[jyl]

Individual reviews can be garbage or gold, when the number of reviews gets high enough (>10-20), the average is usually a pretty accurate assessment, relative to the standards in the location.

E.g. In Portland the 4 and 5 rated Chinese restaurants are in fact the best ones in town, even if by Bay Area standards they would be 3 and 4, and by Podunk standards they'd deserve straight 5.