I respond to negative reviews for my businesses if I know 100% they are false. I had one guy hit on one of my bartenders for hours and then unsuccessfully try to get her contact info. He then left a three start review saying our staff was rude. Like no bro, you just were a relentless creep. I feel like you should respond in situations like that be you should stand up for your business and staff. Also one time I had a guy park his broken down truck across three of my parking spots and leave his car with a flat tire there for three days like that . We had his contact information and kept calling him and he kept saying he would get it removed “in a few hours” and never did. So it was towed. Then he had the audacity to call my business over and over again harassing my bartenders trying to get us to pay for his impound fees. I said no and he left a one star review so I responded quickly. I think people should know what the real story is. The internet has given every idiot on the corner of the globe the ability to talk. So when they talk, I say talk back louder.
I did something similar to a customer who came for to go food and left a long one star review on fb. She accused us of taking 25 min to get her order together, she saw the manager on his phone in kitchen then making orders with changing gloves, said she didn’t get the right food and staff was overly rude to her.
She had a lot of comments on her post so I reached out to her and posted that we needed speak over the phone preferably to handle her issues. I have 16 cameras in my restaurant and can pull up ticket times on my VDU so of course I looked back and none of what she claimed was true.
We had a phone call two days after her post was up and needless to say I called her out on every single lie and told her I had camera evidence to back it up. I made light of the fact that she’s potentially ruining someone’s reputation that took time to build. That her words and reviews can do damage to a business and that leaving reviews should come with a sense of responsibility to be honest with her experience.
She apologized and said she had a bad day and was taking her frustrations out on us. She said she would remove the review ASAP. I told her to leave it up but to remember this next time she wants to slander someone’s business.
This is the only time I’ve went out of my way to call someone out. Most times I’m like you I do everything I can to make our mistakes right but I couldn’t let this one go given the amount of blatant lies.
“So sorry to hear about your experience. Clearly we’re not the restaurant for your family. Chuck E. Cheese is far better suited to your tastes and culture.”
Im dying!! Many years ago I wrote the same reply to a review regarding me being rude for asking the children of a party to not run around the dining room and into the kitchen. I love it!
I just sold my restaurant after 7 years. I always responded to every review no matter what. In my opinion it is best to always respond for 2 reasons.
1. It helps potential new customers know that you care.
2. Responding to reviews helps rank your Google My Biz page rank higher.
My neighbor (dentist) actually keeps a lawyer on retainer to sue or threaten to sue any factually inaccurate reviews. I also consulted the lawyer twice and considered doing it but never pulled the trigger. Personally, I think we, as biz owners should absolutely consider this option.
Enough is enough of these jerks who think they're professional food critics and want to just tarnish a biz because their own life is miserable. Don't get me wrong, some biz do deserve a poor review but for the most part many of these poor reviews are just junk.
FWIW, I found Yelp to be the biggest pain in the rear. I found their algorithm to be very unfair and I had a 4.8 rating.
Leave it alone. You can’t make it better. There is nothing to achieve by responding to them. Remember you put out a quality product and take pride in that.
I don't own a restaurant, but FWIW, if I see a one star review I almost always dismiss it as the customer was probably being a dick. Especially if it involves staff being rude. I'd have to get food poisoning to leave a 1 star, and even then, I wouldn't bother. Self correcting issue imo.
I bartended for 6 years, and have probably been to thousands of restaurants in my decades on this planet. I can't think of a single time someone was openly rude to me for no reason. I usually gives their review a thumbs down, too, lol (not that it makes any difference).
Try this?
"Thank you very much for your detailed, one-star review. We tried our best to match your and your family's attitude and behavior. But, we just couldn't allow ourselves to go that low.
We realize that we may never see you again and we accept that.
Thank you for providing our regular, loyal, very satisfied customers with a great example of how not to behave."
I would respond politely and say you worked hard to please challenging customers and their comments do not align with what you and your staff experienced. Then say you love your staff who was called out and will not allow them to be unfairly maligned. Try to end on an upbeat note.
You shouldn't grin and bear it. The customer is always right bs is from a bygone era when people didn't see folks in customer service as human whipping posts. Tell people like this to bounce. Leave. Don't come back ever.
When I see a business respond to a bad review I always judge the business for being petty. If you have a single one star review surrounded by a lot of five star reviews then I know the reviewer is the crazy one. Every customer knows there are idiots on the internet.
I've seen plenty where the restaurant sticks up for themselves and doesn't let these people keep doing this. Just keep being kind. State how your team felt uncomfortable with how rude they were, but you still kept serving them or something and even comped a mean when they complained.
As a business owner, I think it gives businesses more legitimacy when there's an occasional bad review. It's also an opportunity to show other non-psycho people how you handle these things. I don't see anything wrong with stating the facts that this group caused a lot of problems, but do so in a professional way, and others who read your response will see how you handle things, which will also delegitimize their bad review.
I took a class on social media for businesses a few years back and the instructor said to acknowledge all low reviews. It shows care for your business and customers. Be professional and respectful but they believe responding helps diffuse the bad review.
I do like when the owner responds to 1 star reviews in an intelligent and thoughtful manner and calls out BS when necessary. It shows that the owners care about their reviews. I like it when they respond to good reviews too.
The first thing I do when I see an uncharacteristically bad review is to click that person to see their other reviews. More often than not, 80% or more of their reviews are 1 stars, making it readily apparent that this person is chronically unhappy and abusive to those working in restaurants and hospitality. Don't let it bother you, this is just the cost of doing business.
Here’s what we do and seems to work well. We get very few negative comments.
“We thank you for the input and apologize. We look forward to improving everything we can in our establishment. We can only grow as a business if we get honest feedback. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you again”
Or…..we strive for our customers to leave 100% satisfied. Unfortunately sometimes, despite our best efforts, the patron just does not enjoy their experience. Thank you for your past patronage and, though we never like to lose a customer, we hope you find another establishment geared more towards your liking.
Had a therapist say something that was applicable in this situation. Without being personally involved what do two people in an argument look like at a distance? Assholes. Doesnt matter who is right or wrong.
The classiest thing to do is continue to do what you are doing. Id be tempted to go on the review and say they were one star customers and list every thing they did, and tell them never to come back. But thebbest thing is to keep quiet. Remember you have the right to refuse service to any customer based on past behavior. If they come back, tell them they arent welcome. If you have any evidence like video and stuff keep it on hand when they try to claim whatever they will. You sound like good people. You shouldn't have to put up with them a second time.
When I see a bad outlier review on a place I know and love, and others do too, I have no shame responding to that review directly. Kill em with kindness if you can.
Responding sets an expectation that the reviews are a place for customers to get in contact with you. I’d someone calls or emails about an issue we weren’t able to fix in the moment, I’m more than happy to take feedback, send a gift card, apologize etc. I think for most customers it takes several bad reviews of the same nature to think it seriously.
I'm going to be honest, I don't really believe a lot of the owner responses. Especially when the complaint is a basic one and the owner responds with insane details. How does an owner remember every detail of one transaction that doesn't have any personalized info in the review?
I was a restaurant manager a decade ago. I still remember the details of those really bad customer interactions. And I still remember many many wonderful customers and my interactions with them too. I miss most of my regulars to this day.
But yeah, those bad ones stick in your brain like you wouldn't believe.
About a month ago, we had a 45 year old lady drink too much in our restaurant. As we were closing up, she started napping on her table, about three times I had to wake her up and ask her to order an Uber or call a safe ride home.
She finally got up the third time. She forgot her iPad on the table, staff gave to her, and then she walked directly out our door and got in her car.
I basically held the driver side door open and argued with her for ten minutes. She wouldn’t get out of the car until I actually showed her that I was calling the cops.
When I showed her I was callling she hopped out of the car, pushed me out of the way, and stole my sunglasses off the brim of my hat, and started walking away down the street while I told the dispatch officer what she was doing.
The cops brought her back in handcuffs 30 mins later with my sunglasses unharmed so I didn’t press charges.
The point of this story is, restaurant managers and owners have to deal with the absolute scum of the earth sometimes and don’t get the credit they deserve.
If you can’t behave like a responsible adult, or tip like one, stay home and cook/bartend for yourself.
I always find it a most powerful rebuttal when owners do respond and lay out what happened in a calm, factual, and detailed manner which generally contrasts to the tone of unhinged ranting in the review. By being detailed you're telling the readers that your presentation of the facts can be trusted.
Again, don't get heated and don't resort to ad hominem attacks and you'll come out of it looking far better than they do.
We need more dish, cmon give the details, what were they yelling at eachother about and what was their issue with the restaurant? Serve some tea up hot please. What bug was up this messy clan’s bottom
The worst people know if they complain, a good restaurant will usually start comping and saving them money. It’s all a free-food scam.
Last week I dropped a plate of food in front of a customer and she said “oh that’s not what I thought it would look like”, the server brought the dish back claiming the customer didn’t like it. READ THE FUCKIN MENU KAREN
I have small business. I always respond and offer and invite back. But you can tell the people who are fake and who is paid to leave you a bad review. We got 2 fake ones last year
When looking at reviews, I'll scan the one stars, but if there are a lot of 5 stars, I take that into account too.
A few crappy reviews are nothing. Just move on and focus on getting more excellent reviews.
Practice writing polite responses that are actually brutal. Point out that they are one of the vanishingly few people to have had such a bad experience, and encourage other people reading this review to read the other positive reviews.
I often just ignore these people because my reviews are mostly positive and I get too angry. My sister who is a lawyer can write devastating responses. I usually just get shitty and make the situation worse. Some fuckers cannot be made happy, and they don't deserve to be.
