# Your Competition giving you bad reviews



## chefcomesback (Oct 1, 2013)

I took the chef position of a Winery last year. Within a couple months I have reopened the restaurant which had beatiful vews and not so good reputation for the food. Long story short we started getting more tables in and started to build some reputation. Within 6 months we were the 5th ranked on tripadvisor among 44 restaurants in my area. 
Yesterday morning I have received a phone call from my wife saying we had 1 star review!!! (during my time here we have 15*5 s and 1 *4 ) I found it and read it to find out what we have done so wrong? I mean if the dished were out there or the flavor combinations were odd or the plates were dirty , was the service bad ? Nope , I have realised this was written not by the diner , actually another a restaurant worker who was honest (dumb, douche,... ) enough to say that a group of people came to their restaurant because our restaurant is not open for dinner and anybody should think again their choices ... Food : 1 out of 5 ...... ambiance : 1 out of 5 ,.. 
*** !!!
:curse:
If the food and service bad give me bad reviews , that will be only motivation for me to do better
You haven't eaten here first of all ,second you are competiton who is trying to smear **** on my reputation !!!!!
Heck I eat out quite a lot but i will not rate any of my competion beacuse anything negative i will write may be seen unethical even I could be right.
***!!
***!!

As you can imagine I was furious , angry and all sorts...

Because this was a breech of the user agreements of tripadvisor we have reported it and it is taken off their website.
We have found the actual people who tried to come to us on sunday night and they happily told us where they went for dinner that night.
Based on the language of the reviewer we found out she is a younger serves or floor manager. I am not trying to pull another "Amy's baking company " but I have given that restaurant a phone call identifiying myself and asking some questions if I could talk to whoever was working that night . Oddly enough it sounds like nobody worked that night , tables must have served themselves...
I am lucky we found this out really quick and solved it but it is so easy somebody trying to mess with you online these days


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## Salty dog (Oct 1, 2013)

And to add to that you have morons not knowing what they're talking about.

We had a bad write up because the dessert was half frozen. It was a semi-fredo which is supposed to be that way. I could go on.

My daughter keeps up on the amateur reviews I don't. It would drive me crazy.


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## chefcomesback (Oct 1, 2013)

Salty dog said:


> And to add to that you have morons not knowing what they're talking about.
> 
> We had a bad write up because the dessert was half frozen. It was a semi-fredo which is supposed to be that way. I could go on.
> 
> My daughter keeps up on the amateur reviews I don't. It would drive me crazy.



You are right, I almost forgot the lady who claimed there was too much garlic in gnocchi.. (there was no garlic, chives whatsoever , it was shaved truffles)
But if you look on their avatar it would probably say senior contributor and people would assume these guys know something...
O well , I guess things like this will happen regardless of what I serve


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## mzer (Oct 1, 2013)

People love to give bad reviews and one stars. It has more to do with finally having a way to show they have some power in an otherwise powerless life than it does their knowledge of chives and garlic. It's actually very sad, a pathetic side to how connected we are and our ability to communicate, but for business people on the receiving end it can be devastating.


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## Korin_Mari (Oct 1, 2013)

mzer said:


> People love to give bad reviews and one stars. It has more to do with finally having a way to show they have some power in an otherwise powerless life than it does their knowledge of chives and garlic. It's actually very sad, a pathetic side to how connected we are and our ability to communicate, but for business people on the receiving end it can be devastating.



It's unfortunate but true. Unless they had a top tier time or an awful time worth complaining about, people don't tend to review. I'm glad you were able to dispute it and have it taken down. Most sites with reviews and ratings would try to convince you why it is your fault and not take it down... Korin has gotten blamed for the customer not being home to receive the package and it getting sent to the post office for pick up. Sometimes the reviews make me not want to be on this planet anymore.


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## mzer (Oct 1, 2013)

Here is an example of what I mean. A friend about whom this yelper wrote a review forwarded it to me very upset. I looked at the rest of the reviews, and they present a clear pattern. Not to pick on this woman, or to say all bad reviews are false, but reading hers should give you guys an idea of what is out there.

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=xRA2Nwj6M7LvsX-ElqGfUw


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## brainsausage (Oct 1, 2013)

Some people just thrive on being constantly pissed off at every little minutiae of their existence. It's frustrating, but also a bit sad when you think about all the fun they're probably missing out on in life.


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## chefcomesback (Oct 1, 2013)

If the review was a genuine diner who had a bad experience or didn't know much about food or etc. I wouldn't be this frustrated. Instead a dumbass from the restaurant across the street wrote it based on ???? probably having nothing better to do in her pathetic life....


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## Dream Burls (Oct 1, 2013)

chefcomesback said:


> If the review was a genuine diner who had a bad experience or didn't know much about food or etc. I wouldn't be this frustrated. Instead a dumbass from the restaurant across the street wrote it based on ???? probably having nothing better to do in her pathetic life....


Or, she was "asked" to write it by her management.


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## mzer (Oct 1, 2013)

Dream Burls said:


> Or, she was "asked" to write it by her management.



This is quite an assumption, non?


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## toddnmd (Oct 1, 2013)

That negative review is really annoying.

In general, I am a fan of reviews on various things. If things are overwhelmingly positive, I will look through the negative ones to see if they have substance, are well-written and explained, etc. Often I dismiss them (quite a few) and think, "That person is an idiot." There are numerous people who have unreasonable expectations or can't follow directions.

Again, I'm sure I wouldn't like to be in the OP's position, but I hope you also have some faith in people's ability to look at the overall impression.


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## bahamaroot (Oct 1, 2013)

People, you got to love them, because if you shot them you go to jail.


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## jgraeff (Oct 1, 2013)

You have to take the good with the bad and let the food stand for itself. I mean obviously read into the bad ones in case it may be partly true to always improve but things like that come with the business. Im glad you got it taken care of though! 

we get tons of stuff from "foodies" that have absolutely no idea what their talking about, however they feel qualified to comment on how the food wasnt prepared properly or etc


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