If I’m looking for a quick bite at a restaurant, I’ll usually want it to be close. Real close. That’s where Yelp’s local mapping feature is helpful. I know that Yelp has had Google Maps integration for a while now, but I just recently noticed the tight integration between the map and the reviews. After you search, hovering over a listed restaurant pops up more information on the corresponding map point.

An even more useful feature is that the listings update automatically when the map is dragged. Simply drag around the area you’re interested in and watch as nearby restaurants pour into view. The listings on the left hand column also update as you drag.

It’s really a great tool for those times when you’re not exactly sure what’s around and are flexible about what you want to eat. Of course, clicking on the mapped restaurants brings up their reviews page. Sure, Google Local may have a bigger and better mapping interface, but I like Yelp’s wide range of personal reviews better. My only complaint is that you can’t make their map larger.

Sutori officially launched yesterday, and is now in public beta instead of private beta testing. While there are many wonderful user review sites out there (e.g., Epinions, BuzzShout, Yelp, RateItAll), Sutori is meant to be specifically for consumers to voice their grievances or good experiences. Users of Sutori can create their profile, write a review about the company or product, and tag each review. There is also a social networking aspect since you are able to add other reviewers as friends. The “1/0″ that you see in the screen shot below represents “agree/disagree”, although that isn’t readily obvious to someone who hasn’t signed up for the site. One issue I have is that once you agree or disagree you can’t change your mind at a later time.

The orange and red colors above represent the levels of goodwill for a company, product, or brand. I agree with Pete Cashmore who points out that the range of colors should be better differentiated. However, it was a good idea to incorporate colors into the reviews which helps beautify the overall look of the site.

Sutori was founded by a small team of Blast Radius employees who wanted to practice what they preached. The site was built using ruby-on-rails and has a wonderful UI that lends to a nice user experience. The tags help build Sutori’s Web 2.0 street credibility, and I was most impressed by the overall look of the site. The biggest challenge that Sutori faces comes in the form of a question that all user review sites have to answer: How do you get people to go to your site, log on, and write a review about something? It is interesting for me to see how other review sites answer this question.

My favorite Sutori story is Tara Hunt’s negative review of U-Haul. I seem to move at least once a year and I haven’t yet had a good experience with U-Haul. In fact, I feel like they’ve gotten progressively worse, and for some odd reason, I continue to use them.

After seeing Richard’s chmod 777 post, and reviewing a new mega-reviews site, it got me thinking that it’s a great time to have an opinion on the web. There are a vast number of reviews and rankings sites out there that will let you throw in your 2 cents (and many more launching each day). So, here I present my list of reviews sites.

Notice that I’m leaving out social news and simple voting sites like Digg. The focus of this list will be on individuals making their voice heard through reviews on specific items.

Products
Amazon
The Mint Pages
iNods - A product reviews aggregator
ResellerRatings
MyPickList
Epinions

Media (Books, Music, Films, etc.)
All Consuming
Books Well Read
Reader2
MyFilmz
Criticker

Housing
Apartment Ratings

Brick and Mortar
Yelp
Judy’s Book
Burritophile
Zipingo
Add Your Own - Manhattan restaurants and reviews
Insider Pages

Anything and Everything
The Best Stuff in the World
RateItAll

Web 2.0 and Websites
BuzzShout
Web 2.0 List
Neobinaries
StumbleUpon
BringALink

Wine
Cork’d
TastyDrop
Nosewine
Wind Diary

Computer, Electronics, Gaming
gibbity

Travel
TripConnect
Epic Trip
43 Places
Trip Advisor
TravBuddy
IgoUgo

Education
RateMyProfessor

This list is by no means complete, so please comment below with your favorite sites that let you rant and rave about your favorite things.

In the midst of countless reviews sites ranging from Yelp and Judy’s Book, to All Consuming and RateItAll, comes The Best Stuff in the World, a mega-reviews site that lets users pontificate on what the best stuff in the world is. So, does TBSW have a chance in this already crowded space? I think it does.

The key to TBSW is that it focuses on the “best.” Even though many of the other sites do focus on the rankings and dividing the wheat from the chaff, TBSW has the advantage that they’re only focused on the absolute wheatiest. This focus permeates all parts of the site, where the phrase “The Best XXX” is used liberally, and as a precursor (and postcursor) to almost all statements. For anyone who is too impatient to wade through multiple reviews, TBSW could be a shortcut to simple find what people think are the best in each category.

As a reviews and ranking site, TBSW’s implementation is simple and well-thought out–no suprises here. You can view each item, see other user’s comments, propose a “best” item, propose new categories for items, add images, bookmark them, and see who else likes the item. What’s interesting is that since items can be categorized into multiple categories, you can surf through from item to item, looking at what’s better. For example, Wikipedia may be ranked as a better website than Flickr, but Flickr may be ranked as a better Web 2.0 website than Wikipedia. I think that after a while, the six degrees of separation rule would come into effect, allowing me to surf from Flickr to Chanel Sunglasses by finding things that are better. It could potentially be an interesting way to surf related items that are naturally connected via categories.

Of course, just like any other social reviews site, there is the possibility of gaming the system to artificially inflate items. Right now, there appears to be no captcha or any human authentication involved in submission, so bots could easily be used to attack the service. However, there appears to not be any misbehavior so far (besides the usual silliness like saying “Anything” is the best in the world), and there also seems to be quite a few members that are already addicted to submitting their best items.

Again, TBSW has the advantage of simplicity in the complex world of reviews and ranking sites. If they keep the user influx up, their site could be a good resource for novices to find the best in any category.