Anonymous wrote:My pet peeve is new restaurants that charge full price, but deliver “sorry, we’re still ironing out the kinks” food and service.

If you’re going to pretend you’re a full-fledged, grown-up establishment when you give me the bill, you need to be sure the rest of the experience lives up to that.

You really, really suck.

Self professed “foodies” are the cringiest dweebs. See also redditors.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe rival restaurants? Who knows.

I have read that this happens a fair amount.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I was looking up some new restaurants in my town and saw a couple of these. They sound like they think they're professional restaurant critics and that their opinion is make-or-break for the place. Since it's new, the restaurant is supposed to be happy to be graced with their knowlegable presence. Lots of details and concerns and information in the review about their expected dining experiences and knowledge. I found them cringeworthy to read. I think a lot of people consider dining out to be very important--they are "gourmands" as if it means something. This is not my thing and I find it sort of sad. The reviewer is always a man who's fat with a beard.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who leaves a bad review for a small business is a vindictive d*ck. If they really want to resolution they would talk to the manager or owner. Thats being a good customer instead of a petty bully.

+1

I had a bad experience at local donut shop- issue with quality. I wrote to the manager to le them know that something was off with that type of donut. I wasn't looking for anything, just wanted to give them a chance to fix the issue. No need to go straight to a bad review.

Really not a big deal to me. I think it says more about the person than the place.
It's like the Amazon reviews when something arrives broken - useless review.

Anonymous wrote:As a small business owner I've seen this. There's a certain type who lives to trash businesses on the internet. Who knows why. Obviously these types are impossible to please. But we had a client write a really over-the-top bad review of us so I reviewed her google review history. Yep, 1-star reviews across the city for restaurants, nail salons, clinic, you name it. Rest assured that these reviews usually come across as not credible. Agree with PP that you should nicely respond in real time. You have to just play the game.

Also you can't get them removed. We looked into it as this client clearly had an agenda and google won't do it. OK. The only response is to continue to solicit good reviews so it pushes the bad ones down. Who knows, some people suck.

+1

As a customer who still uses review sites for companies or products, I will look at the 1-2 star reviews to see if there is a trend. For instance if 5 people write that that a certain item broke after just a few months of us (esp due to the same type of defect) or that a restaurant has really awful service, then that trends toward being a legitimate concern.

But a couple reviewers with a bone to pick about niche things like not talking to a manager (which I couldn’t care less about) would not dissuade me from trying a new restaurant.

Also to the PP who said maybe it was a treat for them and they were disappointed, I would say that anyone who hinged an important meal out on a brand new restaurant is an idiot. Everyone knows you’re going to be a Guinea pig the first month or two that a new place opens. Although I do agree with another poster that if things were subpar that should be fixed in the bill with comped drinks or something (it would be a good way to ensure customers come back after a slow meal or something being out).

There are lots of disturbed people out there. In the end it doesn’t matter. If you are a good restaurant, you’ll get good reviews too. Normal people can tell when a review is valid and when it’s just mean.

As a small business owner I've seen this. There's a certain type who lives to trash businesses on the internet. Who knows why. Obviously these types are impossible to please. But we had a client write a really over-the-top bad review of us so I reviewed her google review history. Yep, 1-star reviews across the city for restaurants, nail salons, clinic, you name it. Rest assured that these reviews usually come across as not credible. Agree with PP that you should nicely respond in real time. You have to just play the game.

Also you can't get them removed. We looked into it as this client clearly had an agenda and google won't do it. OK. The only response is to continue to solicit good reviews so it pushes the bad ones down. Who knows, some people suck.

LOL I found out one of them is a spiritual life coach and fail(ed)? real estate agent with no reviews. Sounds like a great life coach lololol.

Look people can read the review and see if iit's applicable.
We went to the best resort in Fiji and a guy there same time as us gave them one star for not having shrimp on the breakfast buffet every day. It was a 5+ breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who leaves a bad review for a small business is a vindictive d*ck. If they really want to resolution they would talk to the manager or owner. Thats being a good customer instead of a petty bully.

They seem to very specifically mention that they didn't speak to the manager which is odd to me.

I’ve never left a yelp or google review. I can see doing it if the food was truly terrible. I for sure wouldn’t do it for a new place just due to service issues that will get worked out.

This is one reason why I feel like yelp and google reviews are close to worthless. The majority of people doing them are either vindictive hacks, have totally unrealistic expectations (the manager didn’t greet me personally! They didn’t refill my drink for free after I spilled it!), or the bartender has offered them a heavy pour in exchange for a good review. I prefer either newspaper reviews or things like Time Out or The Infatuation. chowhouhd used to be okay too. I really wish there was some restaurant review site where it was just honest, not crazy people who cared about the food/seevice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you know who wrote what review online? Your post makes no sense.

Their names are on the reviews on Google. The boyfriend wrote the review 2 days after they visited (according to the first review) and a few hours after we wrote all of our positive reviews. I mean it seems very intentional and vindictive.

So you assume boyfriend asked/persuaded or whatever the girlfriend to write a review? And you know it’s the girlfriend or did you assume that too? Your post has some very odd assumptions