A Google review QR code for your restaurant (that you can still change later)

Table 12 had a lovely evening. They said so twice, to two different servers, and once more at the door. Then they went home, and the only Google review you got that week was from someone who waited 40 minutes for a table on Saturday.

Happy guests rarely go looking for your review page. Finding it means opening Maps, searching for you, scrolling past the photos and tapping a small grey link. Most people give up somewhere around the photos.

A Google review QR code removes those steps. It's a printed square that opens your review box in one scan.

What a Google review QR code actually does

A Google review QR code is a QR code that opens the "write a review" screen for your Business Profile, so the guest lands straight on the stars. There's no searching and no scrolling past competitors.

You don't need a third-party tool to get one. Google itself suggests asking customers to visit a Google review link or scan a QR code, and you can create both from your Business Profile.

So the question isn't whether you can get a review QR code for free, it's what happens after you print it. That's where most restaurants run into trouble.

Why a printed QR code needs a link you control

A QR code is just a link drawn as a pattern. If you print Google's own review link on 40 table cards, that pattern is fixed. You can't see how often it's scanned, and if anything about the destination changes, the cards point at the old place.

That matters more than it sounds. Restaurants move, rebrand, merge two profiles into one or open a second site with its own reviews. When that happens, you reprint.

Put a TinyX short link in between instead. The QR code points at the short link, the short link points at your Google review page, and you can change where it points at any time on every plan, including Free. The printed card stays the same.

It's the same approach we describe for menus in QR code menus your guests won't hate.

Counting scans without guessing

Every scan of a TinyX QR code is a click on the short link, so it shows up in your analytics with the country, the device and the referrer. Those breakdowns are the same on every plan, Free included.

Scans tell you whether the card is being noticed, which reviews alone can't. If the bill folder card gets 30 scans a week and the one by the door gets two, move the second one.

Compare scans with new reviews over a month. Plenty of people scan and then don't write anything, which is fine. A big gap means the card is being noticed but the wording of the ask needs work.

Where to put the card, and how to ask

The best spot is wherever the guest is already holding something of yours, at the moment the meal is finished. The bill folder works. So does the back of the receipt, or a small card that arrives with the coffee.

Ask plainly. "Enjoyed tonight? We'd love a Google review" is enough. Leave it there and let the guest decide.

Google's rules matter here. Its policy for Maps reviews says businesses must not offer incentives for reviews, must not discourage negative reviews or selectively ask for positive ones, and must not pressure guests to leave a review while they're on the premises. So no free dessert for five stars, no staff targets for review counts, and no hovering by the table while someone types.

Keep feedback and reviews as two separate options

Some review tools ask the guest "how was your visit?" first, send the happy ones to Google and the unhappy ones to a private form. That is review gating, and it's exactly the selective asking Google's policy prohibits.

Don't filter guests before they reach Google. Everyone who scans the review card should land on the same review page, whatever their evening was like.

If you also want private feedback, run it as a separate thing with its own card. A short questionnaire behind a different QR code, as in a restaurant feedback form guests actually fill in, gives you answers you can act on. The guest chooses which card to scan, or both, or neither.

Some restaurants put the feedback card on the table and the review card in the bill folder. Others alternate them week by week. Either way, the two never decide for each other.

Setting it up in ten minutes

1. Open your Google Business Profile and copy your review link.
2. In TinyX, create a short link to it. A custom short code such as /review-soho is available on Pro and Max.
3. Download the QR code for that link and add it to your table card design.
4. Print a small batch, put them out, and check the scan count after a week.

The Free plan includes 25 links a month and a QR code for every link. The limits for each plan are on the pricing page, and the features page shows how links and analytics fit together. For other ways restaurants use TinyX, see TinyX for restaurants.

Questions about Google review QR codes

Is a Google review QR code free? Yes. Google lets you create a review link and QR code from your Business Profile. TinyX is useful when you also want scan counts and a destination you can change after printing.

Do guests need a Google account to leave a review? Yes. Google says customers must be signed in to a Google Account to post a review. They can create one with a non-Gmail address.

Can I offer a discount for a review? No. Google treats incentives for reviews as fake engagement and removes those reviews.

Can I send unhappy guests to a private form instead of Google? Not as a filter in front of Google. Offer feedback and reviews as two separate cards and let the guest pick.

Print one card tonight

Copy your review link from Google, put it behind a TinyX short link and print a single card for the bill folder. Check the scans next Friday, and only then print the other 39.