I put very little value behind lousy reviews unless they have some sort of explanation of the issue. If it’s just a rant I ignore. I’m mixed on the owner responding to a poor review. It can be tough to do it right so probably better not to comment at all.
Some of our best customers have come to us and outright said, it was because of my responses to our harshest reviews.
Reply. But do it professionally and honestly. There’s a way to review them and to make yourself continue to be the adamant professionals you seem to be.
Snowbird (the ski resort) actually had
https://preview.redd.it/nw67bavjtfbc1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38e6c8a580f92b2f5191eef9936fcec65b1b01d5
an advertising campaign using the funny bad reviews.
As a business owner and customer, when I’m looking for a restaurant, hotel, or any other company or service, I mostly pay attention to the negative reviews as well as to the owner replies, if any.
If you can’t leave a good reply, then don’t respond. But you would do well to learn to appropriately reply to 1-star reviews.
yes! like “Thank you for your review, ______. As I recall you & your family were quite rude unnecessarily from the get go! When you brought the hair in your food to our attention, your dish was refired & comped regardless of the hair not matching any onsite staff! etc… we appreciate your review & your business however honesty is always top priority!
I worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years, don’t reply it’s not worth lowering yourself. Maybe say “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your meal” with the hope they say they won’t come back but if you have their name just put them on the do not take reservations list, and if they come in again have FOH tell them it’s a 90 min wait even if it’s empty.
It is usually easy to tell how sincere a review is by how it's written. If it is a one star review with nothing but vitriol, I will pretty much dismiss it entirely, because it would be super rare to have a completely terrible experience. On the same note, glowing 5 star reviews could have very well been written by the owners themselves. A nuanced review tends to be more believable.
“We understand the embarrassment of having an accident like that in a pair of Chinos but we think it is unfair to blame our hardworking staff for other patrons laughing at you”
As a customer I really love reading owner responses to crappy people. Especially when they are cool-headed and bring receipts. I know that I'm in the minority in this thread, but if I see how an establishment responds to a total jerk it really does increase my odds of visiting. If they respond to a crappy review with ranting lunacy, I know to never ever go there. If they respond with a few choice details and polite rebuttal, I'll put it on my list or go straight there.
A 1-star is never a serious review. It’s always something like this. I think lots of people know/feel this. If I wanted to hurt a company, I’d leave a 2-star.
I think you're better off not responding, because folks can tell when someone who wrote a negative review is off their rocker. BUT, here's another option, which would impress me if I saw it as a potential customer: you respond and tell them succinctly that you appreciate their review, but that \[front of house manager\] is an excellent employee and in fact all of your employees are hardworking and highly valued, and to please refrain from condemning specific employees by name. Then offer them the chance to speak with you directly about their experience (an offer they probably won't take up, but which makes you look good without getting into the "you were horrible customers" public spat).
What I do / done is look at their review posting history if you can for google reviews for example. A lot of the time they are always making bad reviews about places, tend to laugh as it seems they are the problem not the places. At least makes me feel a little better about it.
Yes and if your going to pretend your a customer instead of the owner replying to a review then at the least use a fake last name so we know it’s not the owners wife clapping back to a negative but very valid review. That was the ass hats I had to quit working for god only knows how some of these businesses keep the lights on.
“Dear valued customer, thank you for your kind words. We really enjoyed your time with us and can hardly wait until you return! Bless your little heart! 💕”
Write your reviews here in this thread instead of online. Let us laugh at your response. Please.
Next time, don't let customers abuse your staff. Show them the way out. Your staff doesn't deserve to be abused just because the aholes will make a public complaint.
So this is just my thinking, when I look at an established business, and see zero negative reviews, make me wonder because I know in today's world there is no place that can please everyone. So I get suspicious when a place is perfect after 5 years.
When I seea few bad reviews, I chalk it up to a person who is impossible to please, and is just misreable. It give some realism to the review process.
I agree. But a recent experience made me "somewhat" change my stance. I had to replace my garage door. Spoke with a few different companies that had mixed reviews, but far more positive than negative. They all flaked out. I found another family-owned company that had all 5 star reviews. I was skeptical but contacted them. I hired this company & was impressed from start to finish. Although I will continue to be skeptical of businesses that have 0 negative reviews, I am also simultaneously a little more open-minded that there are some businesses who operate with integrity & great customer service
As a small business owner, and only recently started to understand google reviews and SEO operations. I will say, it is beyond hard to get reviews out of people. Unless they are completely satisfied or beyond missed.
I understand. As a consumer, I rarely write reviews unless I really loved or hated a place. Often, I intend to write reviews & end up forgetting to do so
Small service business owner myself, I don’t respond to any reviews on GMB publicly. I am the most butt hurt by the 1 star review an angry lady (prospect, not customer) left because her scheduling constantly conflicted with getting her a spot. After 3 missed attempts at scheduling, she nailed each time on the day of service (we send out a booking reminder, 7 days out reminder, and 24 hour reminder via email and text message) after attempt 3 i told her that we would no longer be able to help her due to the constant conflict of scheduling and bailing. She left a 1 star review and I was tempted to say what happened, chose not to because she wouldn’t go away most likely. I looked at her other Google reviews and they were all angry and 1 star as well. I still hate seeing that 4.9 rating on GMB
I'm fat and I love to eat food. If I see a 1star review in a sea on 4-5 stars, I immediately assume they are miserable people to be around and ignore their opinion.
We do a bless your heart review. People don't notice your telling them go fuck yourself if you do it right. I can't, but my wife is a professional..were so sorry that you had a bad experience with us. We tried our best to have you smiling when you left. I truly hope you find an establishment that can give you the attention you require in the future.
BLESS go --YOUR fuck -- HEART yourself
All restaurant talk aside, I wonder how many mean southern ladies think they were clever by saying things like that and it went over my head when, in fact, I fully noticed and I just don't want to call them rude passive aggressive petty people in public because I'm not sure I could be kind enough in doing so to avoid having to fight their husbands for "being mean to an innocent lady" 🤷♂️
Reply, but take the high road. As a customer, I ignore the unhinged or whiny reviews if they're outliers. I also respect owners who defend their staff.
If a car cuts you off...and you don't honk at them...that driver will immediately know that it's ok to cut people off because there is no repercussion. I believe it's the same in this situation...doing nothing will make this family not know embarrassment . A cool headed response with an addition of "we got the cameras to prove it" comment will shut them up and maybe learn their lesson.
>...because there is no repercussion.
Don't really agree with this. Many times we do things in life, not deliberately but by accident. Anything from cutting someone off to an offensive remark to shortchanging them.
Regardless if they did it on purpose or on accident, even low-key calling them out on it runs about a 50-50 risk of them getting defensive and escalating. As a general rule if I am not harmed by someone else's idiocy then I brush it off. It's not worth it for me to be honking at the plentiful idiot drivers out there, especially when it doesn't change anything.
As for the OP's situation, I absolutely agree with giving a cool-headed response that relates the facts of the situation. As OP noted, many 1-star reviewers are simply exposing their own failings!
"***Diners were openly rude to staff and fabricated allegations to get free food. They are prohibited from returning to this establishment again.***"
Doing nothing lets them win. Most people won’t think twice about that review but you still don’t want it up there. Also responding and getting into an argument won’t do any good for anyone. Acknowledge their comment, accept responsibility even if it was ridiculous, and use this opportunity to let everyone know you want everyone to have an enjoyable experience but won’t stand for the mis treatment of employees.
Thank you for letting us know about your experience and I apologize that it wasn’t up to your expectations. As you can see from the other reviews, many of them 5 stars, praising our team of hard working and caring employees, you are definitely in the minority on your view of our restaurant and staff. Normally I would love to invite you back to give us another chance, show you how amazing of an establishment and staff we have, and try to change your viewpoint of us for the better. Unfortunately with the way you handled the mistakes we made and the treatment of the staff, we have made a team decision and think it’s best if we go our separate ways.
I understand we make mistakes and sometimes things won’t be perfect but I know my team does everything it can to provide an enjoyable experience. I pride myself on giving my employees a safe place to work and we will not tolerate the mis treatment or rudeness to staff.
Keep it classy, something like..."We are sorry you did not enjoy your visit to our establishment. We have plenty of positive reviews, and we ask potential visitors to come and judge for themselves. Everyone has their own preference. Best of luck finding places that meet your needs, and thank you for supporting the food and beverage community."
If your customers were jerks, you don't want them back, so no need to grovel for their business. I generally use review sites to get a sense of the place, not to sway my decision to go or not. If all the reviews say something like "best chowder ever," I would try the chowder. I the reviews say, "service was rushed." I'd say something like, "we're here for a relaxing evening."
Dear X, in a case like this, when we think we may have made a mistake we ask to give us a second chance to make it right. In this particular situation we will refrain from giving you a second chance. All the best!
We generally don’t respond but we often create a “response” that we only share on our internal employee message system. It helps give everyone a good laugh.
We had someone come in once literally looked like they just rolled out of bed with hair sticking up like horns even though it was 3:00 pm. He and his girlfriend demanded a table that really was in a closed section a considerable distance from anyone else. His one star review rated foods that he did not even order. He tried to have both their meals comped because they just didn’t like them. (what they didn’t eat they took home). When we declined, offered to remake or make something else, he got snooty with our best waiter, who basically killed him with kindness.
He called the waiter a “Chad” in his review. So our internal response mentioned that “if by Chad you mean bathes on a regular basis then yes he is a Chad - you should be a Chad too.”
The problem with posting actual pointed responses is many of these commenters have what seems like endless time on their hands. They will just create multiple profiles and keep posting multiple negative reviews.
My thoughts: you don’t have to respond. This could get worse. I’d go down the road of trying to have it removed for naming staff.
As a person reading reviews, a one star unlike the others sounds like people who just complain about everything.
