Well...not only breweries, but now chefs too...

Yakima 728
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Doesn't matter. People are taking things like Yelp reviews WAY too seriously these days. Not all business owners understand that you cannot please everyone, all of the time.
 
Agreed... but just wondering if his review carried some important weight in the business world, then it would matter...if not its a moot point and we could direct him to your signature line as far as that chef's opinion of his opinion ..or vice versa.
 
Oh noes, here comes the OP

1444973524215
 
Is the review online? Got a link?



It's simple for me......Bad service, bad food, bad beer, etc = bad review. I don't know why some folks get bent out of shape about that. Make the product better, and you start getting good reviews.
 
I dunno. Some people are just out to have a bad time.

My wife and I had chicken fried steak at a local diner. The guy in the next booth had the same dish. He complained, no, lectured, the chef and owner for 20 minutes about the food and how they should be running the restaurant.

The best part was the shutdown. The complainer, who was talking down to them both, and threatening a bad yelp review, was under the impression that a new restaurant meant they were new to the biz. He made some quip. The response was "30 years combined. I'll get your refund so you can get to your review". BOOM!

We checked yelp the next night. The guy did write a bad review. We each wrote one giving glowing reviews of the same dish. That's one of only maybe three I've written.
 
People are allowed to have opinions. I'm fine with the existence of Yelp and it's ilk as oftentimes a business gets enough reviews to weigh out the bad/dumb ones.

Where I'll complain is people threatening. Usually people who threaten with a bad review are just dicks. They're usually the worst kind of person because they're threatening someone to get their way. If the owner/manager/etc. can't placate you and your needs, then maybe the place isn't for you. And every place isn't for everyone. That's the way the world works. Places I want to go are often not places my parents would want to go.

ALso if you check out yelp and places of their ilk. Often the folks who place bad reviews do that a lot. Which to me gives no weight to their review. As odds are they're just generally a negative person.
 
Regardless of where the OP posted his or her review, IMO Yelp is a scam. Their supposedly objective filters for deciding which reviews to use or suppress are a joke. Yelp is not an objective party as they are selling business owners advertising and their filtering is part of the sales pitch--pay us or else.
 
Recently I looked at the description of a restaurant, Americanized Mexican food. The first review I read, one star. The comment, this was not authentic Mexican food, I've been to Mexico and this isn't it.
I saw that review, and decided I had to go. Great food, just like the listing, Americanized Mexican food. Neither the listing, nor the reviewer were wrong.
 
Every time I've had Mexican touted as "authentic" in terms of being some hole in the wall, I've hated it. Everything slathered in lard-soaked refried beans and bland white cheese, with nothing green/healthy or well-seasoned in sight. I've concluded that northern Mexican cuisine (which is typically what you're getting) is just kind of gross. I'll take the gringo version any day of the week. Southern Mexican, from what I can tell, is a whole different bag. Places that specialize in good mole sauce are especially good.
 
sablesurfer said:
I have gotten in 'trouble' in the past when some of my negative reviews of a major brewery have gotten a lot of attention.

Seems that my negative review of a restaurant now has a James Beard award winning chef going after my friends to tell them how to respond.

?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yep, local chef heard how we paid and then walked out on full plates of food. I posted a review, it was very very bad food. Seems that my review has made it to her attention, but she hasn't actually talked to me. I cook a hundred times better than that food, and we went another local institution that is a thousand times better than the food we were served that night.

Too bad, the review stands. It was bad food.
Click to expand...

I see a big red flag when you mention this is not the first time this has happened to you. I've written many positive reviews and few negative reviews, and have never had anything even close to this happen.

I question why your reviews are drawing so much criticism. Are you providing too much personal information, so that you are a bit too easy to track down? Are you going over the top on your reviews? Are you the victim of bad luck? I don't know...

But, if you're going to start a thread like this, it's only fair to pony up, and provide us links to your reviews. If you're truly the victim, you should have no problem letting us read what you've doled out to others.
 
Long posted deleted.

No, I am not a professional critic.

I posted on FB to my friends. My posts are not public.

(Deleted the previous words that were taking things tooooo seriously here.)
 
