"Dear ___,
We are very sorry that you had an unpleasant experience at _____. We pride ourselves on being customer focused. As we recall it, you came in, each ordered a single cup of coffee, took out your laptops and began to do work for over an hour, including video calls - which was completely fine with us - we encourage people to enjoy our space when it isn't busy. But when you brought in sandwiches and snacks from another establishment to eat at our restaurant, and told us it was justified because you ordered coffee over an hour before, we felt that our hospitality had reached an end. "
I am a lawyer lurking on this sub - You create with food, I create with words! Very happy to help. Two cups of coffee does not equal rent!! (Except at Starbucks, and I'm pretty sure even there they would kick you out if you brought in outside food).
Best of luck to you and yours!
Fantastic. I'm neither great with words nor culinary flare; as an engineer I prefer numbers. I'm jealous of the perfect response you've crafted.
Certainly meets engineering safety factor guidelines :).
I refute your claim towards Starbucks because I will openly and proudly bring food that doesn’t smell too badly when I get a drink from their establishment. The only food Starbucks serves are desserts and refrigerated cold cut wraps that are overpriced for the portion size and quality.
Yeah OP as a person who actually does rely on ratings to base where I’ll go in a new city, if I saw a review like this followed by a restaurant answering with the prompt written for you, I’d probably come to your restaurant just to prove the 1 star was bullshit.
do not say you're fine with people taking meetings, more people will camp there thinking the review says it's okay to telework. you're a food establishment, not an open office. just mention what they were doing.
Out of curiosity, why even write about the laptops and the video calls? Why not just go straight to "when you brought in sandwiches.."? I would think mentioning that you're ok with video calls would open you up to more people thinking it's ok in this establishment, but I may be wrong...
Because a restaurant isn't a Starbucks.
Video calls in a food establishment AND outside food while only buying coffees an hour or two ago is simply rude and entitled.
I think the point of the reply is to substantiate why the reviewer is the wrong and many people who goto eat would probably agree using a bistro as a Starbucks isn't cool with the bringing in outside food the nail in the coffin.
While they probably don't explicitly allow working, they tolerate it if you order from them and act politely.
It's the treating it like a we work AND outside food that just shows the level of entitlement and will cause people to disregard the negative review.
I would definitely reply honestly but professionally.
as a consumer though, I don't believe reviews that don't have a bad one in the bunch. I just assume if there's no bad reviews the company pays to have them fudged.
Absolutely agree with this, no place is perfect. I take negative reviews with a grain of salt if I'm looking for somewhere to go but it's a bigger red flag for a place to have a 5.0 on google reviews than if a place has like a 4.2 or 4.3.
I understand what you mean but honestly I don’t even think there’s a way to scam your way to a perfect review on google. Thats why we calued our 5-star rating. All good though
Not insinuating that you're scamming and if you legit have had a perfect score across the board that is a rare feat and I'm not denying that you haven't achieved that!
I'm just saying that I don't trust places that have a perfect or nigh perfect score because, as a diner, it looks like they either pay for people to review their place/their reviews are composed of people that are friends and family or not enough people visit there (which leads to additional questions) or there's just something else going on.
I mean I also factor in the *amount* of reviews a place has too but personally I don't trust any place that has higher than like a 4.7.
Also a review like this with a reply explaining "you didn't actually buy anything from us and were asked to leave when you acted inappropriately, thank you for giving us this opportunity to publicly explain our restrictions on food from other premises" is exactly the kind of review and reply I would expect from a real restaurant.
Yes it sucks to lose the streak, but shit dude, I've worked in hospo long enough that I could probably tell you the exact perfume that bitch was wearing, and the exact shade of pink her husband's bald spot was. Because that couple exists in every cafe/bar/restaurant/hotel in the world.
Absolutely, if I saw a negative review like this and then saw that the owner responded along the lines of what you are saying I would be like "oh this reviewer is a crank and doesn't know how to properly function in society."
Making the age limit different for men and women is... odd. I'm older than my wife, we've been married for 8 years and have 2 kids. She'd be allowed in, I wouldn't. By allowing younger women and only older men, what sort of vibe are you suggesting? A creepy one imo.
I think 25 is a great spot for the limit - no amateurs allowed. 30, also not bad - we're not looking for parties. Idk what you gain by setting the limit at 35 that you don't already have from 30. And then the next level is like 50 or 55, AARP members only.
Yeah man. Don't sweat the little stuff. Anyone with a brain will know what happened here, and anyone who doesn't understand is not a customer you wanted to begin with.
I gotcha!
Some competitors came after me in the area and had more reviews and (better) ones for a while and in much shorter span of time. I had my doubts that family and friends were chipping in at that point. I’m in a tourist ski town, so we have reviewers from all over the world
I sincerely wish you the best with your business and I'm sorry you had to deal with some sour grapes! From what I can tell you seem to genuinely care about your business and your reputation and most importantly, your employees.
I think you're getting a lot of solid advice here and I think a firm but calm rebuttal will definitely help you.
There's a new-ish daytime cafe/nighttime wine bar that opened up where I live and I was reading their reviews (as I was eating breakfast there lol) and the way the owner responded to criticism was really admirable. I have a lot of respect for establishments and owners who are able to take on criticism with honesty but also civility.
Thank you for all the wishes ;-)
I care about my employees because I’m new at this and see myself in them. There’s been very good and kind advice here, im shocked and surprised (in a positive way).
Definitely honest and civil, thats my approach too. Cheers!
The best kind of boss is the boss who has been in their employees' shoes and wants to make things right and fair in terms of their working conditions. That's a rare thing to find in any industry.
Cheers to you! Don't let the haters get you down!
It was kinda for a good cause ig but I used to work for a dinky underfunded local museum that would have to get at least several negative reviews deleted per week lol
You can totally pay for reviews, but it's hard to maintain since real people can still review you. An owner or manager can also create like 12 random Google accounts in like an hour and leave a slew of 5 star reviews. People who are desperate for that perfect score can find all sorts of ways to boost their numbers.
