Yelp gives restaurants owners (after they have claimed their business listings at http://www.yelp.com/business/unlocking ) the ability to both respond publicly and privately to reviewers and while many reviewers are anonymous, at least you have a venue to respond.
I have seen (and heard) recommendations from some consultants that responses should be made and made privately. I personally don’t agree with this stance. I think a restaurant should definitely respond and respond publicly for two reasons: One, if a restaurant says publicly they will improve service, then they darn well better do it, and two, a public response lets others that are reviewing know that a restaurant has taken the time to respond and perhaps try to fix an issue. If a restaurant replies only privately, only the restaurant and the reviewer can see it. No one else sees that you as a restaurant care and have tried to reply and address a problem.