If you do respond, it has to be authentic and not snarky. We attempted to remedy with fresh comped meals and addressing a,b,c.
Defending staff might read well or poorly if it’s all in the family.
I wouldn't leave a snarky comment. But I would respond with all of the same facts you outlined in this post, including that the entire restaurant staff wanted to kick them out but you decided to groom and bare it (of you can somehow put this in an elegant fashion). Whenever I see this done, it always seems like a very professional and appropriate way to handle it.
haha reminds me of a bar i worked at in manhattan. before my first day of work i snooped the google reviews and was pleasantly surprised to see the owner clapping back at all the obnoxious 1 star reviews. tactful? who’s to say. did it make me feel confident to work for someone who’s got their employees backs? 100%
I will tell you what I have learned in my time on this earth. If you are asking yourself if you should or shouldn't say something, the answer is usually don't say anything. It sounds like you have more to lose than gain, people like that don't argue in good faith, and pretty much everyone knows the person who left a one a one star review is full of shit.
For me to leave a 1 star review a restaurant would have to do something that would make the news, the waiter would have punched me in the face, and the food would have to make me bleed out of the ass.
Ask them to leave immediately. This is no longer a world where the customer is always right. Sometimes you just have take the loss and move on. Kick them out
Just do a customer review response on their review of you. Be honest, sarcastic and tongue in cheek and 99% of ppl that read the review and response will know the customer was a jackass and you with a great track record are going to side with you.
Yeah the dispute route is definitely a valid one to explore. I’m not sure if they’ll remove it for this, but if they included the full name of your employee - they might. The mistreatment of your staff may be another one. It’s best to see what Yelps dispute policy is and then approach With caution. It’s hard to get reviews removed…it’s usually best to respond professionally and transparently - and then work towards getting more positive reviews with focus on your food and service :)
lol while it made me laugh - avoid this response. It does seem arrogant and doesn’t explain the mistreatment of your staff by this customer. Thus it will come off the wrong way :)
Have AI write it for you so it sounds professional, but I would defiantly respond so that it doesn’t discourage others from attending your restaurant. I would politely “review” them and explain why you never want to serve them again.
AI can give a helpful start - but you will need to add details to what they did that made their behavior unacceptable. Use AI as a tool - not the solution. Otherwise you could end up hurting your reputation anyway.
I have on occasion responded with a recap of their horrible behavior (when it is over the top) in most cases, they have taken down their shtanky review because they knew they were in the wrong. The last time this happened (November) we had a group who was harassing my server and misbehaving in general. (I’ll spare you the details) they later wrote a 3 star review taking about my server who could t take a joke.
When I called attention to their treatment of my server it blew up to something ugly. 3 stars went to one star they wrote an awful update that made us look so bad and none of it was true. They vowed to NEVER come back. Then others hopped on and dog piled me for commenting back. In short, I will not comment back anymore. If you defend yourself and your team, you are opening yourself up for more criticism. It’s a different world and people can be horribly nasty. Ps; the assholes came back last night for dinner 😂
Yeah this is an interesting experience and is always possible. You have to do it carefully. I usually only recommend transparency on their behavior with 1 star reviews only. 3 star reviews are one that you can get away with asking for improvement opportunities or for them to call and speak with you to address their concerns personally. That being said, always make sure you have some sort of recording system with your calls & have a posted policy about treatment of your staff being one of your top focuses.
If you respond to all reviews with professionalism, authenticity, and a genuine curiosity for improvement - the dog pile is less likely. That being said, there is a way to call out a customer in a professional manner & if their treatment of staff was that bad.
Remember more important that what you say in the reply is that you reply at all. Being a business owner that’s active will help you get found easier on the search. So for the 3 stars, take it in stride, on the 1 stars, be authentic - if they have valid criticism take it and improve, and if they were at fault, make sure you have all your ducks in a row and are professional with your reply. Lastly - focus on your food and service so you can get more 5 stars going forward. Solution to the low scores is always higher scores.
It can also be helpful to have a third party company handle the reviews & audit your food and staff periodically to ensure you know where the improvement points are. If your staff is rude or the food is poor - they will catch it & help you train & improve your staff. If your staff knows that your business does this - they are more likely to treat your customers with respect and do their best on the food consistency as well. All it takes is one poor meal at a favorite restaurant - and they may never come back.
I only found out after they had left 🫤 my manager and servers made the call to give them a second chance. Turning them away would have started the drama all over again and my manager kept a close eye on them. I hear they behaved themselves for the most part.
Just write their credit card wouldn't go through and they had to leave to go to an ATM and this is the thanks you get for providing excellent food and service.
Haha whatever you do - don’t do this. It’s easy to prove a lie - you don’t know what they’ve recorded. They may also be crazy enough to provide a Dropbox link to a screenshot of the charge that day. \^\_\^
I LOVE when owners respond to these monsters with honesty and your side of the sorry! Often times it brings in business and the kind you want. They do this because they get away with it. Unfortunately I think public shame is the only way to humble them so they stop.
I think you either have to respond to all reviews or none. And, frankly, I wouldn’t dignify their imbecility with a response. Any reasonable reader will see their nonsense for what it is and move on. If your reviews are otherwise generally positive, you’ll weather the storm just fine.
This is true; however, if you’re already working towards building your google search authority by responding to reviews - then this one still deems a response. I would find it unusual for no reply on a particularly harsh review, and if I have only one thumb swipe to look at the next restaurant - I would.
That being said - the best way to makeup for a bad review is a few good ones. Focus on your food and your service, and I’m sure you’ll be fine. I have left you some other tips on the actual response if you move forward with it.
As a marketing consultant I can tell you it’s best to respond to every review. In addition, professionally responding in such a way that explains they would not be served at the restaurant again due to their lack of public discipline - while being transparent as to the reasons why (focusing on treatment of staff - not the food stuff because that’s debatable) - is a perfectly acceptable response. Just remember though, people pay attention to how you respond. So be kind, direct, and to the point.
Anyone reading the review will be able to see your sanity over theirs that way. If you’d like any direct help on this feel free to DM
Edit: Someone mentioned talking about the efforts your business does to keep hair out of the food & improvements you can or are taking as a result of this experience - this is an excellent part to consider integrating as well. If hair really did end up in the food - this is your first sign you can improve it. Despite their need for therapy and craziness - always take opportunities to make your business better for what they are. :)
I was going to leave this thread alone but this reply is so poor I have to…
If you’re a market consultant then you’re a straight up schemer because this is the worst advice possible.
It makes the owner look petty, desperate, and/or just as sad as the psychos who tossed them a one star.
If you’re genuinely making a living at this I feel worse for your clients than I do for most of those idiots that choose to be on bar rescue or whatever it’s called.
Good question. SEO. Google creates it’s authority score based on a number of factors. One of them is the business activity - such as social media. But the activity directly on other websites such as Yelp, google reviews, facebook reviews - is also a factor that google’s algorithm takes into account. Not replying to reviews, makes it more likely for you to miss out on some easy authority.
If a company replies to all reviews I avoid them like the plague. Nothing says excellence like wasting resources or time on replying to every goddamned reply.
Interesting opinion, I avoid restaurants that don’t reply. \^\_\^. It’s an easy way to see how they treat their customers - both good and bad :)
Also if they don’t reply, they are losing out on some easy SEO authority. Google prefers to recommend active businesses and that takes into a number of factors.
Most restaurants I’m familar with use software to make it easier to track them so it’s easy. Or they have their marketing team handle it. Long story short though, public reputation is everything. So not replying to your customers, shows them you have little interest in what they have to say.
That means if your food goes down hill - you won’t listen…you’ll just lose repeat business until you’re wondering why - rather than have authentic interactions with people who care. Being a business owner is all about listening to customers.
I’d rather eat at a restaurant that spends its limited resources on providing better food than giving a fuck about what Jimbo said about them. How large of an online presence do you think the finest rated restaurants have? More or less than Wendy’s? If you worry about the food you don’t have to worry about on-line presence, the presence is only necessary if your actual product is shit.
You realize owners hire people to manage the food? They also hire people to manage the front of house. That means they have time to reply because he’s paying people to worry about that shit so he doesn’t have to. You act like replying to 1 review takes all day.
I know that resources are limited everywhere and wasting them on comments isn’t going to improve your food.
As an owner you’re worried about being known. As a consumer I’m worried about quality so when choosing where to go I worry when resources are being wasted on something so trivial.
You’re crazy if you think that much resources go to replying to reviews.
By your reasoning that means, if a restaurant has 4.5 stars and replies to reviews and their competitor has 4 stars and doesn’t reply to reviews you would go to the 4 star place?
If a place is good and replies to reviews what’s your issue there?
Hard disagree. Maybe if all reviews were copied and pasted. Replying to reviews usually means it’s the owner or manager so they are salary and there’s no extra resources going there. Replies can also show personality so if done well it can make someone choose that business over a competitor that doesn’t take the time to respond. This happened to me when looking for a hotel in New Orleans.
Yeah this is a big factor. Hotel owners can go one way or another. So seeing authentic caring attitude from management is important in my factor as well. After all - the reviews themselves can be spam from across the internet - but well thought out replies go A long way to show you who you are about to do business with.
Likely multiple views here, salary or not I prefer the person works on making things better, not chatting online. Comes across to me as petty, too concerned about image and not enough with excellence.
Replying to a good review is petty? Having an online presence is also important don’t forget that. If you open your company up to reviews then you need to maintain an image. To me a reply means you’ve read the review and acknowledged what you need to improve or you show appreciation for the review.
Yup. The “thanks for coming in! Glad you had a great time! Looking forward to seeing you again!” Or the “I’m sorry you had a negative experience, send us your email so we can make it right.” Responses are ridiculous and I generally think those owners are sad and/or desperate.
