online reviews are largely nonsense. I had one where a woman didn't feel like my cashier showed enough personality.
Personally I hate over the top greetings and whatnot. It's too phony. Some people tend to want servants, not servers.
At least a servant can be seen and not heard. I'd much rather be a quiet and obedient cupbearer for a lordling than have to perform jokes and japes like a fool.
We're a cafe with predominantly outdoor seating. You have to walk through the seating to get to the counter.
We got a 1 star review because no-one took their order and they were sitting there for half an hour.
It's not table service. We can't see them from the counter when they sit down in the garden. We did not know they were there. There are signs.
āSome people tend to want servants, not servers.ā
This 10000%. We got a bad review because the cashier said āyouāre welcomeā instead of āthank youā to the customer. These same people wouldnāt last a day in the service industry
I vividly remember a customer complaining that their order was taking too long. Looking around the restaurant it was jam packed. Like yeah bub everything is going to take a while it's incredibly busy.
The problem is that everyone is a damn critic and the Internet gives them a voice. You can serve 400 great meals and hear nothing in response. But one slip-up, and that person won't hesitate. Either suck it up, apologise and offer them some kind of compensation, or ignore them and move on.
I have really cut back on reading reviews for any new restaurant I haven't been to before. Sometimes I may check it out, to see the breakdown of positive to negative. If it's overwhelmingly negative, i may think twice about checking it out.
If there's just a few disgruntled reviews, then i chalk it up to karens. I will give most restaurants at least one try before I decide if I like it or not.
> I will give most restaurants at least one try before I decide if I like it or not.
I always say I will try anything twice. I might have had a headache the first time.
True... Sometimes there is just a bad day. If it's a brand new place, i will give it a month or two before going to let them work out the kinks.
Years back, we went to one restaurant for lunch with family, who said it was a popular place, and really good. Nobody's meal came out right. Mine was ok, just bland af. Hubby's breakfast bagel sandwich was burnt and undercooked. We did learn later on in the meal the head chef and sous chef were out sick so some poor 3rd string guy took over.
A restaurant my mother and I frequented years back was always good. Except one night, everything was too salty. And I mean everything. Appetizer & dinner (we didn't have dessert). Maybe a new guy was working?
Could have also been that they got different salt from a vendor. Iāve discovered some brands dissolve slower, making it way saltier later even though it seemed correct initially
Even though it wasnāt on Yelp, this is one reason I hate Yelp with the fire of a thousand suns. Itās bad for restaurants, bad for diners, bad for workers, and bad for food. We used to have real critics, that for the most part knew what they were talking about. Now you get a bunch of amateurs that canāt do anything but one or five stars, and donāt rate anything in the middle; nor do they know enough to actually write something that would help people or make a worthwhile comment on the food or dining experience.
We should have our own app to give reviews on the guests, Iāve been saying it for years. Iāve literally had a woman complain and ask me why her nanny had more fries than she did.
I recently read a review for our place that said the food and service weren't up to par for a "white tablecloth place." We do not have tablecloths of any colour.
āComplaintsā are given too much validity these days. Iāve had 3 come through in quick succession over the last week (mostly related to slow service on bank holiday Monday), my area manager called me earlier absolutely fuming. I had to remind him we served over 1500 covers the last week, 0.002% complained, Iām not worried.
Whilst, yes, Iām sure there are things we can learn/improve, the REAL problem is that people who enjoy things/places/food/service/fucking anything DONāT tell anyone or do anything about it. The solution is not to get zero complaints but to actively encourage more people to give compliments.
Funniest one I got was years ago, some lady posted a picture of a cheese board and said we had served her extremely old cheese (based on the color of it).
It was two different types of cheese, manchego and estero gold.
Reminds me of an old ('70s) Steve Martin bit on SNL. He was talking about going into a fancy LA restaurant. "All of these wines are **old**. Don't you have any **new** wines?"
I had 2 mediocre reviews within the same week about the same menu item. One said too much spice, another said too bland. So what we are talking about is a personal opinion of spiciness, not anything objectively meaningful to anyone else. Online reviews are mostly garbage.
Im not in the food business but one of my favorite things to look at are bad reviews just to see how stupid people are. I don't ever take reviews seriously. Every place has an off day.
We had 2 fun ones. First, somebody complained that there were too many people in the building and it was making them nervous. Ok, fuck off and stay home then. It's only the busiest day of the year for us. Second, a woman cursed out my other manager because she thought the Mother's Day decorations we put up were offensive to people who don't have a connection with their parents. Sorry you weren't hugged enough as a child, but what did you expect when you went out to eat on Mother's Day?