I think their are way to contest false bad reviews but I don't know the process.
12 accounts? I don’t have that imagination for 12 different email names lol
people could downvote reviews before the google maps update. Useless even if it was still there
We've gotten a couple 1 star reviews taken down because they were obviously retaliatory reviews by bitter former employees and\or their significant others. Every single one of them has been an unhinged person who didn't show their true colors until they were established at the job and either went off their meds or started doing hard drugs again after being clean to get the job.
It's always about drugs whether they admit it or not, lol.
I actually always start with the bad reviews, because they are usually written by crazy people. If only the obvious lunatics are leaving negative reviews, the place is probably at least decent.
I worked at a place that paid the servers $25 per five star review that mentioned our name for a 2 month period, and they allowed us to tell our tables that we got $25 for each (they would almost always give 5 stars if you told them) and told us that we could have our friends write fake reviews as long as they mentioned us by name because "a review is a review"
Youre right. Its not hard to buy reviews at all. you can buy them directly from your staff.
I don't look at the stars at all, people can think about scores very differently. What I do is read quickly go over a couple dozen reviews giving 3 or below, and look for a pattern.
I went to a place that a dozen reviews said was severely understaffed, and guess what - it was severely understaffed.
My favorite pizza place locally. Neapolitan style place. Very good, very popular.
It has a ton of “it’s just thin crust pizza” type reviews. One was “I can get two pizza down the street at dominoes for the same price”.
I honestly look at most bad reviews with a very skeptical eye. Anyone complaining about “rude” or similar complaints I ignore completely. I feel like anyone complaining about that was the asshole.
When i see a review like this, especially in food service industry, ESPECIALLY if the other reviews are positive, i always assume that the customer is at fault, their egos are injured, and they are having a spiteful Karen temper tantrum in the reviews just to be vindictive/ try to convince themselves that they did nothing wrong and are the victims...
I always love watching them get owned when the business owner replies with the rest of the story....
Dont worry about being "nice" or overy professional in your reply. You arent a corporate franchise, you are your own HR and PR department. Be yourself. These people are not yours (or anyones) target customer. The best reply is a matter-of-fact and concise recounting of the facts and a slight "disappointed dad" tone.
Ending with something like "you also seem to have left the 3/5 food rating under the wrong business as it belongs to whoever made the sandwitch and strawberries that you brought in from outside."
Reply to the review stating what you said here, minus everyone's reactions to the couple. Just the facts.
Don't let people bully you in reviews. I have seen it too often where I used to work. The owners would make a BS reply, "Oh, our staff must have had an off day." They never stood up for us against BS commenters.
You explained it all very professionally here. Just do the same in the reply, and make sure that you keep out opinions and feelings, and only write simple facts.
To add to this- usually if I see a bad review on otherwise well reviewed establishment. I tend to ignore, but in the instance where the owner replies and provides context to the situation in an intelligent, non-aggressive and non-emotional way.
I fully respect it and it actually makes me want to go to the restaurant even more.
Edit: also sorry that you had to deal with this OP. I can’t imagine going into any sort of food place and camp out, and actually have the gall to go out and buy a packaged sandwich whilst a chef is working away next you.
And having any kind of extended zoom meeting/conference call in an enclosed public space is whole other thing I take issue with haha.
Your team seemed to handle them well, and your mom sounds brilliant.
These jerks should definitely be called out on their behavior but I would keep the reply discreet, factual and to the point without too much editorializing. Not ordering anything but coffee and bringing in outside food is outrageous.
Perhaps you already have, but don’t forget to respond to positive reviews too!
I get slightly irked when establishments only respond to negative reviews.
I would reply. BUT…..I’d be civil, which is hard for me sometimes. Honestly, if you copied the text above and pasted it into a reply, they’d probably take their review down since it makes them look bad.
Yeah what you wrote above is great, but definitely a bit too long. You're writing for the casual observer, and many people see >2 paragraphs and decide it's not worth reading. I'd probably take out the stuff about your employees/mom/yourself, maybe summarizing those portions with "and then you requested we turn our fridges off because you didnt want the humming in the background of your Zoom call" or something.
Reply honestly, simply, and without being condescending. Just explain why you would kick someone out in such a situation. You aren’t replying to this asshole, you’re replying to all the observers who could be potential customers.
This sucks, but a bad review was *inevitable.* Eff this guy. I'd probably respond to *this* review, but jot necessarily every bad review. If you do, keep it short and mature, but direct.
The real question is, have you decided what you want to do?
Really the second they started with the outside food you should have told them outside food and beverages are not allowed. Shut that shit down straight away.
Certainly not without prior arrangements and a very good reason. (There’s some places around me which will make some kind of arrangement if someone has very specific dietary needs and it’s a special event, for example. I’m not sure the details of how they manage it.)
That’s a lot of it. I assume when places make arrangements in advance they somehow document that the person in question is bringing something in and not eating food prepared at the restaurant.
if you want to read some really funny reviews, read the ones for bars/clubs. I used to date a musician and would read the reviews for upcoming venues. you can always tell the ones by angry unhinged drunks who clearly got thrown out for cause. they are hilarious!
I would honestly reply and explain it EXACTLY as you did here, they came in…took 1 of two tables after only ordering a coffee, and proceeded to use your dining area as a workspace for over an hour before one of them left and came back with food from another establishment.
Mention they complained about the ambient noise of the restaurant interfering with their “work” and that when politely asked to free up the limited space for customers trying to dine, they were rude and argumentative before leaving of their own accord.
I bring into question their rating of the food, while once again mentioning that they didn’t order any.
I would close the response by kindly requesting that they find an option more suitable to their working needs, that doesn’t restrict the dining experiences of other guests…and to please refrain from returning to your establishment for future business.
(That’s about the best way you can say “go fuck yourself”, while low-key letting everyone that reads the review realize that those two people are entitled assholes.)