I went to an Italian chain restaurant once (not Olive Garden!) and ordered the lasagna for my entree. Once it was served, piping hot & gorgeous, I dared a tongue-searing bite because I was hungry & it looked so good. Even scorching hot, I could tell it was over-salted. Not just a bit, either, I mean, it had probably 4 times what any recipe that wasn't a low-sodium recipe would have. Now, I am not a totally pessimistic guy, so maybe it was just a bad stir of the sauce? It was a pretty large personal-sized dish, so I dared a smaller bite from the other end. Way too salty.

OK, not really a problem, as this is something the cook & servers need to know. I called a server over & asked for the manager, assuring her it wasn't something she did. He came over maybe a minute later and I told him the lasagna was over-salted. I didn't even have to explain to him that it wasn't just my taste-buds, he tells me in a calm, serene way "Oh, we know."

With a straight face.

He, the manager knew that the lasagna was WAYYY to salty, and continued to serve it! I was actually flabbergasted. I even said something slick like, "You knew?" and he just nodded in assurance. He did offer something else, but with that disrespect to me & anyone else that ordered the lasagna, I actually said "No thank you. Is this going on my bill?" That took him aback, but my manner & my physical demeanor said to him that I shouldn't have to pay for it, and I shouldn't.

I didn't. I did pay for my soda & left the waitress a $5 tip, and then went to BW3 across the way.

I will say, this was before Yelp - if they had been around, I still wouldn't have left a review. I just never went back there.
 
Of the five or so restaurants that my wife and I have had bad experiences at all have eventually closed. It all evens itself out in the end. Never been a big reviewer or had the urge to blast a business on the internet. Review sites like Yelp are all a numbers game, mostly positive reviews and its probably pretty good, all bad reviews probably should not go there.

OP- I'm a little confused and admit I don't have a facebook and thats probably why but if your posts were private between friends then how did they draw attention? You just got me intrigue as to what would cause a stir on the internet nowadays. Seems like that would be a hard thing to accomplish.
 
No offense, but I don't get the restaurant review thing, I could care less what someone unknown to me says about a restaurant and their food. Does anyone even read the reviews on Yelp? I certainly never have.

Even posting a review on faceb00k for my friends sounds silly... they'd be like "Steve, what happened?, did they not have any grey Poupon?"
 
wallybangbang said:
OP- I'm a little confused and admit I don't have a facebook and thats probably why but if your posts were private between friends then how did they draw attention? You just got me intrigue as to what would cause a stir on the internet nowadays. Seems like that would be a hard thing to accomplish.
Click to expand...


FB has done as many things as possible to make everyone see everything. They constantly tweak what can and can't be seen and modify privacy policies regularly.

My only guess is, recently, I see posts that my 'friends' have replied to. This is not something I chose, this is a tweak FB made. I have already tried to turn something like that off in the past, but it seems to have come back.

I figure that someone does not have their privacy set tightly, so when they replied, then 'maybe' that person could see? No idea, because my posts should be set to 'friends only'.
 
SleepyCreekBrews said:
Even posting a review on faceb00k for my friends sounds silly... they'd be like "Steve, what happened?, did they not have any grey Poupon?"
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Pretty much all of my friends are foodies and home cooks. About half are also brewers or beer nerds. So, we all like to know stuff when someone finds a good restaurant, beer, or recipe.

It's kinda the whole point of friendship. Why wouldn't you tell your friends if a place was totally crappy?
 
max384 said:
I see a big red flag when you mention this is not the first time this has happened to you. I've written many positive reviews and few negative reviews, and have never had anything even close to this happen.

I question why your reviews are drawing so much criticism. Are you providing too much personal information, so that you are a bit too easy to track down? Are you going over the top on your reviews? Are you the victim of bad luck? I don't know...

But, if you're going to start a thread like this, it's only fair to pony up, and provide us links to your reviews. If you're truly the victim, you should have no problem letting us read what you've doled out to others.
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I'm with this guy. According to your post, which thankfully max384 quoted, you posted a terrible review which you later said was only on Facebook. That review has gotten you into trouble with the restaurant and this is not the first time. The problem I have with what you're saying is how you cook 100 times better and have eaten at places 1000 times better. It's all so melodramatic when you put it that way.

You didn't like the food, I'm sure the restaurant can deal with that. If they're truly hunting down your friends, which I am skeptical about, then you must have really done something dumb enough. Most restaurants aren't going to give you the time of day, even if you write a bad review. If they do, I find it odd that they'd hunt down your friends.
sablesurfer said:
Long posted deleted.

