In my area, there are a bunch of generic, dime-a-dozen Chinese take out & pizza places that have shown up as nominations in game (PokémonGO).
One of these buildings recently had a small fire. I literally submitted a photo of a wood board covering up a broken window with the Chinese take out sign right next to it…. And my removal request was still denied. I mean, what else did I need to do? Find pictures of the building actually being on fire to get it removed? Not to mention this particular Chinese Take out place is super generic & never should have been approved in the 1st place, since like 5 other Chinese take out places exist in a 1 mile radius. And, let me be real… there is no real pedestrian access either. Everyone is spinning this stop while driving. There is a small parking lot, but this building is also residential on the upper floor, so, really, it’s a semi private parking lot and there is nowhere to sit inside the Chinese TAKE OUT ONLY place even before the fire.
It’s just insane to me how bad & incorrect so many reviewers are. So many low quality nominations are approved in the 1st place due to lying, AI, cleverly edited pictures, etc, etc. Adding restaurants into the eligible nomination category really skewed things for the worse. Now every hole in the wall bar & restaurant can be a POI, as long as the nominator uses AI to dress up & lie about the description to “sell it" as this beautiful, amazing place, which it is not.
Hi Zebbicat! Oh, do I feel your frustration in many ways. I’ve been getting restaurants approved for quite some time (it did take a lot more effort in the past) if they’re indeed a great place to explore or be social, but always realizing that restaurants are not categorically eligible just for existing. However, once approved, restaurants and the like rarely meet removal criteria - if they exist, are located correctly, if someone can stand on the site, and if they’re not on SFPRP or K-12 school grounds, then they’re likely going to stay on the game map. Having a broken window or a temporary disruption of service doesn’t mean that the restaurant is “permanently removed” and so again, it’s likely to stay. I’ve long wished for a removal reason like “has never been eligible under any criteria at any time ever” but am not likely to get my wish any time soon. The best thing we can do, I think, is continue to educate reviewers and submitters about what makes a GREAT place to socialize, exercise, or explore - and what should be rejected. Education is the best tool we have. In the meantime, since these are businesses, I’d definitely watch to see if any of them close or change significantly so that they can be removed when possible.
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To add to what Shilfiell said, my personal opinion on pizza places is that they are usually pretty great wayspots. It would be fairly rare for someone to go out to eat pizza alone. You almost always go out to eat pizza with a group for the social experience. Of course, that assumes that there is a place to eat inside and it’s not just a takeaway.
Chinese would need more proof that it’s a great place to be social. However, your assertion that there is no pedestrian access is clearly wrong. If there were no pedestrian access, no human would be able to access the business and it would not be able to operate. Pedestrian simply means “a person walking.” It’s a fairly easy standard to meet.
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Being low quality has never been part of the removal criteria, so I am not surprised.
Things that are permanently closed (rather than temporarily damaged and closed for renovations) can be removed, as can things at single family private residential property or blocking emergency services, but things that are just not particularly interesting wouldn’t have grounds for removal.
If the takeaway never re-opens then you can try again. I recently had a removal approved for a post office after noticing it was closed, and asking staff at the shop there if it would re open, and they said there are no plans for it to re open.
All businesses have pedestrian access… so I don’t know what you mean there. Owners, workers, delivery people and customers all require access, so it must have pedestrian access to be able to operate.
forgot to mention paid “memorial plaques”, street signs, random bulletin boards, honestly pizza take-out is not the worst, maybe they make great pizza 
I do have to agree with the original point, I see a number of wayspots approved that really shouldn’t have been and it’s very difficult to get them removed. Perhaps new wayspots should have a cooling-off period where they can be sent back into review?
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