While I agree with the other comments, I'm going to call this a dick move of the week. I understand that google wasn't buying yelp just for the sake of owning yelp, but Jesus Christ, yelp is a terrible terrible website for reviews of anything(I can only vouch for the NYC yelp). It's a pretty widely regarded fact here that yelp reviews do not count for shit, thus making the website a joke. They should have taken the money and ran.
Edit: If you don't agree, feel free to browse the reviews of NYC restaurants for some great advice by hundreds of thousands of self-proclaimed culinary experts and trendy hipsters who's idea of a good bar is one with big game hunter in the back and a 95% mustache rate.
Sounds way too meta to me. You have to review the reviews to actually find a useful review? If the site is being abused and the reviews need to be filtered than it's effective usefulness goes way down.
I second nymag. Also, while not a replacement for yelp, Per Se, keeping up with ny.eater.com will ensure you know of all the interesting/amazing places to eat/go out.
Word of mouth really only works if you live there, not so much if you're just passing through. And the time you really need a site like yelp is for all those times you're just passing through place and want to know who will do you a good pizza.
That's my use case for yelp like sites anyway. When I'm at home I go out for dinner on avg. once or twice a week or so and go to a new restaurant probably less than 1 time in 10, so my need for restaurant reviews is quite low. I also have plenty of other local sources for good reviews when I need them
When I'm traveling I eat out basically every night and visit a new restaurant pretty close 100% of the time. On the whole I have much greater need for a site with reviews of restaurants in not my home town than in my home town, and that hardly seems niche to me.
You're thinking like a movie critic more than a business owner. The quality of the reviews counts for squat if the cash flows are positive. In the end, Google thinks it's a financially sound acquisition aligned with the company's vision. That is what matters.
Edit: If you don't agree, feel free to browse the reviews of NYC restaurants for some great advice by hundreds of thousands of self-proclaimed culinary experts and trendy hipsters who's idea of a good bar is one with big game hunter in the back and a 95% mustache rate.