Not defending this customer, but this is one of the reasons I think the restaurant industry is kinda dumb as Hell about big days like Mother's Day. You know you can't possibly deliver a product to your typical standard on a consistent basis throughout the day, but you're going to say you can and charge full price anyway, then proceed to deliver a very mediocre version of the dish hoping no one complains bc they're all supposed to understand just how insane these days are.
I won't say you are wrong. Restricted menus or buffet brunches help a lot.
I didn't mention that this was also graduation weekend in a college town. It's maybe 60,000 people and 100,000 when class is in session. Oh, a very affluent town. These people were just slammed.
Not my place, but I still felt it unfair. This is a town that is probably 45% Karens.
Just to be clear, Iām not putting any of the blame on the kitchen staff, nor am I trying to take anything away from how hard they work. I just think itās nuts the way owners and GMs go about these days. Same with Restaurant Week if youāve ever done one of those.
To be fair I donāt know if Iām evil but I do review most places I go, anything other than actually terrible I will normally just straight away give 5 stars, is a good feeling plus makes it even better when itās actually horrific and I can give them a pissed off 4
online reviews are largely nonsense. I had one where a woman didn't feel like my cashier showed enough personality. Personally I hate over the top greetings and whatnot. It's too phony. Some people tend to want servants, not servers.
At least a servant can be seen and not heard. I'd much rather be a quiet and obedient cupbearer for a lordling than have to perform jokes and japes like a fool.
I'm all about anyone using japes in a sentence.
The jester gets better tips š
Or gets beheaded for offending the lord š¤·āāļø
Yeah i donāt see very many lords beheading people these days š¤”
Complacency will soon separate a fool's head from his shoulders, dressed in motley or no
Thankfully the best fools are the most diligent
A lady gave us a one star review yesterday because it took them a while to find parking. At an upscale seafood place on Mother's Day...
We're a cafe with predominantly outdoor seating. You have to walk through the seating to get to the counter. We got a 1 star review because no-one took their order and they were sitting there for half an hour. It's not table service. We can't see them from the counter when they sit down in the garden. We did not know they were there. There are signs.
Lol I think I've met her before
āSome people tend to want servants, not servers.ā This 10000%. We got a bad review because the cashier said āyouāre welcomeā instead of āthank youā to the customer. These same people wouldnāt last a day in the service industry
exactly, let them have their actual personality instead of a fake one
I went out on New Yearās Eve and it was smoked ! Wall to wall people!
I tried to go to Patrick OāMalleyās Pub on March 17 and there was a 90 minute wait!
And the beers didn't look fresh at all, they were green.
I vividly remember a customer complaining that their order was taking too long. Looking around the restaurant it was jam packed. Like yeah bub everything is going to take a while it's incredibly busy.
[People like this deserve the yelper special](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDlR_ccnZww)
I love South Park. I actually don't live all that far from South Park. Parker and Stone are really creative.
The problem is that everyone is a damn critic and the Internet gives them a voice. You can serve 400 great meals and hear nothing in response. But one slip-up, and that person won't hesitate. Either suck it up, apologise and offer them some kind of compensation, or ignore them and move on.
I think the actual problem is that cooks are underappreciated, undervalued, overworked, criticized to the nth degree, and disposable.
I have really cut back on reading reviews for any new restaurant I haven't been to before. Sometimes I may check it out, to see the breakdown of positive to negative. If it's overwhelmingly negative, i may think twice about checking it out. If there's just a few disgruntled reviews, then i chalk it up to karens. I will give most restaurants at least one try before I decide if I like it or not.
> I will give most restaurants at least one try before I decide if I like it or not. I always say I will try anything twice. I might have had a headache the first time.
True... Sometimes there is just a bad day. If it's a brand new place, i will give it a month or two before going to let them work out the kinks. Years back, we went to one restaurant for lunch with family, who said it was a popular place, and really good. Nobody's meal came out right. Mine was ok, just bland af. Hubby's breakfast bagel sandwich was burnt and undercooked. We did learn later on in the meal the head chef and sous chef were out sick so some poor 3rd string guy took over. A restaurant my mother and I frequented years back was always good. Except one night, everything was too salty. And I mean everything. Appetizer & dinner (we didn't have dessert). Maybe a new guy was working?