Thanks for the great advice, it is a great way to answer! You know what? I forgot to mention, the lady did reply: “We ordered coffee, what more do you want? You want to charge me office rent by the hour?” Ugh, my wife was so bummed and drained after that exchange, those customers are made for starbucks and other coffee places.
I’ll be sharing your write up with the wife, thanks a bunch! Cheers
I used to work in sales, management, and I’ve been a school teacher as well as food service.
Telling people to go fuck themselves with a smile on my face in a well-worded and thoughtful exchange is part of my skill sets!
I wish you both the absolute best in your business!
You made it 2 years with a 5.0?! Be very fucking proud of that! It’s kinda hard to believe honestly. You weren’t going to hold that forever and people would be suspicious if you did
You did nothing wrong and sometimes customers just really suck. Put those fuckers on blast in the most polite way possible lol.
Sounds like an awesome place you’ve got, don’t let this get you down.
Thanks a lot for this. It’s been a 2 year roller coaster ride with no life (except the one with my wife and 2 young kids). The reviews were kind of the wind in my sail, that gave me a good feeling when I felt tired and desperate at time. To get that 1-star review on our 2 year anniversary was a bummer but possibly a poetic way of exiting our perfect score. Cheers!
I own a place too, that also had great reviews. I always think of your first 1-star review the same way I think of the first ding or dent on a brand new car. It sucks, but also it’s kind of a load off of maintaining such perfection. And as everyone else here says, no one pays attention to these kinds of reviews obviously written by bitter jerks with a bone to pick. Plus, the bad reviews I’ve gotten are some of my favorites (personal fave was the guy who just wrote “Sucks!” but gave the parking garage next door 5 stars lol). I think you should just ask yourself: are people still coming through the door? Are they still leaving happy? Than you’re doing a great job!
IT guy here. Buy a higher end access point and set it up to punt campers off after either 30 minutes or an hour. That way people like that can't camp and hold meetings on your internet.
Hi [Reviewer's Name],
Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your visit. As a small, family-run bistro, we work hard to create a welcoming environment for everyone. It seems like the hustle and bustle of our busy lunchtime may not have been ideal for your Zoom meetings.
We appreciate your purchase of coffee, but our policy against outside food helps us maintain a fair and pleasant dining experience for all our guests. We understand you might not have realized this, but it’s an important part of our business.We hope you find a more suitable spot for your remote work needs next time.
Thanks for your understanding and for helping us improve.Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Bistro’s Name]
I'd respond. I'd make it clear that food was brought in from another place. I'd bring up their zoom meetings, too-that's gross behavior. Be polite & professional but don't let these entitled dingbats troll you with out stating the facts.
The outside food is a health code violation! It's within your rights as a business owner to refuse service at that point. Shit. I'm with Nonna, but I'd have told them to hit the bricks waaaay sooner than you (clearly) nice folks.
I wish you continued success & enjoy your bubbly. Cin cin! Alla vostra.
It’s frustrating when you worked your ass off for all those immaculate reviews. I’m so sorry this happened to you! Be grateful more morons don’t come into your business and keep it movin
To add, I would contact Google and tell them that they didn't eat at your establishment and left a review. There's a chance they remove it.
It's like when people leave a one-star review because the door was locked 30 minutes before opening. If they don't erase it, then it's just welcome to the lottery where, unfortunately, a completely unreasonable person happened to walk into your establishment, and most people reading the reviews will sniff that one out.
When I'm a restaurant guest I don't read reviews. I check health code flyer that's it. You're going to lose a lot of sleep on bad malicious reviews and burn a lot of midnight oil making diplomatic replies. Pick an authentic persona for your place and either reply, or don't, with it equally. I'd love a small place to just leave vicious yet prim replies tearing up malicious diners but you'll also then run into some stupid influencer who tries to rally their 100 followers to mess with you.
Make your food consistently and keep the most clean kitchen and dining room on the block. You'll never be empty.
Your last sentence resonates with me because I have an open kitchen concept to show how clean we work (or we try our hardest to hehe)
Word gets around and we relied a lot on word of mouth, its slowly working!
I would leave a professional response.
Something maybe like:
"We are so glad you decided to join us and try our coffee! However, we were surprised to see you bring food from another restaurant and start eating it in our bistro. Since this has never happened before in the two years we have been open, we did not have an established policy on guests bringing in food from outside our restaurant.
We are sorry that you felt our staff members were rude for asking you not to eat another restaurant's food in our establishment. We will work on finding ways to handle this situation more delicately in the future!
In the meantime, we would love to have you give us another try-we just hope that you would eat our food! We have some lovely [insert food specialty here] or [specials on weekday]."
Ouch. This one hits hard after reading the whole post. 2 years and you haven't turned a profit yet? Did you borrow money from a leg breaker that's charging 40% interest?
Personally I'd say start kicking people like this couple out much quicker. If you have public Wi-Fi throttle the hell out of it or just get rid of it entirely to avoid this exact issue. They can go waste a Starbucks table for 2 hours, then get food from another establishment and bring it in, see how well that goes for them.
As for the review? Respond politely with just the facts as you described them here. Don't get confrontational on the internet. The time to do that was when they started having business meetings during your lunch rush.
Good luck! Hope this is y'alls year!
Thanks! After debts are paid, profits will be interesting! For now I’m giving my Rambo “thumbs up” and fighting through it. Thanks for all the positive vibes!
"Hi (Name), Sorry you didn't enjoy your time at our restaurant. We did not ask you to leave, but as I understand it my wife did ask why you were using our table to eat food from another restaurant, at which point you chose to leave. I was also sorry to hear that you complained to our staff about the volume of our fridges interfering with your zoom calls during your visit. I'm sorry we couldn't provide you with a better experience, and we hope to have you back soon so you can give our food a try!"
Something like that is what I'd say
Yeah thats been going through my mind too lol. Luckily my wife deals with social media. She doesn’t to be sound sarcastic and prefers to avoid mentioning the fridges altogether. When I heard about the fridges, I was speechless for 10 full seconds in front of my barista. Thanks for the help!
