Understanding Website Terms for Restaurant Recommendations and Reviews

Why terms of use matter when you share restaurant recommendations

Restaurant recommendations and recipe-style “where to eat” guides often feel informal: a quick search, a saved list, a few ratings, and a comment about what to order. But the moment you use a food and dining website that hosts listings, reviews, bookings, or ticketing, you are typically interacting under a set of terms of use. These terms explain what the website is, how it can be used, what you are allowed to post, and what the website can do with what you submit.

For anyone using a culinary discovery site—whether you are simply browsing restaurant listings, creating a shortlist for a weekend, or writing a detailed review after dinner—terms can affect your account, your privacy choices, how your review may be displayed, and what happens if something changes (such as opening times or prices). They also clarify the boundaries: personal use versus commercial use, acceptable conduct, and how disputes or complaints are handled.

This article outlines key provisions commonly found in website terms that are especially relevant to restaurant recommendations, venue reviews, and booking-related features. It focuses on practical implications: what you should expect as a user, what you should avoid, and what rights you may be granting when you post content.

Scope and acceptance: what you agree to by using the site

Terms of use generally apply to the website areas specified in the terms. By accessing the website, you agree to be bound by those terms. If you do not wish to be bound, the terms typically instruct you not to access or use the website. Some websites also distinguish between different regions or site areas, with separate terms for certain jurisdictions.

Terms are often updated periodically, and the terms may state the date of the most recent update. Continued use after changes can be treated as acceptance of the updated terms, and users are commonly told it is their responsibility to check for changes.

In addition to the terms of use, your use of a website may also be subject to related policies such as a privacy notice and cookie policy. If you make purchases or bookings, separate e-commerce terms and conditions may apply.

Creating and managing a user account

Many food and dining websites allow you to browse without logging in, but require an account for certain features, such as posting reviews, commenting, saving favorites, or making transactions. Where a user account is required, the terms often explain how it can be created—commonly via email address or via a social media login.

When you create or log in via a social media account, the website may request permission to access selected data from the nominated application. The terms may explain that this data is stored against your profile and used to enable the service to work. You may also be able to choose what personal information is displayed publicly on the website.

Account rules can include:

• Do not create multiple user accounts.
• Do not use another user’s account without their prior consent.
• Provide full and accurate information, including your real name, when creating the account.
• You are responsible for activity on your account, so keep your password secure.
• Notify the website immediately if you become aware of unauthorised use.

Deactivation is also addressed in many terms. If you choose to deactivate your account, the terms may state that your data will be deleted by the website. Separately, the privacy notice is typically referenced for details of how personal data is used.

Providing information and acceptable conduct

When a website asks you to provide information—whether during registration, when posting a review, or when making a booking—the terms often require that you provide true, accurate, current, and complete details. Optional information may be identified as not mandatory.

To protect the community and the service, terms of use frequently list prohibited activities. These prohibitions can matter directly to restaurant recommendations and reviews, because they govern what you can post and how you can interact with other users and listings. Common restrictions include not impersonating others, not providing misleading identity details, and not collecting information about other people without consent.

Other prohibited conduct often includes:

• Damaging, interfering with, or disrupting access to the website or impairing its functionality.
• Sending unsolicited emails or using the site for marketing or publicity abuse.
• Posting or transmitting defamatory, offensive, infringing, obscene, indecent, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable material.
• Uploading viruses, bugs, corrupt data, trojans, worms, or other harmful software.
• Attempting to obtain unauthorised access to the website.

For users who want to share restaurant recommendations responsibly, these rules point to a simple principle: keep contributions factual to your experience, respectful in tone, and free of personal data or promotional content that the terms do not allow.

Linking to the website

Some terms allow users to link to the website’s home page, but only under conditions designed to protect reputation and prevent confusion. Typically, linking is permitted if it is fair and legal and does not take advantage of or damage the website’s reputation. You also must not suggest any association, approval, or endorsement unless the website has permitted it.

Importantly, the website may reserve the right to withdraw permission to link at any time without notice. For culinary creators who share lists of places to eat, this means that even basic linking can come with conditions, especially if the link presentation implies partnership or endorsement.

User submissions: reviews, comments, and other contributions

Food and dining platforms often rely on user-generated content: reviews, ratings, comments, photos, and sometimes videos. Terms typically describe these as “user submissions” and require that they comply with the terms of use and any additional submission rules posted on the website.

A central point is licensing. By submitting content, you may grant the website a broad licence to use your submission. The licence described in many terms can be worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable, irrevocable, and non-exclusive, allowing the website to use, reproduce, share, copy, modify, publish, edit, translate, reformat, host, aggregate, distribute, perform, and display the submission, alone or as part of other works, in any form, media, or technology. The website may also have the right to sublicense those rights through multiple tiers of sublicensees.