No, I am not a professional critic.

I posted on FB to my friends. My posts are not public.

(Deleted the previous words that were taking things tooooo seriously here.)
Click to expand...
Taking too seriously? You realize that you basically had a temper tantrum about a restaurant on Facebook and all you shared here was how you do everything 100 times better and have eaten food that was 1000 times better, right? It's the internet. You can't come here and post something so outlandish and not expect a response. Also, deleting your OP is kind of silly. Wouldn't you rather people know what you wrote instead of people speculating what you wrote that resulted in you feeling the need to delete it?


sablesurfer said:
FB has done as many things as possible to make everyone see everything. They constantly tweak what can and can't be seen and modify privacy policies regularly.

My only guess is, recently, I see posts that my 'friends' have replied to. This is not something I chose, this is a tweak FB made. I have already tried to turn something like that off in the past, but it seems to have come back.

I figure that someone does not have their privacy set tightly, so when they replied, then 'maybe' that person could see? No idea, because my posts should be set to 'friends only'.
Click to expand...

Facebook will tell YOU what YOUR friends do and don't do. If your post is not public and those friends aren't friends with the staff of that restaurant, then they didn't find your post. Facebook isn't very private, but the way that all works does actually work fine. It's stupid, but your post would need to be public or your buddies re-posted it/shared it publicly. Also, what in the world would a restaurant be doing searching the net for your review? It was on Facebook, how would they have known it was there at all?

Good news here is that we can't see your "review" and I venture to guess this so-called trouble will die down for you in due time. You should never return to that restaurant though, it sounds horrific and there are places 1000 better and you cook 100 times better, so you'll be in good hands on the go forward.
 
I use Yelp some. We'll look up the type of place we're in the mood for if we're in a strange town, check the ratings and reviews. I'll also check out their health department inspection report, if it's on line.

I, probably like most, post reviews when I'm really impressed, good or bad. If there's anything in particular I think might be useful to patrons I include that. If things were just okay I don't remember or think of reviewing them.

I make it a point to do good reviews on new businesses that I want to see succeed. One in particular is a family run place. They recognized my review and now most times we come in they have something special for us to try that is not on the regular menu.
 
In my experience restaurant reviews are about 50% in line with my experiences. Same with breweries.

Unless the place is very old, and their menu and cooks never change, things can change very easily between a review and when you sit down to try something.

I love the BBQ joint in the nearby town. I've heard some bad reviews by others. Not sure what they are expecting, but to me the BBQ was really good. (But I only order beers made by other places. I'm pretty sure they don't treat the local water when they brew their own beer...)
 
Homercidal said:
In my experience restaurant reviews are about 50% in line with my experiences. Same with breweries.

Unless the place is very old, and their menu and cooks never change, things can change very easily between a review and when you sit down to try something.

I love the BBQ joint in the nearby town. I've heard some bad reviews by others. Not sure what they are expecting, but to me the BBQ was really good. (But I only order beers made by other places. I'm pretty sure they don't treat the local water when they brew their own beer...)
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Flint?
 
Hello said:
I'm with this guy. According to your post, which thankfully max384 quoted, you posted a terrible review which you later said was only on Facebook. That review has gotten you into trouble with the restaurant and this is not the first time. The problem I have with what you're saying is how you cook 100 times better and have eaten at places 1000 times better. It's all so melodramatic when you put it that way.

You didn't like the food, I'm sure the restaurant can deal with that. If they're truly hunting down your friends, which I am skeptical about, then you must have really done something dumb enough. Most restaurants aren't going to give you the time of day, even if you write a bad review. If they do, I find it odd that they'd hunt down your friends.

Taking too seriously? You realize that you basically had a temper tantrum about a restaurant on Facebook and all you shared here was how you do everything 100 times better and have eaten food that was 1000 times better, right? It's the internet. You can't come here and post something so outlandish and not expect a response. Also, deleting your OP is kind of silly. Wouldn't you rather people know what you wrote instead of people speculating what you wrote that resulted in you feeling the need to delete it?