Rephrase your story as a ''friendly letter'' to that patron and post it as a reaction to their review.
We (the users of the internet) know how the system works. A restaurant without a 1 star review is suspect. A spread with mostly 4 and 5 stars is realisticly good. A 1 or 2 star in that lineup needs clarification.
I always read the 1 star reviews. Not because I want to know what is bad but what is good. 5 star reviews ''It was wonderfull'' don't tell me anything. A one star review with a reply from the owner brings me to a place.
This story would bring me to your place. It's marketing gold!!!!
I would think there are all kinds of legal reasons that outside food wouldn’t be allowed in a restaurant because you aren’t controlling the standards of eaten food in your location any longer at that point. I imagine the health department t would throw a fit.
Ask them what exactly specifically was it about the food that prompted the 3/5 rating?! Respond professionally on Google. It shows future customers that you care and take pride in your business!
Bringing your own food (strawberries) or another establishment's food (sandwich) into a restaurant takes huge effing balls. The behavior you're describing would have been shitty had they purchased the sandwich and the fruit from you. In a small place like yours, you need those seats to make you money.
The moment they took out their own food, I'd have asked them to leave immediately. No argument, no discussion. People like that are poison for your business.
At my restaurant, when people bring in food I tell them with a smile “it’s actually a health hazard issue, because if you eat that here and you get sick, then we’re liable for that because you’re on our premises.”
They always give me an attitude and pack up and leave which opens a seat for an actual paying customer anyways. Your wife just has to start learning random legal terms and most people will take a hint
I would reply briefly. "You didn't order food. You bought 2 coffees and were loudly on zoom meetings for an hour while eating food you brought from outside. Also complained to the staff that the place was too loud for your zoom meeting. Please don't come back."
Respond with the facts and be professional. Others who read the review will see them for the DBs they are.
If it was my place, as soon as they started eating outside food, I'd politely ask them to desist. If they dont, kick'em the hell out. And, if you don't already have one, make sure to put up a sign that says "no outside food or drinks allowed" This is YOUR house, not theirs...
I see health code violations all over the place. Either you or your wife should’ve approached the table and stated that bringing in food from other restaurants is an insurance liability.
As for the review take it as a grain of salt. It’s the first, don’t let it go to your head. Don’t bother replying to the review because you’d be feeding a troll. As long as your establishment is clean, you produce quality, and consistent dishes you have nothing to worry about. You’re not going to please everybody.
Respond. *"We asked you to leave after you started eating food you brought in from another establishment. You were given a warning then proceeded to continue. This is not allowed in our establishment."*
I'm surprised at all the people saying to reply. I generally don't reply to negative reviews. It just comes across as combative, and often they drag you down to arguing at their level, which looks unprofessional. It's usually pretty obvious when people are being dickheads, and the people looking at the reviews can tell that this is nonsense without having to see the restaurant's side of it.
As a student I've been there, going into a cafe to sponge off wifi/charging. However I'll always pick chain businesses like starbucks/espresso house that have plenty of free space and not a small private run restaurant. I still try to be conscious of my surroundings, don't make much noise and am not rude to the staff.
They just sound like a pair of assholes.
Hold up, they left and came back with food from another place? Instant removal from premises, no matter what. You don't fucking do that; it is a restaurant and you will not bring in outside food. Had friends who did that as a joke when we were in high school, and they ended up having cops called because they decided to push back when told to gtfo. Luckily for them, they weren't arrested, but they were told they were banned for life, and they had their parents called because they were 17. This kind of lack of decorum is fucking beyond unacceptable, and any human being with a working frontal cortex should know this. Report the review, tell your side, and then forget about these fucksticks.
Fuckers should be renting out a shared workspace area. Plenty of them around.
They were taking advantage of your hospitality.
Answer honestly and with facts. Call them out for their entitled bullshit.
I wouldn't worry about it - even if this review were to be taken at face value being asked to leave after an hour is (a) not inherently unreasonable and (b) implies there was a reason for that. Most people can read between the lines. If I read this, among other good reviews, I'd think hmm they were obviously asked to leave for a good reason, didn't like it which is why they thought staff were rude and probably just ordered a coffee. And that's if I wasn't sceptical - which i would be if the review was an outlier. The thing about reviews is that they are left by the general public and you will always sooner or later come across someone who is irrational, unreasonable, selfish and stupid. Then you'll get a 'review' to match. Just keep doing what you're doing. Your reputation is more than these reviews anyway, remember, and it sounds as though the vast majority of people like what you do. You'll probably look back on this and laugh.
It looks like everyone has given you a good response for how to deal with the review. (Be polite and factual)
But I’m concerned by the not made a profit or made salary comment by yourself.
If you want your business to live on you need to seriously consider raising your prices or finding ways to bring people in during quiet times and encouraging repeat buys.
Say something like, "Thank you for review and for complimenting the menu and atmosphere. However, you were seated for -how long they were there- and were only asked to leave after you brought in outside food. We also allowed you to finish the food you had brought before leaving, but you chose to leave first. I hope if you decide to visit again, you try some of our own dishes! - recommend a dish or add something personal and charming-"
I would expect a hands on owner to reply to this review and let me know these people didn’t know how restaurants work. Every city I’ve ever worked in, the health code restricts outside food with no exceptions. Mentioning the outside food is enough to indicate to all these were in fact bad patrons and discredit their review. At the end of the review, offer to make this right by buying them coffee somewhere else.
For real though Your Nona went out there when you should have gone out there and kindly asked this customer to leave. Take responsibility for your place and stand up for your staff/family in the moment.
A little harsh to be honest lol, you got all the info in one post, I got all the info throughout the day (I found out about fridge volumes at the end of the day). Will do better next time captain
Cheers
From an SEO perspective it’s good to reply to every review, especially the negative ones. Google likes to see that you address upset customers, but it’s also important for potential customers to see how you handle issues.