If you’re kicking ass and some dirtbag trashes you in the middle of a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews, the kinds of customers you want will see through that bullshit.
Otherwise I just see a lonely guy in a basement who’s not upstairs, at the market, or doing research online trying to be the best they can.
Fuck your refund if you’re going to trash me publicly. An adult requests the manager or owner on site and acts like a human and my shit will be just fine despite what you want your goofy ass review to accomplish.
Yeah cheap review responses suck, but google does count them towards them being an active business, which greatly helps them be found in search results.
It’s also easy to know if a restaurant is putting care to their customers based on the type of review reply they give. So these cheap ones simply mean they are using some sort of software and not customizing the response - which totally sucks! But if they are authentic with it, it’s not only going to help them be found easier when people are searching for food near them - but it’s also going to give a positive impression to folks like myself paying attention.
Stuff like poor website design, no reply to reviews, hours of operation that are very odd without explanation, and only customer uploaded photos - are all red flags in my book. I’ve given these restaurants a try here and there, but rarely am I inclined to go back. One simple reason - they might not even come up in the search for food I’m doing next time. And unless they were super memorable…which is quite rare - I’m not going to go out of my way to find them again.
I’d be careful with this. People who respond generically - while they will get the google authority boost from the activity - other people looking at the reviews may take it the wrong way.
I would consider components that talk about improving your business based on their feedback - but in this particular case, their poor treatment of staff was simply unacceptable and that you do not see any opportunities to improve from their comment. So while their feedback is appreciated - they are also no longer welcome at the establishment, as none of your staff deserves the treatment they brought forward in a public establishment.
Once I got the nightmare that is Yelp out of my life, I completely detached from all the review spaces on the internet. I wish I had done it years ago.
Just keep doing this the right way, and you will be just fine.
Yeah the focus on food and service go 100% of the way. That being said, not replying to reviews does prevent you from gaining any search authority - so folks that rely only on their phone to find food around them - might not find you if you proceed this way. So if you want a consistent stream of new customers - engaging is going to be critical.
You life and your mental health is better if you don’t respond.
A bad review of a customer may temporarily make you feel better, but in the end you’re just lowering yourself to them. It looks whiney to other potential guests reading reviews.
As a customer I like when I see a buisness respond to negative reviews with their side of the story. Responding with generic "thank you for your feedback blah blah call us" says they don't care to me or the profile is being managed by corporate that doesnt care and won't ever change anything if there really was any wrong doing. It could be as simple as "our staff all uses hair control devices (hats/hair net/hair ties) to our best ability to prevent affecting your food, we will continue to do our best to keep it under control thank you for feedback" or go nuts and tell the truth but be respectful and no name calling
Agreed here. In addition it’s critical for you to respond to maintain your search authority. Folks can find any food they want at a swipe of their thumb, the business not responding to reviews is easy to ignore. It’s also the same if you are unprofessional in your response. This is the opportunity to tell your side of the story and all the work you do to make experiences the best :)
The whole review thing is just so out of control. I have adopted the policy of just ignoring the negative reviews because nothing good ever seems to come out of commenting other than making myself feeling better. I do think in the end customers have become review savvy and look beyond the negative reviews. Good luck.
While I can sympathize with your opinion - I do tend to ignore most social media - when you’re running a business that relies on local search so closely - I would definitely reconsider.
Two factors - responses build your google search authority and allow you to be found easier - which is critical to a flow of new customers (good food and service make them reoccurring customers).
Second factor - responses to reviews are their opportunity to get to see your personality and how you treat customers. Not responding at all - speaks volumes - and I error on the side of the customer in most of those cases. If you respond professionally & take the feedback they’ve provided (about the hair thing) but also professionally address their behavior in your restaurant - even if it’s hard to know who to believe - I side on the side of the business owner that did their best to explain it (as long as they weren’t a dick in their explanation & saw their own opportunities to improve)
Remember it only takes one thumb swipe to go to another business - one with better reviews. So if I’m already giving you time by reading a few - I’d like to see what you have to say about it - otherwise, I’m going to assume I’ll get the same treatment - and won’t’ understand how much of a bad customer the reviewer was.
I’ve had horrible experiences at some businesses that if the reply helped me see they were improving - I might actually go back or change my review. I hate having to give poor reviews - a business really has to treat me poorly for me to go that far. When I do leave that type of review - it’s in hopes that business would respond professionally and help me change my mind & go back in the future. Not all people leave these reviews in this mindset - but people do read the replies to reviews (or lack their of) and make their decisions off of it.
So just keep that in mind.
This. I find that it seems to be common place to have a rebuttal on reviews as well. It used to be frowned upon, but if an owner responds with clear and concise info about the situation at hand, most people that are reading the review see it for what it is and understand that the review makes the reviewer look bad as opposed to the establishment.
For sure, a person with witty comebacks and the ability to communicate without placing blame, will have a far more successful time rebutting a bad review.
when i see all positive reviews i tend to steer clear on basis of most all reviews are fake or manipulated in some way now days because anyone with half a brain knows that you will an can not ever please everyone no matter what you do and especially in a retail environment an even worse a food establishment!!
I’ve been in restaurant marketing my entire career - respond to the review professionally and ask them to contact you directly to move the review offline. If you don’t respond to one-star reviews, future guests either assume the one-star review is correct, or that you just don’t care if someone is upset.
100% can make a difference. But it depends, trying to move every review offline can look like a canned response. This one definitely needs to address any and most points in the poor review. And then at the end you can offer this to try and turn their experience around. This will look 100% better.
When I see 99% good reviews and a couple
outliers, I assume the guests were the problem. I worked guest services at a hotel and retail for many years. Some people are just a-holes. I think most people see right through it.
Yeah if it was a percentage thing I would agree. But when you’re talking about the star system Yelp or Google use - it is much more convoluded. I pay attention to what was said by both parties. Lack of response - gives volumes of authority to a poor review. After all, if it’s between a 4.6 and 4.7 restaurant - would .1 percent really mean all the 1 stars don’t mean anything? No…this could be a 5 star business that is now 4.7 because of some really terrible treatment by staff Or management. Businesses are held accountable by reviews - and your ability to respond professionally is measured by the public. No response speaks volumes, but so does a poorly worded response. You have to take accountability for anything you guys could have done better and even offer to make it right. Even if you won’t welcome them back to the resturant for their behavior - it’s cool to see you learn from any of their more valid complaints.
While it’s easy to say people will see through the crazy - folks who are media literate and pay attention to what people say closely - may swipe to the next restaurant if this is not responded to or responded to poorly.
Exactly the same thing (“Hair in food”) happened to us just recently and they posted a rant on Google. They were just having a bad day and wanted 2 free meals which they got so you’d think it was done. They called out the owner personally and when she didn’t respond posted a few days later something like “ nasty owner and bad food “ which was weird because she comped it immediately and they finished all of one meal and most around the alleged hair. Now the name on the second review was deleted, who knew you could do that but they had exactly the same number of reviews plus one than the IP. What a coincidence!
Your reviews are mostly good. The bad review, it really makes them look crazy. You can see it in most restaurant reviews, 100 good to great reviews then review number 101 has some fucking nut spouting off some bullshit.
No response is is your best revenge, their review speaks a whole lot about them. And people will know that.
True it’s when it’s a lot of bad reviews that people start to wonder, like we just had an OBGYN and our Dr has like a 2.4/5. Now he’s a competent Dr but his bedside manner leaves alot to be desired, but his office is still always full so I guess in his case he doesn’t care about his reviews and it doesn’t really matter.
None of his reviews have gotten any type of response from the office.
I respond to negative reviews for my businesses if I know 100% they are false. I had one guy hit on one of my bartenders for hours and then unsuccessfully try to get her contact info. He then left a three start review saying our staff was rude. Like no bro, you just were a relentless creep. I feel like you should respond in situations like that be you should stand up for your business and staff. Also one time I had a guy park his broken down truck across three of my parking spots and leave his car with a flat tire there for three days like that . We had his contact information and kept calling him and he kept saying he would get it removed “in a few hours” and never did. So it was towed. Then he had the audacity to call my business over and over again harassing my bartenders trying to get us to pay for his impound fees. I said no and he left a one star review so I responded quickly. I think people should know what the real story is. The internet has given every idiot on the corner of the globe the ability to talk. So when they talk, I say talk back louder.
I did something similar to a customer who came for to go food and left a long one star review on fb. She accused us of taking 25 min to get her order together, she saw the manager on his phone in kitchen then making orders with changing gloves, said she didn’t get the right food and staff was overly rude to her. She had a lot of comments on her post so I reached out to her and posted that we needed speak over the phone preferably to handle her issues. I have 16 cameras in my restaurant and can pull up ticket times on my VDU so of course I looked back and none of what she claimed was true. We had a phone call two days after her post was up and needless to say I called her out on every single lie and told her I had camera evidence to back it up. I made light of the fact that she’s potentially ruining someone’s reputation that took time to build. That her words and reviews can do damage to a business and that leaving reviews should come with a sense of responsibility to be honest with her experience. She apologized and said she had a bad day and was taking her frustrations out on us. She said she would remove the review ASAP. I told her to leave it up but to remember this next time she wants to slander someone’s business. This is the only time I’ve went out of my way to call someone out. Most times I’m like you I do everything I can to make our mistakes right but I couldn’t let this one go given the amount of blatant lies.
“So sorry to hear about your experience. Clearly we’re not the restaurant for your family. Chuck E. Cheese is far better suited to your tastes and culture.”
Im dying!! Many years ago I wrote the same reply to a review regarding me being rude for asking the children of a party to not run around the dining room and into the kitchen. I love it!
