‘Being Italian doesn’t necessarily make you a good judge of food’
Restaurants hitting back at over-egged online reviews
RESTAURANTS are sharpening their knives and hitting back at online reviewers whose claims have left a sour taste in their mouths.
‘Being Italian doesn’t necessarily make you a good judge of good food,’ was one response by management at The Unicorn, one of Dublin’s best-known Italian restaurants.
When one reviewer left a one-star review and said she wouldn’t be returning, the Unicorn’s response was as swift as Gordon Ramsay’s notoriously sharp tongue.
‘We don’t accept your comments or your attitude and are quite happy you are not coming back,’ a representative responded online, before adding, ‘the customer is not always right.’
The Unicorn also instructed that they would be taking legal advice against one reviewer who allegedly posted a fake or malicious claim. The original post was removed, and an apology issued online. The Italian customer was also told that if he didn’t wish to make any complaint in person, then perhaps, ‘it is better if you go elsewhere’. According to one veteran of the industry, Irish people are becoming more vocal in airing their issues. For Declan Maxwell, of Luna on Dublin’s Drury Street, such feedback is good… if it is delivered in person on the night, rather than days or weeks later. Mr Maxwell, who was maitre d’ at Michelin-starred Chapter One for 16 years, maintains a policy of not replying to online reviews, whether they are good or bad. ‘You can get into a little bit of a row,’ he says of responding on negative reviews. In any case, he says, ‘I really prefer it if someone said to me that they didn’t have a good evening. At least you have a chance to sort it out.’
Meanwhile, ‘If someone puts up a false review, it can be disheartening and damaging to the business.’ One online reviewer wrote of their experience at Luna: ‘…the most pretentious thing of all – at the bottom of the menu we were told that all the waiters suits were tailored by Louis Copeland? Evidence that one cannot buy class.’
Meanwhile, when one customer complained about her portion of lobster in another establishment, proprietor Niall Sabongi, who owns a number of Dublin seafood restaurants, replied: ‘In this industry, you hear the legend of the nastiest person of the year,’ he wrote. ‘I’m delighted to let you know that for 2017 you’re the winner.’
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mr Sabongi said that he replies to reviews rarely – and usually only to correct an inaccuracy. He tries to take a balanced approach.
‘You can grow from [the feedback],’ he said. ‘It’s just a shame that one bad experience will reflect really badly on the business. It really affects our business, so people should be a bit more mindful.’
Perhaps mindful of one review of Klaw which said that the waitress ‘needed to be explained what Oysters Kirk/Kilpatrick are’, Mr Sabongi went on, ‘Everybody eats. Everyone has an opinion on food, but we don’t feel as confident to criticise other professional industries as much as restaurants. So we get the short end of the stick.’
Reading online reviews also builds a customer’s expectation, he feels. ‘I may read reviews and think the place will be like this or that, but when I get there, it’s not like that at all, not like you imagined.’