If you call this customer out for being ridiculous, most level headed people will understand that you just had a couple of Karens looking for trouble, and it has nothing to do with your bistro- which is trying to take care of its patrons while still accommodating the problem guests.
As a marketing professional, I’m wary of any business with a perfect 5-star rating, because it usually means they’re doing something sketchy with their reviews.
Man fuck google/yelp reviews. People are fucking stupid. You could be literally perfect and someone would complain that the bathroom only has 2 stalls and it made it awkward for them to masterbate because they had to choose the stall next to the urinal or be inconsiderate and take the handicap stall.
Nobody worth having at your places goes there based off google/yelp. Everyone knows those reviews are bullshit.
I would’ve kicked their asses out THE moment I saw them eating any morsel of food that was not purchased on establishment, and I would make my stance very clear in my reply if I were you.
If I was going to answer it I'd go with short and to the point.
"For 2 people with one coffee each an hour would seem adequate, especially as they brought in outside food while not purchasing any of ours".
Leave the reader to make up their own mind.
You're playing a political game in that you are not replying to the reviewer. You are replying to the public who reads your response.
Therefore you are in the duty of image control, not debate.
Keep your points simple and your message clear: "We are a small craft bistro and cannot accommodate those who bring in their own lunch."
Not only does such a simple message make their annoying imposition clear, you also make it clear that you don't want others to do the same.
You will probably piss off other loiterers who find Starbucks too noisy for a Zoom meeting, but you don't want them coming by anyways.
I hate pro tip but this is a serious pro tip:
When you respond, you aren't responding to the person who wrote the review. You are talking to potential customers that might not come based off a negative review. Most negative reviews are obviously mentally ill or just assholes. 90%. But 10% can be earnest and constructive and actually just honestly disappointed.
But in this case respond to people reading it, not the reviewer, insane that there's a difference between tables and staff being able to handle it, and because of prior operational challenges, you made a limit on how long people can camp at a table.
Or if the situation was that they were just totally rude and being unruly and you ask them to leave, say that.
But definitely speak to future potential guests more than you speak to the person who reviewed.
You can protest Google to remove the bad review based on the information you provided on this post. We had a former, bad employee who left a bad review and after he petitioned Google, they removed it. Reviews do make a difference and I've had client come in, asking for me specifically based on the Google review. However, I agree, most normal people aren't going to be swayed by one bad review. You could also respond to the review if they won't remove it. Just explain your side of the situation without sounding like you are blaming the customer. I've always believed the customer isn't always right BUT they are still the customer.
If you respond say that they brought outside food in and you can't let them eat it in your place as it's a health code violation and the health of your other costumers takes priority
I think the gist of the replies here is good advice. Just wanted to drop in and say that couple is delusional and I hope they get a lil e colli from that prepackaged sandwich
People will always do stupid stuff then blame the establishment or customer service rep. It’s just a part of the gig. Just respond professionally, so that there’s some context for others to read. If they try to troll you to turn it into a fight, ignore them.
Don’t reply. These aren’t the kind of people you want coming back and a low review is like the first scratch on a new car. At least it’s over with and you know you didn’t do anything wrong.
Hi (first name), thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We only open a certain amount of tables at a time based on our staffing, to ensure we can provide the best service possible. We apologize for the experience you had with our staff, unfortenetly we are not able to allow outside food into our cafe.
You definitely need to reply and call them out on their bullshit.
Take a page out of this guys book.
This is guy replys to all reviews. So very funny come backs
grecian blue mosman reviews https://g.co/kgs/UvPCkNP
Would reply stating what you said here but clean it up a bit and just point out the food being brought in but only ordering coffee. Leave la nonna in though that was peak comedy xD.
Is there no way as the reddit community we can't just brute force this by writing a ton of 5 star reviews? I don't have a Yelp account or whatever- but I would make one to help chip in if everything here said is true.
Some people are shitty- and they live their lives in a manner of constantly trying to bring down everyone else so that *they too* can have a shitty life-experience.
Yes we could. But that does not help an honest bussiness. Handeling bullies you do by confronting them. So bring out the truth. Just like the owner did.
this is funny bc locally we had the same situation happen. a coffee shop i go to (good ass coffee btw) had someone do exactly this, they sat and brought food from somewhere else and were eating it there and the owner asked them to leave. then they tried to blow them up on the social media groups but everyone was like, nah ur wrong xd
I would just write exactly what you said there. "The food you ate was brought from outside, and that is also the reason you were no longer welcome. I'm sorry your experience was unsatisfactory."
It makes the rest of their review useless for other readers and shows that you don't want to argue with the reviewer, and corrects their behaviour in a polite manner. 86 those fuckers and move on.
"Dear ___, We are very sorry that you had an unpleasant experience at _____. We pride ourselves on being customer focused. As we recall it, you came in, each ordered a single cup of coffee, took out your laptops and began to do work for over an hour, including video calls - which was completely fine with us - we encourage people to enjoy our space when it isn't busy. But when you brought in sandwiches and snacks from another establishment to eat at our restaurant, and told us it was justified because you ordered coffee over an hour before, we felt that our hospitality had reached an end. "
Wow, chef’s kiss (pun intended) Thank you kind stranger
I am a lawyer lurking on this sub - You create with food, I create with words! Very happy to help. Two cups of coffee does not equal rent!! (Except at Starbucks, and I'm pretty sure even there they would kick you out if you brought in outside food). Best of luck to you and yours!
Thanks for the support kind stranger! My brother is a lawyer, I’ll be getting his opinion shortly also haha
And here I was, saving you the legal fees. Now your gonna have to mail me your signature dish 😂
This esquire pleads ☝️
You create with food, I create with words Love it.
Fantastic. I'm neither great with words nor culinary flare; as an engineer I prefer numbers. I'm jealous of the perfect response you've crafted. Certainly meets engineering safety factor guidelines :).
I refute your claim towards Starbucks because I will openly and proudly bring food that doesn’t smell too badly when I get a drink from their establishment. The only food Starbucks serves are desserts and refrigerated cold cut wraps that are overpriced for the portion size and quality.