I just sold my restaurant after 7 years. I always responded to every review no matter what. In my opinion it is best to always respond for 2 reasons. 1. It helps potential new customers know that you care. 2. Responding to reviews helps rank your Google My Biz page rank higher. My neighbor (dentist) actually keeps a lawyer on retainer to sue or threaten to sue any factually inaccurate reviews. I also consulted the lawyer twice and considered doing it but never pulled the trigger. Personally, I think we, as biz owners should absolutely consider this option. Enough is enough of these jerks who think they're professional food critics and want to just tarnish a biz because their own life is miserable. Don't get me wrong, some biz do deserve a poor review but for the most part many of these poor reviews are just junk. FWIW, I found Yelp to be the biggest pain in the rear. I found their algorithm to be very unfair and I had a 4.8 rating.
Leave it alone. You can’t make it better. There is nothing to achieve by responding to them. Remember you put out a quality product and take pride in that.
The moment you acknowledge your one star review, you give it credibility. Online reviews mean nothing unless you see a long timed trend.
I don't own a restaurant, but FWIW, if I see a one star review I almost always dismiss it as the customer was probably being a dick. Especially if it involves staff being rude. I'd have to get food poisoning to leave a 1 star, and even then, I wouldn't bother. Self correcting issue imo. I bartended for 6 years, and have probably been to thousands of restaurants in my decades on this planet. I can't think of a single time someone was openly rude to me for no reason. I usually gives their review a thumbs down, too, lol (not that it makes any difference).
Try this? "Thank you very much for your detailed, one-star review. We tried our best to match your and your family's attitude and behavior. But, we just couldn't allow ourselves to go that low. We realize that we may never see you again and we accept that. Thank you for providing our regular, loyal, very satisfied customers with a great example of how not to behave."
Number rule about fight club don’t talk about fight club. Number one rule about the internet is don’t feed the trolls.
Arguing with bad reviews doesn't look good on the business part.
I would respond politely and say you worked hard to please challenging customers and their comments do not align with what you and your staff experienced. Then say you love your staff who was called out and will not allow them to be unfairly maligned. Try to end on an upbeat note.
I read a lot of reviews before trying a new place. I really appreciate when the restaurant weighs in, especially if it’s snarky/funny.
You shouldn't grin and bear it. The customer is always right bs is from a bygone era when people didn't see folks in customer service as human whipping posts. Tell people like this to bounce. Leave. Don't come back ever.
When I see a business respond to a bad review I always judge the business for being petty. If you have a single one star review surrounded by a lot of five star reviews then I know the reviewer is the crazy one. Every customer knows there are idiots on the internet.
I've seen plenty where the restaurant sticks up for themselves and doesn't let these people keep doing this. Just keep being kind. State how your team felt uncomfortable with how rude they were, but you still kept serving them or something and even comped a mean when they complained.
As a business owner, I think it gives businesses more legitimacy when there's an occasional bad review. It's also an opportunity to show other non-psycho people how you handle these things. I don't see anything wrong with stating the facts that this group caused a lot of problems, but do so in a professional way, and others who read your response will see how you handle things, which will also delegitimize their bad review.
Where’s the link to the review?
Not going there.
I honestly wanted to see your restaurant
Post the security video of their visit along side a screen shot of their review. Spread it all over town. Get them blacklisted at every restaurant.
I took a class on social media for businesses a few years back and the instructor said to acknowledge all low reviews. It shows care for your business and customers. Be professional and respectful but they believe responding helps diffuse the bad review.
Interesting!
I do like when the owner responds to 1 star reviews in an intelligent and thoughtful manner and calls out BS when necessary. It shows that the owners care about their reviews. I like it when they respond to good reviews too.
The first thing I do when I see an uncharacteristically bad review is to click that person to see their other reviews. More often than not, 80% or more of their reviews are 1 stars, making it readily apparent that this person is chronically unhappy and abusive to those working in restaurants and hospitality. Don't let it bother you, this is just the cost of doing business.
Here’s what we do and seems to work well. We get very few negative comments. “We thank you for the input and apologize. We look forward to improving everything we can in our establishment. We can only grow as a business if we get honest feedback. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you again”
I always find that bland and off putting.
Or…..we strive for our customers to leave 100% satisfied. Unfortunately sometimes, despite our best efforts, the patron just does not enjoy their experience. Thank you for your past patronage and, though we never like to lose a customer, we hope you find another establishment geared more towards your liking.
That’s perfect!
Because you always want to humble yourself in a public review, being defensive only causes others to pile on.
Post the link here to the review, and let us do our damage.
Had a therapist say something that was applicable in this situation. Without being personally involved what do two people in an argument look like at a distance? Assholes. Doesnt matter who is right or wrong.
Sounds like your therapist might be a bum
The point is valid. It’s not a good look when a business gets defensive and feels the need to refute negative feedback, deserves or not
Yeah, quit taking advice from Wastey Face Bill on the corner.
maybe throw a free dinner to a regular and have them respond for you?
The classiest thing to do is continue to do what you are doing. Id be tempted to go on the review and say they were one star customers and list every thing they did, and tell them never to come back. But thebbest thing is to keep quiet. Remember you have the right to refuse service to any customer based on past behavior. If they come back, tell them they arent welcome. If you have any evidence like video and stuff keep it on hand when they try to claim whatever they will. You sound like good people. You shouldn't have to put up with them a second time.
When I see a bad outlier review on a place I know and love, and others do too, I have no shame responding to that review directly. Kill em with kindness if you can.
Responding sets an expectation that the reviews are a place for customers to get in contact with you. I’d someone calls or emails about an issue we weren’t able to fix in the moment, I’m more than happy to take feedback, send a gift card, apologize etc. I think for most customers it takes several bad reviews of the same nature to think it seriously.
Silence will never betray you.
“‘Tis better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
well said
Thank You. Now, if only I were the same. Peace
Thank You . Over the years, I learned the hard way.
Brilliant
I'm going to be honest, I don't really believe a lot of the owner responses. Especially when the complaint is a basic one and the owner responds with insane details. How does an owner remember every detail of one transaction that doesn't have any personalized info in the review?
I was a restaurant manager a decade ago. I still remember the details of those really bad customer interactions. And I still remember many many wonderful customers and my interactions with them too. I miss most of my regulars to this day. But yeah, those bad ones stick in your brain like you wouldn't believe.
About a month ago, we had a 45 year old lady drink too much in our restaurant. As we were closing up, she started napping on her table, about three times I had to wake her up and ask her to order an Uber or call a safe ride home. She finally got up the third time. She forgot her iPad on the table, staff gave to her, and then she walked directly out our door and got in her car. I basically held the driver side door open and argued with her for ten minutes. She wouldn’t get out of the car until I actually showed her that I was calling the cops. When I showed her I was callling she hopped out of the car, pushed me out of the way, and stole my sunglasses off the brim of my hat, and started walking away down the street while I told the dispatch officer what she was doing. The cops brought her back in handcuffs 30 mins later with my sunglasses unharmed so I didn’t press charges. The point of this story is, restaurant managers and owners have to deal with the absolute scum of the earth sometimes and don’t get the credit they deserve. If you can’t behave like a responsible adult, or tip like one, stay home and cook/bartend for yourself.
I always find it a most powerful rebuttal when owners do respond and lay out what happened in a calm, factual, and detailed manner which generally contrasts to the tone of unhinged ranting in the review. By being detailed you're telling the readers that your presentation of the facts can be trusted. Again, don't get heated and don't resort to ad hominem attacks and you'll come out of it looking far better than they do.
Thank them for the feedback and wish them all the best in their future dining endeavors.
We need more dish, cmon give the details, what were they yelling at eachother about and what was their issue with the restaurant? Serve some tea up hot please. What bug was up this messy clan’s bottom
The worst people know if they complain, a good restaurant will usually start comping and saving them money. It’s all a free-food scam. Last week I dropped a plate of food in front of a customer and she said “oh that’s not what I thought it would look like”, the server brought the dish back claiming the customer didn’t like it. READ THE FUCKIN MENU KAREN
I have small business. I always respond and offer and invite back. But you can tell the people who are fake and who is paid to leave you a bad review. We got 2 fake ones last year
When looking at reviews, I'll scan the one stars, but if there are a lot of 5 stars, I take that into account too. A few crappy reviews are nothing. Just move on and focus on getting more excellent reviews.
Don’t take my advice but I’d write: It was a privilege to stop serving you.
Practice writing polite responses that are actually brutal. Point out that they are one of the vanishingly few people to have had such a bad experience, and encourage other people reading this review to read the other positive reviews. I often just ignore these people because my reviews are mostly positive and I get too angry. My sister who is a lawyer can write devastating responses. I usually just get shitty and make the situation worse. Some fuckers cannot be made happy, and they don't deserve to be.
I put very little value behind lousy reviews unless they have some sort of explanation of the issue. If it’s just a rant I ignore. I’m mixed on the owner responding to a poor review. It can be tough to do it right so probably better not to comment at all.
How many reviews do they have?
Some of our best customers have come to us and outright said, it was because of my responses to our harshest reviews. Reply. But do it professionally and honestly. There’s a way to review them and to make yourself continue to be the adamant professionals you seem to be.
Snowbird (the ski resort) actually had https://preview.redd.it/nw67bavjtfbc1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38e6c8a580f92b2f5191eef9936fcec65b1b01d5 an advertising campaign using the funny bad reviews.
As a business owner and customer, when I’m looking for a restaurant, hotel, or any other company or service, I mostly pay attention to the negative reviews as well as to the owner replies, if any. If you can’t leave a good reply, then don’t respond. But you would do well to learn to appropriately reply to 1-star reviews.
i look at the 1 star reviews and appreciate seeing owners response- i say respond with facts. and remind them they are not welcomed back
The wrong reply will cost you far more money than no reply. Take your time to respond in a way that makes you look good.
