Le Bernardin?

With that befuddling winner's chart in mind, here are nine real reasons you should not always trust Yelp reviews: