TripAdvisor's #1 rated restaurant for London does not exist. Every single review was faked.

[DetlefK]

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor?utm_campaign=sharebutton

One £10 burner later and "The Shed at Dulwich" officially exists. Now, I need to list an address – but doing so makes easy work for any skeptical fact checkers. Plus, I don't technically have a door. Instead, I just list the road and call The Shed an "appointment-only restaurant".

Onto my online presence: I buy a domain and build a website. Hot spots are all about quirks, so to cut through the noise I need a concept silly enough to infuriate your dad. A concept like naming all of our dishes after moods.

...

I start out ranked at 18,149, the worst restaurant in London, according to TripAdvisor. So I'm going to need a lot of reviews. Reviews written by real people on different computers, so the anti-scammer technology TripAdvisor utilises doesn't pick up on my hoax.

...

The first couple of weeks are easy: we crack the top 10,000 in no time, but I don't expect much in the way of inquiries quite yet. Then, one morning, something extraordinary happens: The Shed's burner phone goes off. Startled and hungover, I pick up.

"Hello? Is that The Shed?"

"… Yes?" I sound like a radiator that needs bleeding.

"I've heard so much about your restaurant... I know it’s a long shot, as you get booked up so quickly, but I don’t suppose you have a table tonight?"

Panicking, I abruptly respond: "Sorry, but we're fully booked for the next six weeks" and slam down the phone. I'm stunned. A day later, I feel another vibration: a 70th birthday booking. Four months in advance. Nine people.

...

Seemingly overnight, we're now at #1,456. The Shed at Dulwich has suddenly become appealing. How?

I realise what it is: the appointments, lack of address and general exclusivity of this place is so alluring that people can’t see sense. They’re looking at photos of the sole of my foot, drooling. Over the coming months, The Shed's phone rings incessantly.

...

By the end of August, we’re at #156.

...

Winter has arrived, and we're at number 30.

But that position won't budge, no matter how many reviews I throw at it.

...

And then, one night, I get an email from TripAdvisor. Title: "Information Request". Fuck – the game is up. I've been rumbled. My fingers tremble as I open it: 89,000 views in search results in the past day; dozens of customers asking for information.

Why? Well, on the 1st of November, 2017, six months after listing The Shed at Dulwich online:

It's London's top-rated restaurant.

A restaurant that doesn't exist is currently the highest ranked in one of the world’s biggest cities, on perhaps the internet's most trusted reviews site.

[LuckyLib]

1. So there you go. Created reality. Fake news. Hmmm.

[sl8]

2. Wait -- are you telling me that my reservation is no good?

[Codeine]

3. Their vegan blood pudding is amazing.

Five stars.

[jmowreader]

4. I'm sorry, Codeine...

I appreciate the culinary world thrives on finding the Next Big Thing...

but I simply must put my foot down at this sick and sinister practice of bleeding-out vegans to make pudding!

[Codeine]

5. Nah, we're all too anemic.

Our blood won't congeal right.

[diva77]

7. LOL!!

[kwassa]

6. I've looked at their reviews of our local restaurants and decided ....

They are out to lunch.

[jmowreader]

8. Yelp is the same way

[kwassa]

9. It depends ....

the stars on Yelp mean almost nothing, as almost any restaurant that can stay in business exists between 3 and 4 stars. Below 3, watch out. Over 4, probably a cult following this place, but maybe not one you belong to.

Individual reviews can be meaningful, or not, depending on what the writers say. Sometimes I wonder if they are writing about the same restaurant that I visited.

[malthaussen]

10. I was sure this was satire, but it seems legit.

Yes, we have definitely entered a time when the truth cannot be ascertained with any accuracy.

-- Mal