A restaurant is often only as good as its reviews. Whether we read an article recommending that new Italian place downtown or one of our friends won't shut up about it, most likely, we will still check out its online rating and read what other people think of it before deciding to go there.
However, the democratization of criticism isn't always a good thing. And the subreddit r/YelpDrama features plenty of reasons why.
A popular category among its posts is ridiculous restaurant reviews that prove the customer isn't always right. We're talking trashing a joint that wasn't even open when you "ordered" your food, or a one star because they wouldn't allow you to order water and eat the meals you brought there yourself.
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Hmm
Ewww! A Gay Waiter!
Another problem is with platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor is the fact that they're full of fake reviews.
Plus, people are much more likely to leave a review when they've had a bad experience, distorting the overall restaurant's rating.
That can bring disastrous consequences, especially for smaller businesses that have just opened up – one 2020 study found that an early bad review can turn customers away in the long term, and that reviewing platforms actually have an in-built bias towards popular restaurants.
The Food At This Shop Sucked!
I Don’t Know Who You Got Your Food From Tonight, But It Wasn’t Us
A Not So Spicy Life!
As Giorgia Cannarella pointed out in Vice, the only other alternative, it seems, is reading food articles and blogs, hoping to land on an honest critique.
However, if you're familiar with the complex world of culinary criticism, you’ll know these things can also be hit or miss. Sometimes a new spot will get stellar reviews only to disappoint once you get there.
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My Food = More Important Than Your Life
Different people value different aspects of a restaurant – the decor, the ambiance, the price, the surprise factor, but, according to Slovenian food and travel blogger Kaja Sajovic, there’s actually more to the story.
"We all know that food journalists don't get paid enough to cover the cost of a restaurant dinner, so press trips have become a necessity to do our job," Sajovic said. "And this creates a lot of ethical dilemmas. Can you really give a bad review of a restaurant you've been invited to, with flights and hotels covered? I think it's difficult, and maybe even a little bit unfair."
“Influencer” Goes Out To Dinner
“Politely Restrained”
“The Customer Is Always Right!!”
The absolute nerve!! Asking the customer to pay for food which they ordered, its ridiculous!! What will they do next, asked the customer to wait if the restaurant is full..
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Anyone who says "the customer is always right" has never worked for the public.
Did she expect them to run the sushi under the tap and pass it off to the next customer?
I think a good response would be "Well, if you wanted a special deal next time, you can ask us for the sushi that other customers gave us back and I'll see if we have any lying around." Just to see what they'd say.
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Yeah, some assholes will always repeat this out-of-context part to justify their shitty behavior
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“The customer is always right” is seriously a term that needs to be deleted from our vocabulary.
Why go to the atm and not pay with the card this smells like raw fish
I always love the parting shot these idiots use of "I will not be returning" Good.. you are not wanted, welcome or required to attend again, and I am almost 100% sure that the owners can do without these halfwits causing problems.
I think this one is made up to spread the "Karen" meme.. just too over the top
I do wish I could agree with you, but I’ve seen worse. Much worse…
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I was in an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and this lady with 3 young kids told the waitress "we're all going to all split 1 all-you-can-eat, my kids don't eat much" and got all pissy with the waitress when she wouldn't allow it. They ended up taking 10 minutes to drink their waters and left without ordering. Meanwhile the kids are running all through the restaurant.
How absolutely absurd. Every family would do this if it were allowed, can you imagine, my mother in law, my aunt and myself will split the All you can eat Buffet but we will each buy a coffee.
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"The customer is always right in matters of taste" is the full phrase, and it comes from marketing, NOT food service.
Restaurant that doesn't take credit or debit cards so he has to go to an ATM.. yeah right.. this never happened
How rude it is to blame others for your mistakes. Also, nobody wants your gross uneaten portion, even if it is delicious sushi, cuz it still has your germs all over it.
Wait. You ordered an appalling amount of food, then admit you had more people with you but still didn’t eat half of it? What the hell? Stop wasting food!
What did she expect them to do with that food?? Could you imagine being served the rest of the food that someone else had on their table, breathed all over, maybe touched and didn't finish? Hell no!!
Who orders 60 sushi orders and just how many kids does this father have. The customer is never right when they expect that thinking allow them to believe they are so entitled
The customer isn't always right!!! Especially in your case. This customer should have been aware of their own finances. It's not restaurant policy to check if the party has the money to pay 😠😡 Grow up & be responsible for yourself. The economy would be in worse condition if the customer was always right.
You think these folks are horrible customers? Wait till you see them in traffic!
It's not fair having to pay for your food is it? I'm going McDonald's now and getting 20 chicken nuggets but I only want to eat 10 so il see if I can get them half price 😅
Yeah I'll take back the food you and your germy kids breathed over and touched with your unwashed hands.
Please don't. It's certainly not the restaurant's fault that you obviously can't read.
No, the customer is not always right. You can take that phony ass 1950s marketing jargon and f**k right off. These entitled buttheads make EVERYTHING worse for the rest of us.
"I only ate half of the food I ordered prepared especially for me, so I get a refund, right?" This woman needs therapy.
I'm sure the sushi restaurant owner AND staff are thinking about your last line - "Promises, promises!"
This woman couldn't afford the meal and she's mad?? Wtf?? I'm sure 7-11 sushi will do just fine next time for her.