In addition, other users of the website may receive a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to access the submissions through the website.

At the same time, the terms may state that you retain ownership rights in your submissions, subject to the licence you grant. In practice, this means you still own what you wrote, but you have granted the platform extensive rights to use it within the scope described.

Warranties you make when you post a review

When you post a restaurant review, terms often require you to warrant that you have the power and authority to grant the rights described above and that your submission meets specific standards. These standards commonly include that the submission does not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, does not violate laws or regulations, and is not defamatory, threatening, or harassing.

Some terms also limit what personal or promotional information can appear in a submission. For example, submissions may be required not to include email addresses, URLs to personal websites and/or blogs, or phone numbers. Another notable requirement can be that the submission is not a report of someone else’s experience.

For restaurant recommendations, this last point is especially relevant: if a platform requires first-hand experience, a review should reflect what you personally experienced rather than repeating what you heard from others.

Review integrity: first-hand experience and fake review policies

Many platforms set explicit expectations for review authenticity. A review may be required to be your description of the experience you had (for example, with friends, family, or on your own). Users are often encouraged to write reviews that are informative, entertaining, and helpful, including what they enjoyed or didn’t enjoy.

Terms may also require you to confirm that:

• The review is based on your own experience and is your genuine opinion.
• You have no personal or business relationship with what you are reviewing.
• You have not been offered any incentive or payment to write your review.
• You have no personal grievances to air.

Some terms explicitly state a zero-tolerance policy on fake reviews. For users, this means the platform may take review manipulation seriously and may remove content or restrict access if it believes the rules have been broken.

Style and formatting rules for reviews and comments

Beyond truthfulness, terms can impose quality and formatting requirements. These may include that submissions should be user-friendly and contain no profanities, threats, prejudiced comments, hate speech, or sexually explicit language, and nothing inappropriate for other users.

Other common requirements include:

• Write one review about a first-hand experience on any given event, restaurant, or attraction.
• Keep reviews original and avoid substantially quoting material from other sources.
• Do not include promotional material, including self-promotional URLs.
• Submit reviews only if you are over the age of 18.
• Submit with a valid email address.
• Do not include HTML tags, and avoid excessive ALL CAPS, slang, or typographic symbols.

For anyone posting culinary recommendations, these rules encourage clarity and originality. They also limit attempts to use reviews as advertising.

Management responses and moderation

Some platforms allow management or representatives of venues, restaurants, events, or attractions to respond to user reviews. These responses may be identified through the responding party’s account.

Moderation rights are typically broad. A website may reserve the right to remove a review or comment, or to give a management response, at any time and for any reason. It may also reserve the right to remove user submissions without notice, including for breaches of submission conditions or intellectual property rights.

Terms often clarify that the website does not endorse user submissions or the opinions, recommendations, or advice expressed in them, and disclaims liability connected with user submissions. Users may also be warned that they could be exposed to submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and that the website is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, or safety of such submissions.

If you believe a submission is inaccurate, offensive, indecent, objectionable, or infringes intellectual property rights, the terms may provide a contact email for complaints. The website may then investigate and/or remove the submission at its discretion.

Accuracy of listings: why you should double-check details

Restaurant and venue information can change quickly: opening times, performance dates, schedules, and prices are all capable of change. Terms may say the website will use reasonable endeavours to verify accuracy where practical, but also that it cannot ensure complete accuracy of information that may change.

As a result, many terms strongly recommend that, before relying on changeable information, you confirm details with the applicable venue, facility, or service provider. For diners using a site to plan a meal, this is a practical reminder to verify key details directly—especially when timing or pricing is critical.

Website availability, changes, and monitoring

Terms often state that the website is maintained using reasonable endeavours, but may be subject to change. Access may be suspended temporarily without notice due to system failure, maintenance, repair, or reasons beyond the website’s control.

The website may reserve the right to modify or withdraw the website (or parts of it) for business and operational reasons, and may try to give reasonable notice of suspension or withdrawal. It may also reserve the right to monitor activity and content, investigate reported violations or complaints, and take actions such as issuing warnings, suspending or terminating access, attaching conditions to access, or removing materials.

Some terms also state that users are not eligible for compensation if they cannot use parts of the website due to failure, suspension, or withdrawal.

Third-party links and external resources

Food and dining websites often link out to third-party sites, including booking partners, advertisers, or venue pages. Terms commonly state that third-party websites have their own terms and privacy policies, and that you must comply with them if you access those sites.

