I don't care if the the food is inedible ..... update page 3

[BabyMama]

There was a restaurant local to my parents that was lovely, but was on the down swing. Lots of people wrote glowing reviews hoping to drum up business for them, but it seemed to not be working.

Then someone wrote a review criticizing the menu, ambiance, waitstaff--all stuff I think was bogus based on my personal experiences, but it was one negative among a sea of positives. Until the owner replied back with a ranty, sarcastic, angry response that basically said, "Sorry we didn't live up to your expectations. Not everyone can afford to be perfect!"

...I later learned that the owner (who had waited on us every time we'd been there and had been lovely and accommodating) had a serious drug problem. He got caught selling drugs out the backdoor of the restaurant, which was why it eventually closed. The review was, of course, during the prime of his "career." So, lesson learned...don't read Yelp reviews while on drugs

[BabyMama]

I'd be tempted to share the link with Consumerist. 

Oooh. Yes, I think so.

Wow, that was quick! It's up already. Maybe someone on Consumerist reads e-hell?

[Cat-Fu]

Awesome! Looking at Yelp, it seems that the owner makes a habit of being a jerk.

[Winterlight]

I use the website airbnb.com

It's a website where you rent a room in someone's house.  Some people run things a little more like a business and not so casual.  Users leave reviews for people they stayed with and host leave reviews of guests.

There was one place I was considering staying at that had a mixed bag of reviews.  There were a lot of good reviews and most of the bad reviews weren't that bad, but raised issues that a potential guest might really want to know about.

The thing that turned me off was how the hostess went after every even slightly negative review so vehemently that I knew I didn't want to be anywhere near a person like that.

So, in the end, it wasn't the reviews that sunk that person but her own behavior toward people giving their opinions.

Yeah, that would make me back away too. I don't want to deal with drama, and I'm betting staying there would be full of it.

[NyaChan]

Here's the link:  http://consumerist.com/2013/01/09/its-not-a-good-idea-to-tell-customers-you-dont-care-if-their-food-was-inedible/

[POF]

And the owner has know removed his comments !

[POF]

I also want ot clarify what I meant by the customer is always right .... not the "entitled demandng infantile give me what I want or else " mentality ... but if the customer has a problem with the food or service, the restaurant should at least try to acknowledge or understand it.

[Minmom3]

We had a similar experience at a local Italian restaurant, which has now closed...  They were trying to do a 'tiny local theater dinner' thing, and, at least for us, it didn't work at all.  It was too loud to converse with the waiter unless we yelled.  Funky blacklighting in one room next to us.  Movie pictures all over the walls.  A stage that was about 5' x 10"?  Really small.  So, ambiance kinda sucked to my older ears.  Food was mediocre, AND they forgot DH's entree unless I asked where it had gone to, and then it wasn't what it had been represented as on the menu.  For $25 a pop.  So, when we got home, I Yelped and gave them 1 star.  I detailed what happened.  I called NO names, I just said this place didn't have the food or the service to stand up to the 'faux theater' experience, and it would have to improve to carry off what they were attempting to do.  Our 'hostess' responded by saying that their dinner theater wasn't for everybody, and skipped over how poor the service was, and the mediocre food.

It's now completely different, except that it's still Italian.  New owners, who gutted and redid the insides and the outsides.  Even took away the boat parked forever in their tiny parking lot.  I'd like to try it again, and it got a good review in the local paper, but we don't have any money right now, so no dining out yet!

[blarg314]

Over the years I've gotten the impression that sometimes people open their own businesses because they are difficult people who have trouble working for others.  IMHO these people think that they will be the "boss" of their own business, that people will come and all will be well.  They don't realize that small business owners work incredibly hard, and for long hours.  Their "boss," so to speak, is the shopping public.

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. The problem is, of course, that the surly attitude that makes them a bad employee also makes them a bad employee, and a bad customer service person.

I wouldn't worry about this guy too much. With bad service, bad food, erratic policies and a tendency to come into the dining room to berate customers, he's not going to last long.

[miranova]

And this is why I don't buy into global judgements about how we all MUST buy local.  I will buy local when local has good quality and somewhat competitive prices.  I am not obligated to patronize a business that has done nothing to deserve it other than "being local". 

I am an extremely loyal customer to people who earn my business.  Not to people who declare to me that I have some kind of obligation to support them.  That's just not the way it works.

One of the most negative reviews I've posted on yelp was all about management leaving money on the table and not about the food.  I hope they actually read it, because they have great food and are shooting themselves in the foot with inefiicient policies and untrained staff. 

[mmswm]

There's a small restaurant near my parents' house that serves the best Mexican food you've ever eaten in your life.  The staff is always warm and friendly and the food is just amazing, however, one should be prepared to wait.  And wait.  And wait some more.  This place has the market cornered on slow service.  Because the owners are so pleasant and the food is so wonderful, we all put up with the slow kitchen.  The food is totally worth it.  I can't imagine the owners saying something like that on a review site.  Of course, that's probably the reason they've been in business for 40 years despite what could have been a fatal flaw in this industry.

The gall of the owner in the OP just astounds me.

[magician5]

The customer is not always right, as anyone who has dealt with the #$@%&^* public can tell you. There are plenty of customers who just can't be pleased, or who have no idea what they need or want. Those people would do well to vote with their feet and do business at some place that pleases them.

However, the customer is always the final arbiter. Either an establishment pleases them or it doesn't. And in the case of the aforementioned Yelp exchanges, I'm sure potential customers can easily glean from the owner's posts exactly what the place is like, without further explanation. I get the impression that this sort of thing happens often on Yelp - a frustrated owner signs onto Yelp to argue with or berate his customers. Bad idea.

And prospective customers are also internet-savvy, most of them, and can sort out a few "troll" bad reviews from a generally happy lot, or a few "planted" raves from a bulk of honest opinions.

PS - The owner (as has been mentioned) can delete his nasty rejoinders on Yelp, but too late ... the public gets the news about his attitude. Karma, it's a hammer sometimes.