F**K every manager and/or corporate policy that gives into assholes like this. If everyone actually stood their ground when a customer were being an entitled piece of s**t we'd rid ourselves of these parasites. It's so demoralizing to stand up to a customer who is in the wrong only for a coward manager or a manager hamstrung by corpoarte policy decides to let them have their way.
"The customer is always right." "It was pointed out as early as 1914 that this view ignores that customers can be dishonest, have unrealistic expectations, and/or try to misuse a product in ways that void the guarantee. "If we adopt the policy of admitting whatever claims the customer makes to be proper, and if we always settle them at face value, we shall be subjected to inevitable losses."
I strongly stand against the costumer being always right. Too bad I can't scream at them like they scream at me.
Even if they were on sale, why would you order double what you need?
60 rolls? Do they have 30 children? Did the Duggars go out to dinner?
User Writes 1 Star Review For Competing Restaurant
Of course, Sajovic is mostly talking about freelancers and bloggers. Journalists who get a steady salary and their expenses are always covered can be a lot freer when writing their reviews, but they are certainly the exception rather than the rule in the industry.
Food writer Paola Miglio, editor of Peruvian website El Trinche, said she's always made a point to be uncompromising with her opinions.
"If I don't like something, I say so. And I write it down, even when I’ve been invited [to the restaurant]," Miglio said. "In my three years as a food critic at a newspaper, I have only been bullied a handful of times by a restaurant owner or chef on social media. I've never felt the pressure to praise anything or anyone."
He’s Just Enjoying His Meal, Karen
”wtf, I Didn’t Want This Food, Why Would You Make Me Eat It??”
The Post That Started It
A*****e must’ve smelled his own booze breath blowing back in his face.
Some People Have No Shame
"There are few chefs who respond well and in-kind to criticism," food journalist Gabriele Zanatta, who writes for the Italian web magazine Identità Golose, explained.
Zanatta thinks that’s because cooks have historically been mostly hidden figures. It was only with France’s nouvelle cuisine movement of the 60s, which revolutionised international cooking, that chefs have become famous and “even achieved celebrity status over the last two decades,” Zanatta explained. "No wonder they’re intolerant to criticism! They had never been on such a pedestal."
3 Stars, Got Caught Shoplifting
Chicken Tenders Heal His Broken Heart (And Home)
I Applaud The Dj
One Star Because The Server Wouldn't Reveal Her Address
However, Zanatta also believes this chef-centric approach to food writing is slowly dying out. "We’re now paying more attention not only to the food but to all the other aspects that make a restaurant a restaurant," he said. In his experience, chefs nowadays are more willing to listen, provided that the criticism they’re receiving is not just a pretext for a food critic to flaunt their knowledge.
Thank You, Kathie
“It’s Not Their Fault”...gives Them 1 Star
“I’ve Been Coming Here For Years And It’s Literally The Best, But During The Pandemic They’ve Sucked! Also I’m Racist”
Chiara Cavalleris, editor in chief of the Italian food news site Dissapore, thinks that food journalists are not to blame for the state of things, but rather the food press in general.
She believes that news outlets are guilty of colluding with restaurant owners, an issue that has also come up in a scandal involving three-Michelin-star Florentine restaurant Enoteca Pinchiorri. In October 2021, its 77-year-old owner Giorgio Pinchiorri was sentenced to 4 months in prison for stalking a former employee, peeling back the veil on his restaurant’s toxic work culture. But none of the mainstream food press in Italy reported on it.
So is there such a thing as an accurate restaurant review? Who knows. But there's no shortage of absurd ones.
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Bagel Drama
She Was Mad Her Tartare Was Undercooked
Not a great idea to order food if you don't even know what it is. Just ask!
Guy Got Booted After Throwing A Fit Because He Was Asked To Turn His Phone Volume Down. He Was Streaming A Football Game In A Nice Restaurant Full Blast. But The Server Was The Inconsiderate One. His Partner Looked So Embarrassed
Someone Reviewed My Workplace
Red Robin Needs To Wise Up
Trendy Asian Burrito Restaurant Near Me
Note: this post originally had 44 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I think the internet would be a much better place if everything was done under our legal names. People would think twice about what they say and do.
Or if you could get socked in the lip, I bet 99.9% of all the disrespect would go away
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I like the ones where the businesses identify the reviewer and call them out.
Some of these are funny but in general, I'm not a fan of that. Businesses can lie just as much as customers. A number of times I've been pressured to change a review or had a negative review removed, which IMO makes the review site pointless.
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All of these people are self entitled morons who need to get a life ! Seriously wake up and start cooking yourselves !
I downvoted some that were just the rude poster. I liked the ones where they get a snappy reply back
What a bunch of self-entitles morons. Except the few legitimate ones. These idiots need to just stay the hell at home.
I think the internet would be a much better place if everything was done under our legal names. People would think twice about what they say and do.
Or if you could get socked in the lip, I bet 99.9% of all the disrespect would go away
Load More Replies... I like the ones where the businesses identify the reviewer and call them out.
Some of these are funny but in general, I'm not a fan of that. Businesses can lie just as much as customers. A number of times I've been pressured to change a review or had a negative review removed, which IMO makes the review site pointless.
Load More Replies... All of these people are self entitled morons who need to get a life ! Seriously wake up and start cooking yourselves !
I downvoted some that were just the rude poster. I liked the ones where they get a snappy reply back
What a bunch of self-entitles morons. Except the few legitimate ones. These idiots need to just stay the hell at home.