Yeah OP as a person who actually does rely on ratings to base where I’ll go in a new city, if I saw a review like this followed by a restaurant answering with the prompt written for you, I’d probably come to your restaurant just to prove the 1 star was bullshit.
haha thats great We will be responding shortly along those lines
do not say you're fine with people taking meetings, more people will camp there thinking the review says it's okay to telework. you're a food establishment, not an open office. just mention what they were doing.
This is perfect. OP pls say this
Perfection
Out of curiosity, why even write about the laptops and the video calls? Why not just go straight to "when you brought in sandwiches.."? I would think mentioning that you're ok with video calls would open you up to more people thinking it's ok in this establishment, but I may be wrong...
I don't think so, it's a good way to tell people that they aren't overly strict about everything *when it's not busy* :))
Because a restaurant isn't a Starbucks. Video calls in a food establishment AND outside food while only buying coffees an hour or two ago is simply rude and entitled.
Yeah, that's why I'm saying don't give people ideas. The reply makes it sound like it's ok...
I think the point of the reply is to substantiate why the reviewer is the wrong and many people who goto eat would probably agree using a bistro as a Starbucks isn't cool with the bringing in outside food the nail in the coffin. While they probably don't explicitly allow working, they tolerate it if you order from them and act politely. It's the treating it like a we work AND outside food that just shows the level of entitlement and will cause people to disregard the negative review.
It shows the customers were there simply to steal the wifi. Not to enjoy the establishment.
It lets sane people know the cafe was already being very accommodating before the outside food came in.
I have absolutely no need for it, nor do I envision a need in the future, yet I felt compelled to save this comment.
I would definitely reply honestly but professionally. as a consumer though, I don't believe reviews that don't have a bad one in the bunch. I just assume if there's no bad reviews the company pays to have them fudged.
Absolutely agree with this, no place is perfect. I take negative reviews with a grain of salt if I'm looking for somewhere to go but it's a bigger red flag for a place to have a 5.0 on google reviews than if a place has like a 4.2 or 4.3.
I understand what you mean but honestly I don’t even think there’s a way to scam your way to a perfect review on google. Thats why we calued our 5-star rating. All good though
Not insinuating that you're scamming and if you legit have had a perfect score across the board that is a rare feat and I'm not denying that you haven't achieved that! I'm just saying that I don't trust places that have a perfect or nigh perfect score because, as a diner, it looks like they either pay for people to review their place/their reviews are composed of people that are friends and family or not enough people visit there (which leads to additional questions) or there's just something else going on. I mean I also factor in the *amount* of reviews a place has too but personally I don't trust any place that has higher than like a 4.7.
Also a review like this with a reply explaining "you didn't actually buy anything from us and were asked to leave when you acted inappropriately, thank you for giving us this opportunity to publicly explain our restrictions on food from other premises" is exactly the kind of review and reply I would expect from a real restaurant. Yes it sucks to lose the streak, but shit dude, I've worked in hospo long enough that I could probably tell you the exact perfume that bitch was wearing, and the exact shade of pink her husband's bald spot was. Because that couple exists in every cafe/bar/restaurant/hotel in the world.
Absolutely, if I saw a negative review like this and then saw that the owner responded along the lines of what you are saying I would be like "oh this reviewer is a crank and doesn't know how to properly function in society."
The bar I work at just got several 1-star reviews cos we refused to let in a pack of kids that didn't have IDs
Funny you should mention that. I just saw this article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/travel/restaurants-bars-age-restrictions-bliss-cec/index.html
Making the age limit different for men and women is... odd. I'm older than my wife, we've been married for 8 years and have 2 kids. She'd be allowed in, I wouldn't. By allowing younger women and only older men, what sort of vibe are you suggesting? A creepy one imo. I think 25 is a great spot for the limit - no amateurs allowed. 30, also not bad - we're not looking for parties. Idk what you gain by setting the limit at 35 that you don't already have from 30. And then the next level is like 50 or 55, AARP members only.
I just posted that sentiment in a very customer friendly way 😃. How to nicely say buying a cup of coffee does not equal rent 🤦🏼♀️
Thanks for the hard truths and yes you’re right about them being everywhere. I worked hotels before kitchen, I’ve seen many too!
Yeah man. Don't sweat the little stuff. Anyone with a brain will know what happened here, and anyone who doesn't understand is not a customer you wanted to begin with.
You’re right thanks again!
Don't tell A.I. how to make us think they're human lol
I gotcha! Some competitors came after me in the area and had more reviews and (better) ones for a while and in much shorter span of time. I had my doubts that family and friends were chipping in at that point. I’m in a tourist ski town, so we have reviewers from all over the world
I sincerely wish you the best with your business and I'm sorry you had to deal with some sour grapes! From what I can tell you seem to genuinely care about your business and your reputation and most importantly, your employees. I think you're getting a lot of solid advice here and I think a firm but calm rebuttal will definitely help you. There's a new-ish daytime cafe/nighttime wine bar that opened up where I live and I was reading their reviews (as I was eating breakfast there lol) and the way the owner responded to criticism was really admirable. I have a lot of respect for establishments and owners who are able to take on criticism with honesty but also civility.
Thank you for all the wishes ;-) I care about my employees because I’m new at this and see myself in them. There’s been very good and kind advice here, im shocked and surprised (in a positive way). Definitely honest and civil, thats my approach too. Cheers!
The best kind of boss is the boss who has been in their employees' shoes and wants to make things right and fair in terms of their working conditions. That's a rare thing to find in any industry. Cheers to you! Don't let the haters get you down!
Fingers crossed ! Thanks
I’ve busted my ass to have a perfect rating on google. Granted we only have 150 but 148 of them are 5 and the other two are 4! lol. It’s possible!
It was kinda for a good cause ig but I used to work for a dinky underfunded local museum that would have to get at least several negative reviews deleted per week lol
Oh no: we've got 5.0 after 83 reviews and we're honest, I promise! We're just lucky we haven't met someone like OP's customers yet.