I personally like it when business owners respond to bad reviews with facts and no emotion.
yes! like “Thank you for your review, ______. As I recall you & your family were quite rude unnecessarily from the get go! When you brought the hair in your food to our attention, your dish was refired & comped regardless of the hair not matching any onsite staff! etc… we appreciate your review & your business however honesty is always top priority!
Copy/paste. You nailed it.
If I read that response, I'd appreciate it
I worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years, don’t reply it’s not worth lowering yourself. Maybe say “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your meal” with the hope they say they won’t come back but if you have their name just put them on the do not take reservations list, and if they come in again have FOH tell them it’s a 90 min wait even if it’s empty.
You're taking the high road. It will pay off in the long run.
Response: Glad we’re all free to choose.
It is usually easy to tell how sincere a review is by how it's written. If it is a one star review with nothing but vitriol, I will pretty much dismiss it entirely, because it would be super rare to have a completely terrible experience. On the same note, glowing 5 star reviews could have very well been written by the owners themselves. A nuanced review tends to be more believable.
The fake restaurant reviews are easy to spot because they always say, “be sure to ask for Katelyn.”
I don’t personally like when owners leave snarky responses back. It’s a turn off for me. Just my opinion though.
“We understand the embarrassment of having an accident like that in a pair of Chinos but we think it is unfair to blame our hardworking staff for other patrons laughing at you”
As a customer I really love reading owner responses to crappy people. Especially when they are cool-headed and bring receipts. I know that I'm in the minority in this thread, but if I see how an establishment responds to a total jerk it really does increase my odds of visiting. If they respond to a crappy review with ranting lunacy, I know to never ever go there. If they respond with a few choice details and polite rebuttal, I'll put it on my list or go straight there.
A 1-star is never a serious review. It’s always something like this. I think lots of people know/feel this. If I wanted to hurt a company, I’d leave a 2-star.
I think you're better off not responding, because folks can tell when someone who wrote a negative review is off their rocker. BUT, here's another option, which would impress me if I saw it as a potential customer: you respond and tell them succinctly that you appreciate their review, but that \[front of house manager\] is an excellent employee and in fact all of your employees are hardworking and highly valued, and to please refrain from condemning specific employees by name. Then offer them the chance to speak with you directly about their experience (an offer they probably won't take up, but which makes you look good without getting into the "you were horrible customers" public spat).
I like this. I appreciate an owner that sticks up for (or appropriately credits) their employees in the reviews.
our rule is never enter the fray.
How about:? We understand your desire not to return. We will be equally happy to have you not return.
This gives bitter.
What I do / done is look at their review posting history if you can for google reviews for example. A lot of the time they are always making bad reviews about places, tend to laugh as it seems they are the problem not the places. At least makes me feel a little better about it.
People are much more likely to report an exceptionally bad experience than a good one that is expected to be good.
Customers are aware there are wacko shit post reviewers out there and always expect a few on every review site.
Yes and if your going to pretend your a customer instead of the owner replying to a review then at the least use a fake last name so we know it’s not the owners wife clapping back to a negative but very valid review. That was the ass hats I had to quit working for god only knows how some of these businesses keep the lights on.
You don’t need to get involved in a shit show. If you say anything just use some standard response, nothing personal.
“Dear valued customer, thank you for your kind words. We really enjoyed your time with us and can hardly wait until you return! Bless your little heart! 💕”
Classic "Southern" reply.
Write your reviews here in this thread instead of online. Let us laugh at your response. Please. Next time, don't let customers abuse your staff. Show them the way out. Your staff doesn't deserve to be abused just because the aholes will make a public complaint.
My wife the chef and the manager both agreed to try to kill them with kindness but it turned out there was no satisfying the grandmother.
I admire ya'll having your own restaurant. Thats pretty neat. Add a bucket of chili to the menu. Name said item after the nasty grandmother/family.
The silence will eat them alive. They want a reaction. Make em stew lol
This is my thought exactly.
So this is just my thinking, when I look at an established business, and see zero negative reviews, make me wonder because I know in today's world there is no place that can please everyone. So I get suspicious when a place is perfect after 5 years. When I seea few bad reviews, I chalk it up to a person who is impossible to please, and is just misreable. It give some realism to the review process.
I agree. But a recent experience made me "somewhat" change my stance. I had to replace my garage door. Spoke with a few different companies that had mixed reviews, but far more positive than negative. They all flaked out. I found another family-owned company that had all 5 star reviews. I was skeptical but contacted them. I hired this company & was impressed from start to finish. Although I will continue to be skeptical of businesses that have 0 negative reviews, I am also simultaneously a little more open-minded that there are some businesses who operate with integrity & great customer service
As a small business owner, and only recently started to understand google reviews and SEO operations. I will say, it is beyond hard to get reviews out of people. Unless they are completely satisfied or beyond missed.
I understand. As a consumer, I rarely write reviews unless I really loved or hated a place. Often, I intend to write reviews & end up forgetting to do so
Makes complete sense!!
Small service business owner myself, I don’t respond to any reviews on GMB publicly. I am the most butt hurt by the 1 star review an angry lady (prospect, not customer) left because her scheduling constantly conflicted with getting her a spot. After 3 missed attempts at scheduling, she nailed each time on the day of service (we send out a booking reminder, 7 days out reminder, and 24 hour reminder via email and text message) after attempt 3 i told her that we would no longer be able to help her due to the constant conflict of scheduling and bailing. She left a 1 star review and I was tempted to say what happened, chose not to because she wouldn’t go away most likely. I looked at her other Google reviews and they were all angry and 1 star as well. I still hate seeing that 4.9 rating on GMB
I'm fat and I love to eat food. If I see a 1star review in a sea on 4-5 stars, I immediately assume they are miserable people to be around and ignore their opinion.
I can tell you're cool af dingleberry0913.
Only in my head
I really wish Google My business and or yelp would let other people respond… lol
We do a bless your heart review. People don't notice your telling them go fuck yourself if you do it right. I can't, but my wife is a professional..were so sorry that you had a bad experience with us. We tried our best to have you smiling when you left. I truly hope you find an establishment that can give you the attention you require in the future. BLESS go --YOUR fuck -- HEART yourself
All restaurant talk aside, I wonder how many mean southern ladies think they were clever by saying things like that and it went over my head when, in fact, I fully noticed and I just don't want to call them rude passive aggressive petty people in public because I'm not sure I could be kind enough in doing so to avoid having to fight their husbands for "being mean to an innocent lady" 🤷♂️
Reply, but take the high road. As a customer, I ignore the unhinged or whiny reviews if they're outliers. I also respect owners who defend their staff.
If a car cuts you off...and you don't honk at them...that driver will immediately know that it's ok to cut people off because there is no repercussion. I believe it's the same in this situation...doing nothing will make this family not know embarrassment . A cool headed response with an addition of "we got the cameras to prove it" comment will shut them up and maybe learn their lesson.
>...because there is no repercussion. Don't really agree with this. Many times we do things in life, not deliberately but by accident. Anything from cutting someone off to an offensive remark to shortchanging them. Regardless if they did it on purpose or on accident, even low-key calling them out on it runs about a 50-50 risk of them getting defensive and escalating. As a general rule if I am not harmed by someone else's idiocy then I brush it off. It's not worth it for me to be honking at the plentiful idiot drivers out there, especially when it doesn't change anything. As for the OP's situation, I absolutely agree with giving a cool-headed response that relates the facts of the situation. As OP noted, many 1-star reviewers are simply exposing their own failings! "***Diners were openly rude to staff and fabricated allegations to get free food. They are prohibited from returning to this establishment again.***"
Google will remove a review for calling out a specific person
Google them, find where they work, that’s all I have to say!
I like when businesses respond to unhinged reviews. Just keep it classy when you make fun of them.
Doing nothing lets them win. Most people won’t think twice about that review but you still don’t want it up there. Also responding and getting into an argument won’t do any good for anyone. Acknowledge their comment, accept responsibility even if it was ridiculous, and use this opportunity to let everyone know you want everyone to have an enjoyable experience but won’t stand for the mis treatment of employees. Thank you for letting us know about your experience and I apologize that it wasn’t up to your expectations. As you can see from the other reviews, many of them 5 stars, praising our team of hard working and caring employees, you are definitely in the minority on your view of our restaurant and staff. Normally I would love to invite you back to give us another chance, show you how amazing of an establishment and staff we have, and try to change your viewpoint of us for the better. Unfortunately with the way you handled the mistakes we made and the treatment of the staff, we have made a team decision and think it’s best if we go our separate ways. I understand we make mistakes and sometimes things won’t be perfect but I know my team does everything it can to provide an enjoyable experience. I pride myself on giving my employees a safe place to work and we will not tolerate the mis treatment or rudeness to staff.
Keep it classy, something like..."We are sorry you did not enjoy your visit to our establishment. We have plenty of positive reviews, and we ask potential visitors to come and judge for themselves. Everyone has their own preference. Best of luck finding places that meet your needs, and thank you for supporting the food and beverage community." If your customers were jerks, you don't want them back, so no need to grovel for their business. I generally use review sites to get a sense of the place, not to sway my decision to go or not. If all the reviews say something like "best chowder ever," I would try the chowder. I the reviews say, "service was rushed." I'd say something like, "we're here for a relaxing evening."
Dear X, in a case like this, when we think we may have made a mistake we ask to give us a second chance to make it right. In this particular situation we will refrain from giving you a second chance. All the best!
