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> by having all negative reviews removed

I've noticed the occasional incredibly bad business that gets bad reviews removed, but always wondered how they did it and how that works? A guess: they make some fake google accounts and report the review from multiple accounts?

There are services out there that help you do it. Like Removify: https://removify.com/

Unsure whether they're actually capable of doing it or not. But they exist.

There are companies that remove bad reviews as a service. The most popular way seems to contest that the user really was a customer, which forces Google to request a proof (e.g. a receipt). Most users either don't have the receipt anymore or don't care enough, so the review gets deleted.

> I would say the best places typically score low fours and have at least some one-star reviews written by seemingly deranged people.

It's heavily dependent on the area in my experience. In some places 4.3 restaurants are perfectly fine, in other it's at least 4.5. Which is why when I'm travelling I don't simply visit the first high-scoring restaurant but look closer at several ones to get a general idea of the scoring habits there.

I like to look for reviews that discuss specific menu items, good or bad. Everything else is not really helpful