Yelp is where people go to find and review local businesses, especially restaurants, bars, and service providers. Each listing has a star rating, user photos, hours, and a map. Reviews tend to be detailed and opinionated, covering everything from food quality to service speed to whether the bathroom was clean. You can search by neighborhood, price range, and whether the place is good for groups, dates, or takeout.

The platform also handles reservations through Yelp Reservations and offers waitlist features at some restaurants. Business owners can respond to reviews and update their listings. Like any review site, the ratings can be skewed by a few loud voices, but reading multiple reviews usually gives you a reasonable sense of what to expect. It's most useful in larger cities where there are enough reviews to be statistically meaningful.