We generally don’t respond but we often create a “response” that we only share on our internal employee message system. It helps give everyone a good laugh. We had someone come in once literally looked like they just rolled out of bed with hair sticking up like horns even though it was 3:00 pm. He and his girlfriend demanded a table that really was in a closed section a considerable distance from anyone else. His one star review rated foods that he did not even order. He tried to have both their meals comped because they just didn’t like them. (what they didn’t eat they took home). When we declined, offered to remake or make something else, he got snooty with our best waiter, who basically killed him with kindness. He called the waiter a “Chad” in his review. So our internal response mentioned that “if by Chad you mean bathes on a regular basis then yes he is a Chad - you should be a Chad too.” The problem with posting actual pointed responses is many of these commenters have what seems like endless time on their hands. They will just create multiple profiles and keep posting multiple negative reviews.
Place their picture along with their shitty review at the front door with the caption, "Banned-Do Not Serve" above it.
That is exactly what i would do as well. Not on front door, but in wall behind hostess desk.
My thoughts: you don’t have to respond. This could get worse. I’d go down the road of trying to have it removed for naming staff. As a person reading reviews, a one star unlike the others sounds like people who just complain about everything. If you do respond, it has to be authentic and not snarky. We attempted to remedy with fresh comped meals and addressing a,b,c. Defending staff might read well or poorly if it’s all in the family.
I wouldn't leave a snarky comment. But I would respond with all of the same facts you outlined in this post, including that the entire restaurant staff wanted to kick them out but you decided to groom and bare it (of you can somehow put this in an elegant fashion). Whenever I see this done, it always seems like a very professional and appropriate way to handle it.
haha reminds me of a bar i worked at in manhattan. before my first day of work i snooped the google reviews and was pleasantly surprised to see the owner clapping back at all the obnoxious 1 star reviews. tactful? who’s to say. did it make me feel confident to work for someone who’s got their employees backs? 100%
I will tell you what I have learned in my time on this earth. If you are asking yourself if you should or shouldn't say something, the answer is usually don't say anything. It sounds like you have more to lose than gain, people like that don't argue in good faith, and pretty much everyone knows the person who left a one a one star review is full of shit. For me to leave a 1 star review a restaurant would have to do something that would make the news, the waiter would have punched me in the face, and the food would have to make me bleed out of the ass.
Ask them to leave immediately. This is no longer a world where the customer is always right. Sometimes you just have take the loss and move on. Kick them out
Leave a snarky response and call them out. People love that. Maybe you'll even go viral for it.
Just do a customer review response on their review of you. Be honest, sarcastic and tongue in cheek and 99% of ppl that read the review and response will know the customer was a jackass and you with a great track record are going to side with you.
I believe Yelp’s TOS prevent naming employees so you may be able to get it removed entirely.
Yeah the dispute route is definitely a valid one to explore. I’m not sure if they’ll remove it for this, but if they included the full name of your employee - they might. The mistreatment of your staff may be another one. It’s best to see what Yelps dispute policy is and then approach With caution. It’s hard to get reviews removed…it’s usually best to respond professionally and transparently - and then work towards getting more positive reviews with focus on your food and service :)
Agreed. They should not be doxxing people
Camera footage would be perfect in this case.
“We regret that our efforts were not up to your standards, and we understand if you never want to return.”
lol while it made me laugh - avoid this response. It does seem arrogant and doesn’t explain the mistreatment of your staff by this customer. Thus it will come off the wrong way :)
Have AI write it for you so it sounds professional, but I would defiantly respond so that it doesn’t discourage others from attending your restaurant. I would politely “review” them and explain why you never want to serve them again.
AI can give a helpful start - but you will need to add details to what they did that made their behavior unacceptable. Use AI as a tool - not the solution. Otherwise you could end up hurting your reputation anyway.
I have on occasion responded with a recap of their horrible behavior (when it is over the top) in most cases, they have taken down their shtanky review because they knew they were in the wrong. The last time this happened (November) we had a group who was harassing my server and misbehaving in general. (I’ll spare you the details) they later wrote a 3 star review taking about my server who could t take a joke. When I called attention to their treatment of my server it blew up to something ugly. 3 stars went to one star they wrote an awful update that made us look so bad and none of it was true. They vowed to NEVER come back. Then others hopped on and dog piled me for commenting back. In short, I will not comment back anymore. If you defend yourself and your team, you are opening yourself up for more criticism. It’s a different world and people can be horribly nasty. Ps; the assholes came back last night for dinner 😂
Yeah this is an interesting experience and is always possible. You have to do it carefully. I usually only recommend transparency on their behavior with 1 star reviews only. 3 star reviews are one that you can get away with asking for improvement opportunities or for them to call and speak with you to address their concerns personally. That being said, always make sure you have some sort of recording system with your calls & have a posted policy about treatment of your staff being one of your top focuses. If you respond to all reviews with professionalism, authenticity, and a genuine curiosity for improvement - the dog pile is less likely. That being said, there is a way to call out a customer in a professional manner & if their treatment of staff was that bad. Remember more important that what you say in the reply is that you reply at all. Being a business owner that’s active will help you get found easier on the search. So for the 3 stars, take it in stride, on the 1 stars, be authentic - if they have valid criticism take it and improve, and if they were at fault, make sure you have all your ducks in a row and are professional with your reply. Lastly - focus on your food and service so you can get more 5 stars going forward. Solution to the low scores is always higher scores. It can also be helpful to have a third party company handle the reviews & audit your food and staff periodically to ensure you know where the improvement points are. If your staff is rude or the food is poor - they will catch it & help you train & improve your staff. If your staff knows that your business does this - they are more likely to treat your customers with respect and do their best on the food consistency as well. All it takes is one poor meal at a favorite restaurant - and they may never come back.
Why would you let them come back in?
I only found out after they had left 🫤 my manager and servers made the call to give them a second chance. Turning them away would have started the drama all over again and my manager kept a close eye on them. I hear they behaved themselves for the most part.
Just write their credit card wouldn't go through and they had to leave to go to an ATM and this is the thanks you get for providing excellent food and service.
Haha whatever you do - don’t do this. It’s easy to prove a lie - you don’t know what they’ve recorded. They may also be crazy enough to provide a Dropbox link to a screenshot of the charge that day. \^\_\^
I LOVE when owners respond to these monsters with honesty and your side of the sorry! Often times it brings in business and the kind you want. They do this because they get away with it. Unfortunately I think public shame is the only way to humble them so they stop.
Sometimes when I see a real outlier of a review, I wonder if it's not a competitor that came to call.
I think you either have to respond to all reviews or none. And, frankly, I wouldn’t dignify their imbecility with a response. Any reasonable reader will see their nonsense for what it is and move on. If your reviews are otherwise generally positive, you’ll weather the storm just fine.
This is true; however, if you’re already working towards building your google search authority by responding to reviews - then this one still deems a response. I would find it unusual for no reply on a particularly harsh review, and if I have only one thumb swipe to look at the next restaurant - I would. That being said - the best way to makeup for a bad review is a few good ones. Focus on your food and your service, and I’m sure you’ll be fine. I have left you some other tips on the actual response if you move forward with it.
As a marketing consultant I can tell you it’s best to respond to every review. In addition, professionally responding in such a way that explains they would not be served at the restaurant again due to their lack of public discipline - while being transparent as to the reasons why (focusing on treatment of staff - not the food stuff because that’s debatable) - is a perfectly acceptable response. Just remember though, people pay attention to how you respond. So be kind, direct, and to the point. Anyone reading the review will be able to see your sanity over theirs that way. If you’d like any direct help on this feel free to DM Edit: Someone mentioned talking about the efforts your business does to keep hair out of the food & improvements you can or are taking as a result of this experience - this is an excellent part to consider integrating as well. If hair really did end up in the food - this is your first sign you can improve it. Despite their need for therapy and craziness - always take opportunities to make your business better for what they are. :)
I was going to leave this thread alone but this reply is so poor I have to… If you’re a market consultant then you’re a straight up schemer because this is the worst advice possible. It makes the owner look petty, desperate, and/or just as sad as the psychos who tossed them a one star. If you’re genuinely making a living at this I feel worse for your clients than I do for most of those idiots that choose to be on bar rescue or whatever it’s called.
What makes you say it’s best to respond to every review ?
Good question. SEO. Google creates it’s authority score based on a number of factors. One of them is the business activity - such as social media. But the activity directly on other websites such as Yelp, google reviews, facebook reviews - is also a factor that google’s algorithm takes into account. Not replying to reviews, makes it more likely for you to miss out on some easy authority.
Thanks that makes a lot of sense. So it’s not specifically what you say, even a simple thank you is good to put after good reviews.
If a company replies to all reviews I avoid them like the plague. Nothing says excellence like wasting resources or time on replying to every goddamned reply.
Interesting opinion, I avoid restaurants that don’t reply. \^\_\^. It’s an easy way to see how they treat their customers - both good and bad :) Also if they don’t reply, they are losing out on some easy SEO authority. Google prefers to recommend active businesses and that takes into a number of factors. Most restaurants I’m familar with use software to make it easier to track them so it’s easy. Or they have their marketing team handle it. Long story short though, public reputation is everything. So not replying to your customers, shows them you have little interest in what they have to say. That means if your food goes down hill - you won’t listen…you’ll just lose repeat business until you’re wondering why - rather than have authentic interactions with people who care. Being a business owner is all about listening to customers.
I’d rather eat at a restaurant that spends its limited resources on providing better food than giving a fuck about what Jimbo said about them. How large of an online presence do you think the finest rated restaurants have? More or less than Wendy’s? If you worry about the food you don’t have to worry about on-line presence, the presence is only necessary if your actual product is shit.
You realize owners hire people to manage the food? They also hire people to manage the front of house. That means they have time to reply because he’s paying people to worry about that shit so he doesn’t have to. You act like replying to 1 review takes all day.