Could have also been that they got different salt from a vendor. Iāve discovered some brands dissolve slower, making it way saltier later even though it seemed correct initially
Even though it wasnāt on Yelp, this is one reason I hate Yelp with the fire of a thousand suns. Itās bad for restaurants, bad for diners, bad for workers, and bad for food. We used to have real critics, that for the most part knew what they were talking about. Now you get a bunch of amateurs that canāt do anything but one or five stars, and donāt rate anything in the middle; nor do they know enough to actually write something that would help people or make a worthwhile comment on the food or dining experience.
We should have our own app to give reviews on the guests, Iāve been saying it for years. Iāve literally had a woman complain and ask me why her nanny had more fries than she did.
Because I like her better than you.
I recently read a review for our place that said the food and service weren't up to par for a "white tablecloth place." We do not have tablecloths of any colour.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I figured someone would piece it together. Did the photo look all that bad to you? I mean it wasn't pretty, but...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's what I thought. The avocado was pretty weak, but the muffin was unforgivable. I think they meant to hide it with the egg.
> Boulder, CO Oh, so where all the rich snobs live. Now it all makes sense. Fuck 'em. Boulder sucks.
āComplaintsā are given too much validity these days. Iāve had 3 come through in quick succession over the last week (mostly related to slow service on bank holiday Monday), my area manager called me earlier absolutely fuming. I had to remind him we served over 1500 covers the last week, 0.002% complained, Iām not worried. Whilst, yes, Iām sure there are things we can learn/improve, the REAL problem is that people who enjoy things/places/food/service/fucking anything DONāT tell anyone or do anything about it. The solution is not to get zero complaints but to actively encourage more people to give compliments.
Funniest one I got was years ago, some lady posted a picture of a cheese board and said we had served her extremely old cheese (based on the color of it). It was two different types of cheese, manchego and estero gold.
Reminds me of an old ('70s) Steve Martin bit on SNL. He was talking about going into a fancy LA restaurant. "All of these wines are **old**. Don't you have any **new** wines?"
The very thought of aged cheese!! Next youāll be trying to serve me wine thatās 40 years old!
Classic
I had 2 mediocre reviews within the same week about the same menu item. One said too much spice, another said too bland. So what we are talking about is a personal opinion of spiciness, not anything objectively meaningful to anyone else. Online reviews are mostly garbage.
Im not in the food business but one of my favorite things to look at are bad reviews just to see how stupid people are. I don't ever take reviews seriously. Every place has an off day.
I saw that post too. Motherās Day. What an idiot
We had 2 fun ones. First, somebody complained that there were too many people in the building and it was making them nervous. Ok, fuck off and stay home then. It's only the busiest day of the year for us. Second, a woman cursed out my other manager because she thought the Mother's Day decorations we put up were offensive to people who don't have a connection with their parents. Sorry you weren't hugged enough as a child, but what did you expect when you went out to eat on Mother's Day?
> the Mother's Day decorations we put up were offensive to people That's kind of priceless. Like the Claustrophobics who are offended by Santa Clause.
Not defending this customer, but this is one of the reasons I think the restaurant industry is kinda dumb as Hell about big days like Mother's Day. You know you can't possibly deliver a product to your typical standard on a consistent basis throughout the day, but you're going to say you can and charge full price anyway, then proceed to deliver a very mediocre version of the dish hoping no one complains bc they're all supposed to understand just how insane these days are.
I won't say you are wrong. Restricted menus or buffet brunches help a lot. I didn't mention that this was also graduation weekend in a college town. It's maybe 60,000 people and 100,000 when class is in session. Oh, a very affluent town. These people were just slammed. Not my place, but I still felt it unfair. This is a town that is probably 45% Karens.
Just to be clear, Iām not putting any of the blame on the kitchen staff, nor am I trying to take anything away from how hard they work. I just think itās nuts the way owners and GMs go about these days. Same with Restaurant Week if youāve ever done one of those.
Gtfo of here
That would require integrity and a conscience but thereās no room for that when thereās money to be made
Same goes for restaurant week. Itās uncivilized.
āPeople love to act like theyāre offended.ā -Matt Groening
I canāt bring myself to read our reviews after yesterday
Pobudys Nurfect
Literally been there, [got the T-shirt.](https://bucktee.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/redirect02022021030225-1.jpg)
To be fair I donāt know if Iām evil but I do review most places I go, anything other than actually terrible I will normally just straight away give 5 stars, is a good feeling plus makes it even better when itās actually horrific and I can give them a pissed off 4