CURRYING NO FAVOUR
Restaurant owner lets off steam against online critics
A THAI restaurant owner who unleashed a tirade of spicy comments online after copping negative reviews has apologised, saying he “gets frustrated”.
Nopphakhun Suebwong called one reviewer “a parasite”, accused another of being “dishonest and biased”, and told one critic “How about you mind your own business’’ after they complained about meals at Lemongrass Thai on Sundale.
But Mr Suebwong, who also told a reviewer “karma will find you”, said he was just trying to set the record straight.
A THAI restaurant owner who unleashed a tirade of spicy comments online after copping negative reviews has apologised, saying he “gets frustrated”.
Nopphakhun Suebwong called one reviewer “a parasite”, accused another of being “dishonest and biased”, and told one critic “How about you mind your own business’’ after they complained about meals at Lemongrass Thai on Sundale.
But Mr Suebwong, who also told a reviewer “karma will find you”, said his intention was usually to set the record straight on what people wrote online so that others reading the reviews would see his side of the story.
And for the record, overall Lemongrass Thai on Sundale has 3.5 stars on TripAdvisor, 4.6 stars on Facebook and 4.3 stars on Google, indicating plenty of positive reviews as well.
“Some people, if we ask if everything is OK, they say yes then go home and write something negative about the food on TripAdvisor,” he said.
“If they have food in the shop we ask them if everything is OK and if they say no we fix it. Of course we want the customer to leave happy.
“People do actually believe what online people say rather than coming into the shop and experiencing with us.”
Another restaurant owner, Andrew Whiting of Elk Espresso and Sparrow Eating House, said he could understand that restaurant owners wanted to fight back online, but it was not necessarily the right thing to do.
“I’ve written back to negative reviews maybe three times but that’s when something was totally incorrect,” he said. “I can’t read reviews any more. This is your passion, your life. It’s hard not to take it personally.
“These days I don’t read them. I have a manager filter the reviews and if something is worthy we take it on board to get better and learn from our mistakes.
“You want to fight back and I get it, this is your everything.”
Mr Suebwong said he commented if someone said something he believed was false.
“Some of them they don’t really know what they’re saying, they jump to conclusions,” he said.
“They say things like the sauce comes from the jar and that is totally false.
“Or some people come from different backgrounds and they like different things, not everyone likes the same food.
“Personally, if I go to the shop and try something, if I don’t like it I’m just not going back. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it and I’m going to tell everyone my opinion.
“Don’t get me wrong. I can take criticism from people. I’m not perfect. Sometimes we make mistakes and I can accept that.
“But if they don’t tell us and they go home, we can’t do anything.”
Mr Suebwong said he was glad to have those reviews and platforms like TripAdvisor.
“TripAdvisor is good. I don’t always get negative comments and when you get a good comment it makes you feel good,” he said.
“TripAdvisor is good. It’s just the people that are not.”