Londoners are flooding restaurants with fake reviews to trick tourists

In the age of Instagram, viral food trends and travel influencers, hidden gems don’t exist anymore, and a city’s ‘best-kept secret’ restaurant is often plastered all over social media. 

For locals, this can be infuriating. In Barcelona, we’ve seen residents arm themselves with water guns to chase tourists away, and in Greece, thousands flocked together in protest. 

Londoners, however, have taken a different approach: they’re catfishing tourists. 

That’s right, locals are luring unsuspecting tourists away from their favourite spots, with glowing, exaggerated reviews for places they’d never actually recommend. 

It all started after a Redditor took to the London forum to complain that the Black Pig sandwich shop in Borough Market had been ‘ruined by influencers’. 

The poster described it as ‘easily the best sandwich in London’ and was ‘livid’ to discover a queue of over 200 people’ after the shop had gone viral on Instagram and TikTok. 

User Greenawayer responded: ‘This is why it’s a bad idea to post your favourite spots in London. 

‘FYI, Angus Steakhouse does an awesome steak sandwich. Influencers should try it and be amazed.’

The comment received thousands of upvotes, sparking a wave of ironic and ‘love-bomb’ reviews of Angus Steakhouse in a bid to divert tourists to the steakhouse chain.

There are five Angus Steakhouse restaurants dotted around London’s West End. While there is nothing ‘bad’ about the restaurant, which offers a 10oz rump steak for £22, it’s more of a tourist favourite than a place locals feel attached to. 

‘They have THE BEST steak sandwiches,’ one person wrote in Reddit’s London thread. 

One user said: ‘It was bound to happen, apparently it’s Taylor Swift’s favourite place in London to eat, so the influencers were going to discover it eventually.’

Another wrote: ‘Omg is this THE London steakhouse where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce went on their first date? The one she sings about in that song on that album.’

One hyperbole-heavy review read: ‘I was on a hunger strike once. Survived for 56 days, it was the steak sandwich that broke my resistance. I am now a nutritionist and I always recommend the Carnivore diet, centred around this hallowed steakhouse.’

On Tripadvisor, thousands of reviews paint a similar picture. The steakhouse is rated four out of five stars, and while many could indeed be true, there’s a chance Londoners may have snuck in a few fake or exaggerated reviews. 

It’s a similar story over on X. One user even offered directions to a branch of the steakhouse. ‘The one by Victoria station go to that one,’ they wrote. 

Others, however, branded the trick as ‘cruel’. One user wrote: ‘This seems cruel to be honest.’ Another added: ‘I can’t see this any other way other than pathetic and embarrassing.’ 

Nevertheless, the trick could be working. One Reddit user shared a picture which shows a ‘mental queue’ outside the steakhouse’s Leicester Square restaurant. 

Or does it?

On closer inspection, the image actually just shows a rather busy Leicester Square, with camera actually pointing away from a nearby steakhouse.

The post received hundreds of comments, with users keeping up the joke. ‘Angus Steakhouse used to be my favourite underground spot, now it’s rammed with tourists.’

Another user, seemingly in jest, said: ‘This is really annoying. As a local, I’ve been going to the Angus Steakhouse on Leicester Square for years. It’s a hidden gem that only locals know about, far away from the usual tourist traps. Until now obviously.’

Now, while we don’t want to burst the bubble, we did ask the experts if this trick will actually work – and there’s no guarantee.

Speaking to Metro, Alex Harper SEO expert at Eighty Eight Digital, said: ‘By making reference to restaurant phrases like “the best steakhouse ever” and “the best steakhouse in London”, it can send positive signals to Google and search engines alike.

‘If these claims are linked to the Angus Steakhouse domain, as it is seen as a vote of trust, it could make the website more likely to show closer to the top of “steak restaurant” and “best restaurant” related search results.

‘However, given search engines are ever evolving and in themselves appreciate how their algorithms can be manipulated. 

‘The search results for “best steakhouse in London’” as with a lot of recommendation-led searches like this, actually show ‘Google Business Profile’ results ahead of Reddit results.’

As Alex said, a quick Google search for the best steakhouses in London shows Goodman, Flat Iron, and Hawksmoor Seven Dials as the top three results. 

Nice try though, Londoners! 

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