Dining out...badly

I was conned. Little Miss Cynic was conned. I was invited to dinner, at a pub that my friend, who works as a food company rep, has just "discovered". Lovely idea, not far from St Neots, little village, local food, top five in one of those "Hidden Secrets" websites for restaurants/hotels.
As I drove up through the village I realised I had been there before, and my heart sank. Such a bad experience previously, I had blotted out all recollections of this place. Jodie and I had dined there on a bizarre little "lets go to dinner, don't care where" type things. The food was dissapointing and the waitress bumped Jodies chair so often she had started to feel slightly sea sick, never mind irritated.
I thought I would give it a second go. Be fair, the chef may have been off- no excuse, but still- they could have been short staffed, a new waitress, the delivery not turned up ya-de-ya-de-ya.
S and I met in the carpark, and she started to tell me how this chef had been so enthusiastic about his food. How he made certain all his ingrediants were local, rare breed meat- form Grasmere who are lovely- and vegetables from Potten in Beds.
After finding our table, waitng ten minutes to be asked if we would like a drink, a further ten before we could order food, being shown only the bar snack menu and a theme menu; sausage and mash some of which they had already run out of at 7:45. We chose steak. Eventually it arrived- lovely hand cut chips, beautifully cooked. The seak had been cooked on a char grill. Tasted good but tough, the mushrooms were over done and the tomato was just a tomato. The cheese selection was nice, but anyone can do that.
Apart from the fact that I didn't enjoy the food, which could have been cooked better, I felt very conned. The Chef and his parents, who I believe own the place have obviously been very astute at marketing, and got all the locals to vote for the pub, therefore putting up it's ranking to the top 5 in East Anglia on this secrets website. I am sure the chef is entusiastic, and loves his job. I am happy he is supporting the local guys and takes time to source his food. However, he, nor his team can live up to the write up they have given themselves. Steak isn't difficult, and it wasn't busy. They do buy some stuff ready done, and yet to read the website one would think that they would shun the processed stuff.
These websites let people review their own places, and never check on them. I could pay certain publications and become one of Britains best cafes. I don't think this is right. It's unfair to the public. Reviews should be that, by independant people, surely? This is how the rossette system works in hotels, but for the smaller guys word of mouth is the only way to know if you are going to a good place.
Maybe I am jealous that I cannot do that huge ego thing and tell everyone we're marvellous even when we fall short of the mark. On the whole though I think I would prefer to sleep at night and be who we are, even with our foibles.