Looks like the Stranger is now trying to be Yelp.com. Stick to what you know, anal sex and getting trashed at the Cha Cha.

Is that the kitty from Tost?

Or the one from Nectar?

I trid to posted a reviewz, and it eated my reviewz!

Yay!!! I'm excited to look up bars by features! Here I come Karaoke....

OK, I sent the URL to a friend just so she could see the kitty picture. I'm so lame.

JenK, don't feel bad; I did the same thing.

That cat is now the wallpaper on my laptop. It bears an uncanny resemblence to me.

Like Cato (but less snarky) I'm a little confused by The Stranger's foray into yelp.com territory. I mean, I'm all for user reviews, but it seems like hip geeks who want to write about bars & restaurants are probably already doing so on yelp, and aren't looking for another place to post their reviews.

Then again, maybe The Stranger is going to feature some of the best reviews on the Slog or even in the paper, so there's an incentive for folks to write their reviews here as opposed to anywhere else? Otherwise, I don't quite get the appeal. Yelp's got a huge, hip community and since reviewing is all they do, they've got better features and tools than the Stranger would ever have the resources to develop.

Anyhoo. Strange!

Yeah, commenting is for blog posts only.

This is a great service, thanks.

Please note: The Still Life Coffeehouse is listed in the Fremont section. It's been closed and replaced with the 35th Street Bistro, which is already in your Restaurant Section.

I dunno, @8. I'm on Yelp, and I don't think the people I've read much of are particularly hip. At first I thought it was cool because there are so many reviews of places I've never been and now am interested in checking out, but I'm also wary because, based on most of the reviews on Yelp of places I do frequent or are familiar with, I don't think I have much in common with most of the people reviewing on Yelp. This is not the case with other Stranger readers, I would hazard to guess.

Yelp isn't local, isn't complete, and their userbase is dorky. I mean, why does The Stranger have movie reviews and sex advice? We've already got New Times and Dr. Drew.

Dr. Drew is hot in a dorky, wholesome sort of way.

Dr. Drew is totally hot and yes, @12 that was a succinct version of what I was trying to say. Yay!

Yeah, yelp can blow me, but they have to pay me in advance.

Also, yeah, the coding needs work, as my reviews won't save, but you knew that.

Also, Al's is in Wallingford, not the U District.

That's all of my whining. I love that you're now doing reader bar reviews.

Yelp isn't local, isn't complete

Yelp isn't local...yup, neither is Apple but they make a much better OS than Microsoft.

The Stranger offers a complete guide? Bah!! What kind of nonsense is that. A fourteen word review of Teddy's hardly does the place justice.

I like the Yelp review better....
"I am giving Teddy's five stars, because failing to do so would be like telling my mom she's a slut."

regarding yelp, they probably make money off of user reviews. the stranger must want to make money off of user reviews, too.

I don't like wading through reviews of joints in Oak Harbor and Puyallup and upscale places that working class people don't go to, to find a useful review of watering holes and breakfast joints in Wallingford, and I'm pretty sure no one else in Seattle does either.

The local reviews here do serve a unique purpose.

Other sites have comments by readers and I'm glad The Stranger does it. I think the stranger's restaurant thing is a ton better with reader comments. I hope with the bar guide The Stranger opens up commenting to every part of the site: Movie, live shows etc.
A big reason Slog is interesting is there's a bunch of smart people participating and that's why the restaurant reviews work for me. I don't know who "yelp" people are or city search people are.

i can has alcohol? ^_^