The website may disclaim responsibility for the availability of external sites and resources and may state it does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for the privacy practices or content of third-party sites, including advertising, products, services, or other materials. It may also clarify that third-party links do not imply endorsement, affiliation, association, or legal authorisation to use intellectual property accessible through those links.

Bookings, tickets, and other e-commerce transactions

Some dining and culture platforms offer the ability to acquire tickets, packages, goods, products, and services, make bookings for venues and events, obtain other benefits, and enter into commercial transactions. Terms may describe these as e-commerce transactions and clarify that they may be offered both by the website operator and by commercial partners.

Where you transact with a partner, you may be required to agree to separate terms and conditions directly with that partner. Where you transact with the website operator, separate e-commerce terms and conditions may apply depending on the jurisdiction in which products are delivered. Terms may also state that the website operator cannot be held responsible for transactions you enter into with a partner.

Disclaimers, liability limits, and your “own risk” use

Terms commonly state that you use the website at your own risk and that the website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis for information and personal use only, without representation or endorsement. Unless specified in separate product or service terms, websites may disclaim warranties—express or implied—relating to the website and offerings, including implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, availability, non-infringement, compatibility, security, accuracy, condition, completeness, or reliability.

They may also disclaim that the service will meet your requirements or be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the website and servers are free of viruses or bugs. Some terms state the website is not responsible for loss of content or material resulting from uploading or downloading.

Liability clauses often state the website operator is not liable for damages (including loss of use, data, or profits) arising out of use or performance of the website, provision or failure to provide services, or information obtained through the website, whether based on contract, tort, or otherwise. However, terms may also state that liability is not disclaimed where it would be unlawful to do so, and that statutory consumer rights are not affected.

Some terms also address defective digital content: if defective digital content supplied by the website damages your device or digital content due to the website’s failure to use reasonable care and skill, the website may repair the damage or pay compensation. But it may not be liable for damage you could have avoided by applying updates, or damage caused by failing to follow installation instructions or minimum system requirements.

If you are dissatisfied with the website or the terms, the terms may state your sole remedy is to stop using the website, except as specifically provided.

Security and viruses

Even where a website takes precautions to detect viruses and ensure security, terms may state it cannot guarantee the website is virus-free and secure. The website may disclaim liability for loss or damage resulting from viruses or security breaches and may not warrant compatibility with your systems, software, or hardware.

Restrictions and enforcement

Terms often allow a website to restrict access, refuse to correspond, and/or remove your details from a database without prior notice in certain circumstances. These can include regulatory or statutory changes, events beyond reasonable control (such as technical difficulties, capacity problems, or communications failures), or situations where the website considers you are abusing the service or acting in breach of the terms.

They may also state that a failure or delay in enforcing compliance is not a waiver, that certain third-party enforcement rights do not apply, and that if one provision is unenforceable it is severable without affecting the remainder. Terms may also specify that the terms and related policies constitute the entire agreement for website use, and may set out how notices are given (for example, by email).

Finally, terms may specify the governing law and jurisdiction—for example, that English law governs and that users submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of certain courts.

Content ownership and limits on reuse

For culinary readers and creators, one of the most important sections is usually the intellectual property and content use rules. Terms often state that the website and its content—information, graphics, and images—are owned by or licensed to the website operator or related entities.

Users may be allowed to view the website on a screen and print contents for personal and non-commercial use only. Beyond that, terms often prohibit using the website or content in other ways, including transferring, copying, publishing, reproducing, modifying, or creating new works from any part of the content, website, or source code.

Some terms also restrict electronic reproduction by uploading or downloading and may require prior written consent for broader reuse. In addition, the terms may include explicit restrictions on using the content on artificial intelligence or machine learning platforms, tools, software, or systems in any way, including for training or retrieval-augmented generation, without prior written approval. They may also prohibit providing archived or cached datasets containing the content to another person or entity.

For anyone building culinary newsletters, guides, or recommendation lists, these provisions emphasize that browsing and personal use are treated differently from republishing or reusing content elsewhere.

Practical takeaways for diners and reviewers

• Keep reviews first-hand and genuine: write what you experienced, not what you heard.
• Avoid promotional content: reviews are not meant to be advertising, and URLs and contact details may be disallowed.
• Expect moderation: platforms may remove submissions or restrict access if they believe terms are breached.
• Double-check changeable details: opening times and prices can change, so confirm with the venue when needed.
• Understand the licence you grant: posting may give the platform broad rights to use and display your submission.
• Use content for personal purposes only: printing or viewing may be allowed, but copying or republishing is often restricted.

Used thoughtfully, restaurant recommendation and review features can help communities discover great meals and avoid disappointments. Understanding the terms of use helps set expectations about what you can post, how it may be used, and how to participate in a way that is both constructive and compliant.