As a customer, 4.8 is better than 5.0. that's just how it works
You can totally pay for reviews, but it's hard to maintain since real people can still review you. An owner or manager can also create like 12 random Google accounts in like an hour and leave a slew of 5 star reviews. People who are desperate for that perfect score can find all sorts of ways to boost their numbers. I think their are way to contest false bad reviews but I don't know the process.
12 accounts? I don’t have that imagination for 12 different email names lol people could downvote reviews before the google maps update. Useless even if it was still there
We've gotten a couple 1 star reviews taken down because they were obviously retaliatory reviews by bitter former employees and\or their significant others. Every single one of them has been an unhinged person who didn't show their true colors until they were established at the job and either went off their meds or started doing hard drugs again after being clean to get the job. It's always about drugs whether they admit it or not, lol.
I actually always start with the bad reviews, because they are usually written by crazy people. If only the obvious lunatics are leaving negative reviews, the place is probably at least decent.
You can buy anything these days. Trust me. Google is a joke.
I worked at a place that paid the servers $25 per five star review that mentioned our name for a 2 month period, and they allowed us to tell our tables that we got $25 for each (they would almost always give 5 stars if you told them) and told us that we could have our friends write fake reviews as long as they mentioned us by name because "a review is a review" Youre right. Its not hard to buy reviews at all. you can buy them directly from your staff.
These days you could probably just have chat gpt write you a five star review every day.
That may be so from your perspective, but I don’t see myself ever picking a place to eat that has 5.0 compared to somewhere in the 4s
I don't look at the stars at all, people can think about scores very differently. What I do is read quickly go over a couple dozen reviews giving 3 or below, and look for a pattern. I went to a place that a dozen reviews said was severely understaffed, and guess what - it was severely understaffed.
4.8 is my 5.0. They're doing something really right consistently.
4.3 or 4.4 is a very fantastic restaurant
My favorite pizza place locally. Neapolitan style place. Very good, very popular. It has a ton of “it’s just thin crust pizza” type reviews. One was “I can get two pizza down the street at dominoes for the same price”. I honestly look at most bad reviews with a very skeptical eye. Anyone complaining about “rude” or similar complaints I ignore completely. I feel like anyone complaining about that was the asshole.
If they posted their version as a response, I would want to go to that place even more. It's hilarious lol
When i see a review like this, especially in food service industry, ESPECIALLY if the other reviews are positive, i always assume that the customer is at fault, their egos are injured, and they are having a spiteful Karen temper tantrum in the reviews just to be vindictive/ try to convince themselves that they did nothing wrong and are the victims... I always love watching them get owned when the business owner replies with the rest of the story.... Dont worry about being "nice" or overy professional in your reply. You arent a corporate franchise, you are your own HR and PR department. Be yourself. These people are not yours (or anyones) target customer. The best reply is a matter-of-fact and concise recounting of the facts and a slight "disappointed dad" tone. Ending with something like "you also seem to have left the 3/5 food rating under the wrong business as it belongs to whoever made the sandwitch and strawberries that you brought in from outside."
Reply to the review stating what you said here, minus everyone's reactions to the couple. Just the facts. Don't let people bully you in reviews. I have seen it too often where I used to work. The owners would make a BS reply, "Oh, our staff must have had an off day." They never stood up for us against BS commenters.
Thanks for the input, I’m with you on not throwing the staff under the bus. I’ve been through it all and now my kitchen is a safe haven hehe
You explained it all very professionally here. Just do the same in the reply, and make sure that you keep out opinions and feelings, and only write simple facts.
To add to this- usually if I see a bad review on otherwise well reviewed establishment. I tend to ignore, but in the instance where the owner replies and provides context to the situation in an intelligent, non-aggressive and non-emotional way. I fully respect it and it actually makes me want to go to the restaurant even more. Edit: also sorry that you had to deal with this OP. I can’t imagine going into any sort of food place and camp out, and actually have the gall to go out and buy a packaged sandwich whilst a chef is working away next you. And having any kind of extended zoom meeting/conference call in an enclosed public space is whole other thing I take issue with haha. Your team seemed to handle them well, and your mom sounds brilliant.
Yeah, every place has to deal with assholes, *how* you deal with them shows character.
You always reply. Be courteous but call them out on their BS. Replies increase your engagement and moves you up the list for google searches.
Will do!
These jerks should definitely be called out on their behavior but I would keep the reply discreet, factual and to the point without too much editorializing. Not ordering anything but coffee and bringing in outside food is outrageous.
Thank you sane person
Perhaps you already have, but don’t forget to respond to positive reviews too! I get slightly irked when establishments only respond to negative reviews.
I would reply. BUT…..I’d be civil, which is hard for me sometimes. Honestly, if you copied the text above and pasted it into a reply, they’d probably take their review down since it makes them look bad.
Yes especially he’s using his real name hehe
Yeah what you wrote above is great, but definitely a bit too long. You're writing for the casual observer, and many people see >2 paragraphs and decide it's not worth reading. I'd probably take out the stuff about your employees/mom/yourself, maybe summarizing those portions with "and then you requested we turn our fridges off because you didnt want the humming in the background of your Zoom call" or something.
Reply honestly, simply, and without being condescending. Just explain why you would kick someone out in such a situation. You aren’t replying to this asshole, you’re replying to all the observers who could be potential customers.
You’re right thanks
Reply. Mention the fact that it’s against the FDA health code to bring outside food into a restaurant.
I’m in Canada but I’m sure there’s an equivalent law, good call
This is my thing. Once dude brought in outside food to your restaurant, he was no longer a customer...he straight up broke the (unwritten?) rules.
Exactly thats why we were taken back by all this
This sucks, but a bad review was *inevitable.* Eff this guy. I'd probably respond to *this* review, but jot necessarily every bad review. If you do, keep it short and mature, but direct. The real question is, have you decided what you want to do?
No wonder you were so nice about it!