Facebook will tell YOU what YOUR friends do and don't do. If your post is not public and those friends aren't friends with the staff of that restaurant, then they didn't find your post. Facebook isn't very private, but the way that all works does actually work fine. It's stupid, but your post would need to be public or your buddies re-posted it/shared it publicly. Also, what in the world would a restaurant be doing searching the net for your review? It was on Facebook, how would they have known it was there at all?

Good news here is that we can't see your "review" and I venture to guess this so-called trouble will die down for you in due time. You should never return to that restaurant though, it sounds horrific and there are places 1000 better and you cook 100 times better, so you'll be in good hands on the go forward.
Click to expand...

Well you seem upset.
 
Mods, once again something I thought was just a grumble has ended up pissing people off. Some of the replies are getting kind of heated, as if something was done personally, and that was never my intent.

If you want, you can delete this thread. Or leave it. Whatever. Just seems to be making people upset and that was never the goal.
 
sablesurfer said:
Mods, once again something I thought was just a grumble has ended up pissing people off. Some of the replies are getting kind of heated, as if something was done personally, and that was never my intent.

If you want, you can delete this thread. Or leave it. Whatever. Just seems to be making people upset and that was never the goal.
Click to expand...

Wonder if I can :goat: ?
 
I use Yelp and Trip Advisor a lot when deciding where to eat, but always take the reviews with a grain of salt. Or a handful. I have a hard time taking anyone who leaves a scathing review seriously, especially when the place is otherwise generally well-liked. The moderate and positive reviews are generally more honest. I work for a restaurant company, and we get the "I'll leave a bad Yelp review if you don't bow down to my ridiculous demands" types fairly regularly. Then you check their profile and they basically leave the same negative review at every place they eat. Maybe dining out is just not for you, what with your crazy high expectations.

Some folks seem to enjoy having a bad time at a restaurant more than they enjoy having a good time. They prefer drama and feigned indignation over actually having a good experience.

I've left positive reviews for places I really liked. If I don't like a place, I just don't go back. No need to be a kitten about it.

Regarding Yelp specifically, we once had a guy leave a scathing review of one of our restaurants, about how bad the food was, the service, claimed the manager was verbally abusive, the food made him sick; the works. But the review included a bunch of very specific details regarding menu items that aren't on our menu, decor that doesn't match ours, waitress uniforms that look nothing like ours, etc. It was very clear that he was talking about a different establishment entirely, but with a vaguely similar name, on the other side of town. It was a huge ordeal trying to get Yelp to remove the review from our page, and shortly after he reposted a similar one.
 
hunter_la5 said:
I use Yelp and Trip Advisor a lot when deciding where to eat, but always take the reviews with a grain of salt. Or a handful. I have a hard time taking anyone who leaves a scathing review seriously, especially when the place is otherwise generally well-liked. The moderate and positive reviews are generally more honest. I work for a restaurant company, and we get the "I'll leave a bad Yelp review if you don't bow down to my ridiculous demands" types fairly regularly. Then you check their profile and they basically leave the same negative review at every place they eat. Maybe dining out is just not for you, what with your crazy high expectations.
Click to expand...

I do this too, especially when trying a new place. You can usually get a good feel from the general consensus of the reviewers, if you cut out the extremes. I will say I usually focus on comments about the cleanliness, service and so on vs. detailed criticism of the food. I don't really care if you thought it was "authentic" or not, but if you've been there several times and the servers are all jerks, I'll pass.

And sometimes it's just entertaining to read the negative reviews from the people who are professionally butthurt all the time.
 
I've only once written a review about a restaurant. Overall I just don't see the need. If I don't like a place, I vote with my wallet and never quite simply never go back.

I might tell friends and family about good/bad experiences... but why would I put it on facebook? Then again, I think FB is silly in general, and should only be used for dank memes and sharing bad jokes. Putting scathing reviews is basically attention-seeking and searching for vindication.

Similarly, I'm surprised that you post about it on a forum then get upset when people ask questions... what did you expect?
 
