Newbie advice - How would you customize JOOMLA to create a R - Joomla! Forum - community, help and support

i've had feeling i'd create website provides , solicits information , reviews on local companies. there's little family run mexican food restaurant in our town discovered couple months ago after driving 9 years. of best, fresh food rvials of best chains you've ever tried.

i've reviewed restaurants in travels using trip advisor site.
(http://www.tripadvisor.com/)
it stands model bloated initial needs site review local vendors, stores, restaurants, etc. or yelp.com http://www.yelp.com

someone on acf suggested joomla might cms create site add-ins.
i joomla newbie, mind offerings suggestins add-in modules achieve:
1) capability multiple categories of providers review/rate (but i'll focus on restaurant reviews first)
example:restaurants, food, nightlife, shopping, event planning & service, hotels, arts & entertainment, beauty , spas, home services, health , medical, pets, local services, automotive, real estate, professional services, financial services

2) user or admin submitted site address, description, , 1-5 star rating (voting) system

since there 1000's of these "rate local servcies" site every communitiy, wondered if has templated website functionality -- or work me on such project.
would hard create yelp clone operating website package , put out in public domain when stable world's use? shareware, beerware, thanksware ?

i play in dreamweaver experience wouldn't coding task. work through specifications of user experience well.