This is the first time that this has ever happened to me: a
business owner responding to my "negative" review on Yelp by directly messaging me through Yelp. First of all, I have a business page on Yelp and have read their FAQ on how to handle "negative" reviews (i.e. don't fret it), so I'm astonished at this person's reaction. Second of all, IT WAS A 3-STAR RATING FOR A RESTAURANT, which is hardly a bad review at all. Anyway,
I took a screenshot of the message I received for posterity, but here's my original review, the owner's message with inline commentary from me in red.
My 3-star review:
We were here for dinner. They seat you down and a lady brings over a tray of sample appetizers. Kind of like dim sum, but unexpected!
I thought the food, overall, was OK. The Turkish coffee and tea? If you don't normally drink strong stuff, skip them. Wow, I could not stomach them at all (there's just not enough cream and sugar in the world).
I felt like they were kind of pushy with the appetizers, wine, drinks, and dessert (BTW, the lady brought over a tray of sample desserts as well). I don't like that. I want the kind of environment where I so badly want dessert and appetizers that I ask YOU for it. Pushiness might get me to buy in this time, but it might not bring me back. Just a thought.
The message I received a month ago but just saw today:
First of all thank you for visiting my restaurant.
You could be a good photographer or a good writer, but you cannot be a food-whore. [My Yelp reviewer headline is "One part photographer, one part writer, five parts food-whore" and wow, great way of turning it around, but way to be totally dismissive, too. I can almost imagine the Soup Nazi saying it: "You cannot be a food-whore! No food for you! Next!!!".]
My wife and I opened this restaurant more than 5 years ago. She is the brain of the kitchen. Everything, and I mean everything you taste in our restaurant is homemade and all the recipes are hers, her mother's or grandmother's. What you experience in my restaurant is very traditional such as showing off the appetizers and the desserts on a tray. We are not being pushy, we are being very traditional. [I think this is perfectly fine if he just explained it without the attitude. It could be better phrased.] Spinning the coffee or the tea is also part of that tradition that you will experience in TURKEY [Umm, WTF is up with capitalizing the entire word Turkey like I'm an idiot?]. Do you know that our cuisine is the second largest cuisine in the world? Most people do not know that. [And?]
Before you review a cuisine you are not familiar with, you should do some reading about that cuisine. [I didn't realize that this was a prerequisite for reviewing restaurants ON YELP!]
Our food is not just OK, it is outstanding. [I beg to differ...] I would like you to watch the review of 3 people on CHECK PLEASE program on KQED. I certainly did not pay these people to say what they said. [This made me totally crack up, BTW. If you follow the link below, it takes you to the GLOWING reviews that the people - three ordinary people - gave for the restaurant on the TV show Check, Please! Fine. But it's a blog and people can leave comments. Guess what? Sure, some people loved the restaurant, but there were also comments like, "A huge disappointment" and "Nothing was extraordinary here. I really wanted to like this place since I live in Redwood City, but I did not and will not return."]
http://blogs.kqed.org/food/2008/04/11/new-kapadokia-reviews/
Next time you decide to review a restaurant, you should go back and give them a second try. [Why? If I lived in Kentucky and this was the only "ethnic" restaurant around then maybe, but we're in the friggin' bay area. Why should I come back to a restaurant that didn't wow me in the least bit?] And if there is something you did not like, you should let someone know so you do not need to pay for it, such as the coffee or the tea. [I'm just not ballsy enough to diss people's food to their face. Never been, probably never will.] Do you also know that we offer fresh mint tea or apple tea that we bring from Turkey? [OK...?]
Ignorance is not a virtue, just a thought. [OK, so I was annoyed to this point but after reading this, there was absolutely no going back.]
You could come back and be my guest and give us a second try, my treat. [After being called ignorant? No, thanks, Jay!]
Jay
I think both of us are over-reacting. But since it's my blog (ha!), I will go ahead and say that (1) he's totally uncool for writing such a mean-spirited message to me, whereas if he had written a nicer note, I would definitely feel guiltier for my original review and actually consider revisiting but at this junction, (2) I will NEVER eat there again and if it ever came up in conversation (which it almost never does, since there are about 10,000,000 other restaurants in this area), I will retell this experience and let people decide for themselves whether they want to dine at such an establishment.
Way to shoot yourself in the foot. But this serves as a great example for me of what
not to do....
What do you make of this whole situation? I'm way over-reacting, aren't I? Oh well.
