Your Restaurant Gets a Really Bad Review. Should You Punch Back?
You've put blood, sweat, and thousands of dollars into your place and then the bad reviews start. What would you do?
You’re a chef, and someone goes online and writes a blistering review. What should you do? Or, you’re a dissatisfied customer reeling from a terrible experience. What’s your best move?
You've honed your culinary skills, spent tens of thousands of dollars, obtained the permits, hired the right staff, developed the menu, established the marketing scheme, and tried to make everything perfect. Soon after opening, bad reviews appear. You get the dreaded thumbs down, one star, and “I’d never go back” or “This place sucks” comments. What would you do?
Most consumers read online reviews when considering a new eatery. According to Dixa, an online customer service platform, “93% of customers will read online reviews before making a purchase, with 47% spreading the word about a positive experience and a striking 95% shouting from the rooftops about a negative experience.” Statistics show online reviews shape opinions and drive business.
Restaurants vary in responding to comments. Many smaller places don’t respond at all, statistically at their peril. Some medium-sized restaurants respond sporadically, if at all, and some to only positive reviews. Increasingly, most larger establishments have a social media manager or a team tuning in and answering most reviews.
The sheer volume for some companies is staggering. Jeff Houck, Vice President of Marketing for the 1905 Family Of Restaurants, including the Columbia Restaurant and Casa Santo Stefano, leads a three-person marketing team that monitors reviews for its 13 locations. Multiply that by the four largest platforms, Google, Open Table, Yelp, and Trip Advisor, and mix in their policy of responding to every review regardless of rating, and it's a monster task. Among other marketing duties, they divide and conquer the reviews, divvying the locations between them. They also have a part-time person doing reputation monitoring for the Ulele brand and some Columbia work. If the reviews identify an operation issue, it gets sent to their COO, who contacts the customer directly. For smaller organizations, it’s understandable why their responses are either sporadic or non-existent.
Some local restaurants fire back, arguing with and insulting low-rating commenters. To be fair, after you put years of work into building a brand, it is easy to take negative comments personally and punch back. But should they? Is being vindictive worth the bad online optics? Here are some examples:
Hale's Blackbrick 4812 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa FL
Vino E Pasta, 3603 W Gandy Blvd, Tampa, FL
Due Amici-1724 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL.
Hales Blackbrick Chinese opened on Dale Mabry in 2022 after closing in Miami. A new location in Hyde Park is under construction. They tend to over-explain to counter a lousy complaint and have insulted commenters online, often invoking faith as part of the mix. Here are some examples from Google: “We are all praying you become a nicer person”,” We pray for him and his horrible ways”, “You were a problem the entire night…Do not return..” or” Ask your friend to return, you stay home.” They continue this same approach on other platforms. Blackbrick did not respond to requests for comment.
Hales Blackbrick responds to a Google review
Hales Blackbrick response on Open Table
Hale's "You Stay Home" retort.
The owner of Vino Y Pasta on Gandy gets defensive as well. He takes an instant replay approach, saying in his responses that he went and reviewed the restaurant's cameras and argues he saw nothing. In one review, he denied discrimination (a hot word) even though none was alleged. In another, he asks the writer never to come back.
Vino E Pasta owner takes the instant replay approach to respond to a 1-star Google review
Owners of Due Amici Pizza in Ybor (a personal favorite) snark back the obvious,” That’s your opinion,” in several instances.
Due Amici owners stating the obvious to a one-star review,
So, what’s the best approach? Current trends and advice from public relations and marketing firms advise against publicly airing retorts. Houck says he sees the task more as building a relationship than simply replying to a review. But, two or three times a year, following a preposterous review, he might challenge a distorted fact while thanking the writer for their input.
Here are the overarching recommendations for restaurants taken from several sources:
Don’t ignore bad reviews.
Respond to them quickly, but pause if you are feeling angry. Don’t take them personally.
Use negative reviews as a learning experience.
When responding, use correct grammar, thank the customer for their feedback, apologize for what went wrong, and briefly explain if appropriate (it’s easy to look defensive here).
Move the conversation offline by giving them the email or phone number of someone who can make a difference. Be sure to respond if you hear from them. Then, invite them back.
If the review seems like a legitimate complaint, you might offer an incentive, such as a free appetizer or beverage.
If you don’t have the time, talent, or tolerance to deal with a poor review, it is better to say nothing than something snarky!
The experienced high-end restaurant responses I saw on Google one-stars take a neutral, apologetic approach. Things like, “We are sorry for your experience” or “We’re taking your feedback seriously” are common. These responses are sometimes cut-and-pasted from one to the next, but they’re better than firing back or saying nothing at all.
Most social media platforms, primarily Google, have a process for taking down fake or fraudulent reviews. Others, like Yelp, make the process more difficult.
What should consumers do? We've all been there. It took 45 minutes to get the entree, the food came out cold, the server was rude, or the place was too cold or noisy. Parking is ridiculous; the prices are too high, the table is too small, and the check took forever to get. What is the best approach? In this day of over-sharing and publicizing our opinions, many immediately take to TikTok, Google, or Yelp to gripe.
Chef-partner Michael Brannock, a 20-year restaurant veteran now at South Tampa’s Streetlight Tacos, says he will mostly do whatever it takes to please a customer and make things right. But customers have to say something. He recommends notifying your server first and then asking for management if the problem is unresolved. Houck says to go straight to asking for a manager. Reputable restaurants want customers to leave satisfied, but you must say something.
On the consumer side, try to take care of it while you are there. If, in the end, the solution is unsatisfactory, then write your review and include the facts of what happened.
Here’s the to-do list for consumers having a negative experience:
If you have a complaint, tell someone.
Be solution-focused, describe the problem, and ask for what you want instead of just registering a complaint.
Your server is often the go-to, but a manager might have more power to fix things.
Don’t be afraid to send a dish back. Reputable outlets want you to be satisfied.
Understand that even the best restaurants have bad nights. Do you want to give them a second chance if there's an issue? The decision to go online and complain is your prerogative, but ask yourself if you want the problem solved or prefer vengeance by pitching a fit online.
If you choose to write a critical review, try to stick to the specifics of what happened. Management can more easily remedy facts, while your feelings are more complicated.
I am not an “influencer”. In my role as a food blogger, I eat anonymously. I know that restaurants are someone's livelihood. There will be imperfect meals, poor attitudes, and other disappointments. If it’s worth it, I address it while I am there. I remain optimistic, explain the problem, and ask for a correction. Issues such as being too pricy, noisy, or busy are not fixable in the moment, and negatively writing about it doesn’t help. I have photographed in hundreds of restaurants and have had a considerable number of bad eating experiences. I have gotten into the habit of usually writing nothing, preferring to lend my voice to the places that get it right. There are exceptions.
So, pretend it’s your restaurant. You’ve busted your backside, getting it up and running. Then, the bad reviews come in. What would you do? What should restaurants do? Leave your response in the comments below.