Dispensary Customer Reviews: Which Source to Read First
Start with Google Business Profile. For most licensed dispensaries, Google holds the largest sample of customer reviews. A shop with 800 Google reviews has a wider base than the same shop on a cannabis-only platform with 60 reviews. Volume shows you the middle of the curve, not just the loudest 12 people.
Google reviews have limits. Each review needs a Google account. One account posts one rating per location. Reviews carry a text field, a star score from 1 to 5, and photos. Google's review policy bars spam, fake engagement, and off-topic content, and the company removes reviews that break those rules.
Second: Weedmaps
Weedmaps lists licensed retailers and delivery services with star ratings and written reviews. The reviews attach to a storefront or a specific product, so a low score on one flower brand does not drag down the shop rating. Shoppers use Weedmaps to check menu accuracy, wait times, and order pickup. Pull up the dispensary page after you read Google. A wide gap between the two scores points to a service issue at the counter or a mismatch between the menu and the shelf.
How to Find Cannabis Dispensary Ratings
Third: Leafly
Leafly holds strain and product reviews. Use it for one question: does this cultivar do what the label claims? Leafly reviews come from buyers who hold a Leafly account. Counts run smaller than Google. Read the review text for effects, taste, and batch dates. Skip a review if the writer lists no purchase detail.
Also Worth a Look
- Reddit: search the city subreddit plus the shop name. Threads carry detail that star ratings drop. Treat each post as one data point.
- Yelp: Yelp runs a filter that moves some reviews to a not-recommended section. Read both tabs before you judge the score.
Benchmarks: What the Numbers Mean
- Rating count: under 50 reviews, one bad week can swing the average by half a star. Above 300 reviews, the average moves with service trends.
- Recency: check the date on the last 10 reviews. A shop with 4.8 stars and no review in 8 months is telling you something.
- Reply rate: count owner responses in the last 20 reviews. Replies show the shop reads feedback.
- Spread, not average: 70% five-star plus 20% one-star is a different business from 60% four-star plus 30% five-star. The second is steadier.
Red Flags in Review Text
- Reviews posted in a cluster on one day with no purchase detail.
- Text that names a different product than the one on the listing.
- One-star reviews that focus on a state law or a card rule, not the store.
The FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials took effect in October 2024. It bans fake reviews, AI-generated reviews, and review suppression. If a dispensary page shows the same 12-word praise sentence five times, the rule applies to whoever wrote it.
Read three sources. Google for volume, Weedmaps for menu and delivery feedback, Leafly for product detail. Then check the dates.