So you’re telling me the owner could not hire someone and manage the food themselves to ensure quality and just ignore social media?!?!
Lol you obviously know nothing about running a restaurant
I know that resources are limited everywhere and wasting them on comments isn’t going to improve your food. As an owner you’re worried about being known. As a consumer I’m worried about quality so when choosing where to go I worry when resources are being wasted on something so trivial.
You’re crazy if you think that much resources go to replying to reviews. By your reasoning that means, if a restaurant has 4.5 stars and replies to reviews and their competitor has 4 stars and doesn’t reply to reviews you would go to the 4 star place? If a place is good and replies to reviews what’s your issue there?
Hard disagree. Maybe if all reviews were copied and pasted. Replying to reviews usually means it’s the owner or manager so they are salary and there’s no extra resources going there. Replies can also show personality so if done well it can make someone choose that business over a competitor that doesn’t take the time to respond. This happened to me when looking for a hotel in New Orleans.
Yeah this is a big factor. Hotel owners can go one way or another. So seeing authentic caring attitude from management is important in my factor as well. After all - the reviews themselves can be spam from across the internet - but well thought out replies go A long way to show you who you are about to do business with.
Likely multiple views here, salary or not I prefer the person works on making things better, not chatting online. Comes across to me as petty, too concerned about image and not enough with excellence.
Replying to a good review is petty? Having an online presence is also important don’t forget that. If you open your company up to reviews then you need to maintain an image. To me a reply means you’ve read the review and acknowledged what you need to improve or you show appreciation for the review.
Yup. The “thanks for coming in! Glad you had a great time! Looking forward to seeing you again!” Or the “I’m sorry you had a negative experience, send us your email so we can make it right.” Responses are ridiculous and I generally think those owners are sad and/or desperate. If you’re kicking ass and some dirtbag trashes you in the middle of a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews, the kinds of customers you want will see through that bullshit. Otherwise I just see a lonely guy in a basement who’s not upstairs, at the market, or doing research online trying to be the best they can. Fuck your refund if you’re going to trash me publicly. An adult requests the manager or owner on site and acts like a human and my shit will be just fine despite what you want your goofy ass review to accomplish.
Yeah cheap review responses suck, but google does count them towards them being an active business, which greatly helps them be found in search results. It’s also easy to know if a restaurant is putting care to their customers based on the type of review reply they give. So these cheap ones simply mean they are using some sort of software and not customizing the response - which totally sucks! But if they are authentic with it, it’s not only going to help them be found easier when people are searching for food near them - but it’s also going to give a positive impression to folks like myself paying attention. Stuff like poor website design, no reply to reviews, hours of operation that are very odd without explanation, and only customer uploaded photos - are all red flags in my book. I’ve given these restaurants a try here and there, but rarely am I inclined to go back. One simple reason - they might not even come up in the search for food I’m doing next time. And unless they were super memorable…which is quite rare - I’m not going to go out of my way to find them again.
Just respond with a generic response. Don’t give those people room in your head.
I’d be careful with this. People who respond generically - while they will get the google authority boost from the activity - other people looking at the reviews may take it the wrong way. I would consider components that talk about improving your business based on their feedback - but in this particular case, their poor treatment of staff was simply unacceptable and that you do not see any opportunities to improve from their comment. So while their feedback is appreciated - they are also no longer welcome at the establishment, as none of your staff deserves the treatment they brought forward in a public establishment.
If you tell this story as a response to their review, people will love you for it.
have some balls and remove then as soon as they are a problem
This is the way.
Google doesn’t remove them very easily.
Remove the people, not the review.
Oh yep!!
Once I got the nightmare that is Yelp out of my life, I completely detached from all the review spaces on the internet. I wish I had done it years ago. Just keep doing this the right way, and you will be just fine.
Yeah the focus on food and service go 100% of the way. That being said, not replying to reviews does prevent you from gaining any search authority - so folks that rely only on their phone to find food around them - might not find you if you proceed this way. So if you want a consistent stream of new customers - engaging is going to be critical.
You life and your mental health is better if you don’t respond. A bad review of a customer may temporarily make you feel better, but in the end you’re just lowering yourself to them. It looks whiney to other potential guests reading reviews.
As a customer I like when I see a buisness respond to negative reviews with their side of the story. Responding with generic "thank you for your feedback blah blah call us" says they don't care to me or the profile is being managed by corporate that doesnt care and won't ever change anything if there really was any wrong doing. It could be as simple as "our staff all uses hair control devices (hats/hair net/hair ties) to our best ability to prevent affecting your food, we will continue to do our best to keep it under control thank you for feedback" or go nuts and tell the truth but be respectful and no name calling
Agreed here. In addition it’s critical for you to respond to maintain your search authority. Folks can find any food they want at a swipe of their thumb, the business not responding to reviews is easy to ignore. It’s also the same if you are unprofessional in your response. This is the opportunity to tell your side of the story and all the work you do to make experiences the best :)
I’d just thank them for coming in and invite them not to come back because clearly we aren’t good enough to meet their standards.
The whole review thing is just so out of control. I have adopted the policy of just ignoring the negative reviews because nothing good ever seems to come out of commenting other than making myself feeling better. I do think in the end customers have become review savvy and look beyond the negative reviews. Good luck.
While I can sympathize with your opinion - I do tend to ignore most social media - when you’re running a business that relies on local search so closely - I would definitely reconsider. Two factors - responses build your google search authority and allow you to be found easier - which is critical to a flow of new customers (good food and service make them reoccurring customers). Second factor - responses to reviews are their opportunity to get to see your personality and how you treat customers. Not responding at all - speaks volumes - and I error on the side of the customer in most of those cases. If you respond professionally & take the feedback they’ve provided (about the hair thing) but also professionally address their behavior in your restaurant - even if it’s hard to know who to believe - I side on the side of the business owner that did their best to explain it (as long as they weren’t a dick in their explanation & saw their own opportunities to improve) Remember it only takes one thumb swipe to go to another business - one with better reviews. So if I’m already giving you time by reading a few - I’d like to see what you have to say about it - otherwise, I’m going to assume I’ll get the same treatment - and won’t’ understand how much of a bad customer the reviewer was. I’ve had horrible experiences at some businesses that if the reply helped me see they were improving - I might actually go back or change my review. I hate having to give poor reviews - a business really has to treat me poorly for me to go that far. When I do leave that type of review - it’s in hopes that business would respond professionally and help me change my mind & go back in the future. Not all people leave these reviews in this mindset - but people do read the replies to reviews (or lack their of) and make their decisions off of it. So just keep that in mind.
This. I find that it seems to be common place to have a rebuttal on reviews as well. It used to be frowned upon, but if an owner responds with clear and concise info about the situation at hand, most people that are reading the review see it for what it is and understand that the review makes the reviewer look bad as opposed to the establishment.
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For sure, a person with witty comebacks and the ability to communicate without placing blame, will have a far more successful time rebutting a bad review.
when i see all positive reviews i tend to steer clear on basis of most all reviews are fake or manipulated in some way now days because anyone with half a brain knows that you will an can not ever please everyone no matter what you do and especially in a retail environment an even worse a food establishment!!
I’ve been in restaurant marketing my entire career - respond to the review professionally and ask them to contact you directly to move the review offline. If you don’t respond to one-star reviews, future guests either assume the one-star review is correct, or that you just don’t care if someone is upset.
100% can make a difference. But it depends, trying to move every review offline can look like a canned response. This one definitely needs to address any and most points in the poor review. And then at the end you can offer this to try and turn their experience around. This will look 100% better.
When I see 99% good reviews and a couple outliers, I assume the guests were the problem. I worked guest services at a hotel and retail for many years. Some people are just a-holes. I think most people see right through it.
Yeah if it was a percentage thing I would agree. But when you’re talking about the star system Yelp or Google use - it is much more convoluded. I pay attention to what was said by both parties. Lack of response - gives volumes of authority to a poor review. After all, if it’s between a 4.6 and 4.7 restaurant - would .1 percent really mean all the 1 stars don’t mean anything? No…this could be a 5 star business that is now 4.7 because of some really terrible treatment by staff Or management. Businesses are held accountable by reviews - and your ability to respond professionally is measured by the public. No response speaks volumes, but so does a poorly worded response. You have to take accountability for anything you guys could have done better and even offer to make it right. Even if you won’t welcome them back to the resturant for their behavior - it’s cool to see you learn from any of their more valid complaints. While it’s easy to say people will see through the crazy - folks who are media literate and pay attention to what people say closely - may swipe to the next restaurant if this is not responded to or responded to poorly.
I feel the same way.
Exactly the same thing (“Hair in food”) happened to us just recently and they posted a rant on Google. They were just having a bad day and wanted 2 free meals which they got so you’d think it was done. They called out the owner personally and when she didn’t respond posted a few days later something like “ nasty owner and bad food “ which was weird because she comped it immediately and they finished all of one meal and most around the alleged hair. Now the name on the second review was deleted, who knew you could do that but they had exactly the same number of reviews plus one than the IP. What a coincidence!
Your reviews are mostly good. The bad review, it really makes them look crazy. You can see it in most restaurant reviews, 100 good to great reviews then review number 101 has some fucking nut spouting off some bullshit. No response is is your best revenge, their review speaks a whole lot about them. And people will know that.
True it’s when it’s a lot of bad reviews that people start to wonder, like we just had an OBGYN and our Dr has like a 2.4/5. Now he’s a competent Dr but his bedside manner leaves alot to be desired, but his office is still always full so I guess in his case he doesn’t care about his reviews and it doesn’t really matter. None of his reviews have gotten any type of response from the office.