The funny thing about "Americanized Mexican food" is that even the food in northern Mexico has Americanized (or tex-mex-ized)... So fusion naturally happens in foods. I visited Korea in 2001 and you couldn't get anything resembling bread.. in 2008 I visited again and donuts were everywhere.. it happens.. and isn't good nor bad.. it just...is.... Well in the Kora case they are starting to get fat fro it too.. but I digress...
 
sablesurfer said:
Well you seem upset.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely not upset, your story sounds ridiculous and unbelievable. Perhaps I should have just left it at that in the first place. You telling outlandish stories doesn't upset me, it provides some entertainment. You're a foodie though and I'm just a home cook. ;)


sablesurfer said:
Mods, once again something I thought was just a grumble has ended up pissing people off. Some of the replies are getting kind of heated, as if something was done personally, and that was never my intent.

If you want, you can delete this thread. Or leave it. Whatever. Just seems to be making people upset and that was never the goal.
Click to expand...

This post alone tells me that you are absolutely melodramatic and that you perhaps see things a lot differently than how they really are. No one seems mad in this thread but you, the guy who deleted his original post for no reason. Was it a lack of "likes" on your Facebook post that led you to believe that you are "in trouble" with this restaurant?
 
Maybe I'm missing something about the context here, but why does it even matter how the restaurant feels about your review? Were you planning on going back and afraid of finding "Do Not Serve This Person" signs at the hostess station? Are they sending mafioso types to your house to threaten you into changing your score?
 
hello said:
i'm definitely not upset, your story sounds ridiculous and unbelievable. Perhaps i should have just left it at that in the first place. You telling outlandish stories doesn't upset me, it provides some entertainment. You're a foodie though and i'm just a home cook. ;)

this post alone tells me that you are absolutely melodramatic and that you perhaps see things a lot differently than how they really are. No one seems mad in this thread but you, the guy who deleted his original post for no reason. Was it a lack of "likes" on your facebook post that led you to believe that you are "in trouble" with this restaurant?
Click to expand...

lol.
 
drainbamage said:
Maybe I'm missing something about the context here, but why does it even matter how the restaurant feels about your review? Were you planning on going back and afraid of finding "Do Not Serve This Person" signs at the hostess station? Are they sending mafioso types to your house to threaten you into changing your score?
Click to expand...

I am not concerned in the least. I thought it was interesting that someone on FB pinged me about a conversation. No, we will not be going back there.

I have under 100 people on my FB. I have about half of those in this area. I post stuff that I actually want to tell people I care about...as in I am REALLY friends with them. I am not one of these people with thousands of 'friends' or followers or subscribers or whatever.

I have NO idea why people 1) find it unbelievable I didn't like a place so much I told my friends, 2) why that even comes close to being melodramatic. There might have been a bit of 'exaggeration' on the 100 times and 1000 times...but seriously, we left uneaten food that we paid for. If you knew my lower middle class income you'd understand that money is something we hardly ever waste like that.
 
I can't really speak for the restaurant or why they would want to make a big deal out of it. Maybe the chef just can't handle constructive criticism and wants to take it personally. If you really had a bad experience, I see nothing wrong with standing by your words and telling them, "yeah, I didn't enjoy it. Here's why..."
 
hunter_la5 said:
I use Yelp and Trip Advisor a lot when deciding where to eat, but always take the reviews with a grain of salt. Or a handful. I have a hard time taking anyone who leaves a scathing review seriously, especially when the place is otherwise generally well-liked. The moderate and positive reviews are generally more honest. I work for a restaurant company, and we get the "I'll leave a bad Yelp review if you don't bow down to my ridiculous demands" types fairly regularly. Then you check their profile and they basically leave the same negative review at every place they eat. Maybe dining out is just not for you, what with your crazy high expectations.

Some folks seem to enjoy having a bad time at a restaurant more than they enjoy having a good time. They prefer drama and feigned indignation over actually having a good experience.

I've left positive reviews for places I really liked. If I don't like a place, I just don't go back. No need to be a kitten about it.

Regarding Yelp specifically, we once had a guy leave a scathing review of one of our restaurants, about how bad the food was, the service, claimed the manager was verbally abusive, the food made him sick; the works. But the review included a bunch of very specific details regarding menu items that aren't on our menu, decor that doesn't match ours, waitress uniforms that look nothing like ours, etc. It was very clear that he was talking about a different establishment entirely, but with a vaguely similar name, on the other side of town. It was a huge ordeal trying to get Yelp to remove the review from our page, and shortly after he reposted a similar one.
Click to expand...

Both are good for finding places near me, and giving me a general idea about the place. I like that parking is in the description.

McDowell's with the golden arcs?
 

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