Frequently Asked Questions

What is Goler?

Goler is a venue intelligence platform that analyzes visitor feedback to produce honest, data-driven verdicts about restaurants, cafes, and hospitality venues. We extract specific claims from reviews, classify them into quality signals and risk signals, and score venues on two independent dimensions: Quality and Risk.

How is Goler different from Google Maps, TripAdvisor, or Yelp?

Traditional platforms aggregate star ratings into a single number. A restaurant with 5,000 five-star reviews and 60 one-star reviews reporting food poisoning will still show 4.7 stars.

Goler separates quality from risk. A venue can score well on quality and still receive a high risk score if multiple visitors report food safety incidents, hygiene problems, or deceptive practices. We believe you deserve to know both.

What does the Risk score mean?

The Risk score reflects the density of safety-related claims found in visitor feedback — reports of suspected food poisoning, spoiled or undercooked food, pest sightings, hygiene violations, allergen misinformation, and similar incidents.

A high Risk score does not mean the venue is universally dangerous. It means a statistically significant number of visitors reported experiences that raise safety concerns.

What does the Quality score mean?

The Quality score reflects the overall dining experience as described by visitors: food taste, preparation, presentation, service, atmosphere, and value for money. It accounts for both positive and negative feedback.

What is a NO-GO verdict?

A NO-GO verdict is issued when the density of critical risk signals exceeds our threshold. This typically involves multiple independent reports of food poisoning, pest infestations, or severe hygiene failures. It is a recommendation to exercise extreme caution, not a prohibition.

Can I trust the verdicts?

Our verdicts are generated algorithmically from publicly available visitor reviews and feedback submitted directly through the Goler platform. Every claim is extracted, classified, and scored using a documented, versioned methodology applied uniformly across all venues. No venue receives special treatment.

Why does my venue have a high Risk score when I have thousands of positive reviews?

Because positive reviews and safety incidents measure different things. Five thousand people saying your food is delicious does not cancel out nineteen people reporting food poisoning.

We pay special attention to negative reviews — particularly those containing specific, verifiable claims about food safety, hygiene, and deceptive practices. This is by design, not a flaw.

Doesn't focusing on negative reviews create a biased picture?

No. Our system processes every available review — positive and negative — through the same pipeline. The Quality score reflects the full range of visitor feedback. The Risk score specifically tracks safety-related signals.

Both numbers come from the same complete dataset.

But those negative reviews could be fake or from competitors.

They could be. And positive reviews can be incentivized or written under social pressure. Review manipulation cuts both ways.

Our system evaluates the specificity and consistency of claims. A review describing a specific health outcome carries different analytical weight than a generic positive review.

If you believe specific reviews are fraudulent, report them to the platform where they were posted. For reviews submitted through Goler, you may file a dispute.

A cockroach was spotted once. That doesn't mean my kitchen is infested.

If a cockroach was observed in the dining area, it was visible enough to reach a public space. Pest control professionals confirm that visible cockroaches in customer-facing areas typically indicate a larger population in hidden spaces. We report what visitors documented.

My overall Google rating is 4.8. Doesn't that prove quality?

It proves that most people who chose to leave a review had a positive experience. It does not account for selection bias: satisfied customers are far more likely to leave reviews than dissatisfied ones.

A 4.8-star average on Google with a Goler Risk score of 75 does not mean one of us is wrong. It means we are measuring different things.

How can I improve my Goler score?

By addressing the specific issues documented in visitor feedback. Our venue reports include detailed breakdowns of extracted claims, organized by category.

We do not offer paid score improvements. The only way to improve your score is to improve your venue.

Can I request removal of my venue from Goler?

Goler analyzes publicly available information. Venues that operate in public and accept public reviews are subject to public analysis. We do not remove venues from the platform.

If you believe our analysis contains a factual error, you may contact us with specific details and we will review the claim.

How does the scoring system work?

Every visitor review is processed through a natural language pipeline that extracts individual claims, classifies them against a taxonomy of approximately 89 signals, assigns a confidence score, and categorizes each as a quality signal or risk signal.

Quality and Risk scores are computed independently based on the density, specificity, and confidence of relevant claims. The methodology is versioned, documented, and applied uniformly to every venue.

Why two separate scores instead of one overall rating?

Because collapsing quality and safety into a single number hides critical information. A restaurant can serve food that tastes excellent and still have a rodent problem. One number cannot express both realities. Two numbers can.

What are Review Integrity Alerts?

Review Integrity Alerts flag patterns suggesting the review profile may not accurately represent the typical visitor experience: abnormal rating distributions, sudden spikes in positive reviews, patterns consistent with solicited reviews, and discrepancies between sentiment and specific claims.

An integrity alert does not mean reviews are fake. It means the overall rating should be interpreted with additional caution.

Do you manually review venues?

No. All analysis is automated and algorithmic. The same pipeline, the same signal taxonomy, and the same scoring thresholds apply to every venue. We do not manually adjust scores for any reason.

Is Goler's analysis legally defensible?

Goler presents statistical analysis of publicly available visitor feedback. We do not fabricate claims, attribute statements to unnamed sources, or express editorial opinions about venues. Every claim traces back to a specific visitor review.

Our verdicts are clearly labeled as algorithmic assessments based on available data, accompanied by disclaimers noting that individual experiences may vary.

What if a venue threatens legal action?

We stand behind our methodology. Our system processes all available reviews through a uniform, documented pipeline. We do not single out venues, and we do not editorialize. If a venue disputes specific factual claims, the appropriate course is to address the original reviewers and platforms. For feedback submitted through Goler, venues may file a formal dispute.

Does Goler accept payment from venues?

No. Goler does not accept payment from venues, does not offer premium listings, does not sell score improvements, and does not allow advertising to influence verdicts. Our revenue model is independent of venue relationships. This is non-negotiable.