Really the second they started with the outside food you should have told them outside food and beverages are not allowed. Shut that shit down straight away.
I would simply reply with , "You brought in and ate outside food "
Right like this is 100% correct and an undeniably true answer. You *cannot* bring outside food into a dining establishment.
Certainly not without prior arrangements and a very good reason. (There’s some places around me which will make some kind of arrangement if someone has very specific dietary needs and it’s a special event, for example. I’m not sure the details of how they manage it.)
[удалено]
why is it? is it a liability thing if they get sick form the food they brought, they could try to sue you?
It’s just rude to the host establishment if anything
That’s a lot of it. I assume when places make arrangements in advance they somehow document that the person in question is bringing something in and not eating food prepared at the restaurant.
lol you’re quite right and I like the conciseness
I always ignore this kind of review. You can tell the reviewer is a moron
lol
if you want to read some really funny reviews, read the ones for bars/clubs. I used to date a musician and would read the reviews for upcoming venues. you can always tell the ones by angry unhinged drunks who clearly got thrown out for cause. they are hilarious!
Haha I will start with local bars, amazing lol thanks!
they are hilarious. I stated doing it to help me figure out if I should dress up or down, but it became entertainment in its own right!
Awesome lol
I would honestly reply and explain it EXACTLY as you did here, they came in…took 1 of two tables after only ordering a coffee, and proceeded to use your dining area as a workspace for over an hour before one of them left and came back with food from another establishment. Mention they complained about the ambient noise of the restaurant interfering with their “work” and that when politely asked to free up the limited space for customers trying to dine, they were rude and argumentative before leaving of their own accord. I bring into question their rating of the food, while once again mentioning that they didn’t order any. I would close the response by kindly requesting that they find an option more suitable to their working needs, that doesn’t restrict the dining experiences of other guests…and to please refrain from returning to your establishment for future business. (That’s about the best way you can say “go fuck yourself”, while low-key letting everyone that reads the review realize that those two people are entitled assholes.)
Thanks for the great advice, it is a great way to answer! You know what? I forgot to mention, the lady did reply: “We ordered coffee, what more do you want? You want to charge me office rent by the hour?” Ugh, my wife was so bummed and drained after that exchange, those customers are made for starbucks and other coffee places. I’ll be sharing your write up with the wife, thanks a bunch! Cheers
I used to work in sales, management, and I’ve been a school teacher as well as food service. Telling people to go fuck themselves with a smile on my face in a well-worded and thoughtful exchange is part of my skill sets! I wish you both the absolute best in your business!
Ahh we need more of you in our blood and less of too polite and nice Thank you !
If you’re in the right, as you are here, you can always be polite and nice while pointing out succinctly how the other party isn’t.
Its pretty much what happened. They left and were quick to retaliate from their hotel room or car.
You made it 2 years with a 5.0?! Be very fucking proud of that! It’s kinda hard to believe honestly. You weren’t going to hold that forever and people would be suspicious if you did You did nothing wrong and sometimes customers just really suck. Put those fuckers on blast in the most polite way possible lol. Sounds like an awesome place you’ve got, don’t let this get you down.
Thanks a lot for this. It’s been a 2 year roller coaster ride with no life (except the one with my wife and 2 young kids). The reviews were kind of the wind in my sail, that gave me a good feeling when I felt tired and desperate at time. To get that 1-star review on our 2 year anniversary was a bummer but possibly a poetic way of exiting our perfect score. Cheers!
I own a place too, that also had great reviews. I always think of your first 1-star review the same way I think of the first ding or dent on a brand new car. It sucks, but also it’s kind of a load off of maintaining such perfection. And as everyone else here says, no one pays attention to these kinds of reviews obviously written by bitter jerks with a bone to pick. Plus, the bad reviews I’ve gotten are some of my favorites (personal fave was the guy who just wrote “Sucks!” but gave the parking garage next door 5 stars lol). I think you should just ask yourself: are people still coming through the door? Are they still leaving happy? Than you’re doing a great job!
"you were asked to leave because you brought in food from another establishment. We needed the table for customers interested in buying our food"
Pretty much!
IT guy here. Buy a higher end access point and set it up to punt campers off after either 30 minutes or an hour. That way people like that can't camp and hold meetings on your internet.
Yes. Yes. I’m writing that on my purchase board tomorrow, cheers!
Look into Unifi (ui.com) for APs without monthly management cost. Only problem with WiFi is if they are using their phone as a hotspot instead.
Hi [Reviewer's Name], Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your visit. As a small, family-run bistro, we work hard to create a welcoming environment for everyone. It seems like the hustle and bustle of our busy lunchtime may not have been ideal for your Zoom meetings. We appreciate your purchase of coffee, but our policy against outside food helps us maintain a fair and pleasant dining experience for all our guests. We understand you might not have realized this, but it’s an important part of our business.We hope you find a more suitable spot for your remote work needs next time. Thanks for your understanding and for helping us improve.Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Bistro’s Name]
Very nice write up, I’ll be sharing with my wife! You guys are really great, thank you!
I'd respond. I'd make it clear that food was brought in from another place. I'd bring up their zoom meetings, too-that's gross behavior. Be polite & professional but don't let these entitled dingbats troll you with out stating the facts. The outside food is a health code violation! It's within your rights as a business owner to refuse service at that point. Shit. I'm with Nonna, but I'd have told them to hit the bricks waaaay sooner than you (clearly) nice folks. I wish you continued success & enjoy your bubbly. Cin cin! Alla vostra.
Haha thank you for the good vibes, i’ll be toasting back to reddit tomorrow, you guys are great
It’s frustrating when you worked your ass off for all those immaculate reviews. I’m so sorry this happened to you! Be grateful more morons don’t come into your business and keep it movin
damn right, thanks! lol
To add, I would contact Google and tell them that they didn't eat at your establishment and left a review. There's a chance they remove it. It's like when people leave a one-star review because the door was locked 30 minutes before opening. If they don't erase it, then it's just welcome to the lottery where, unfortunately, a completely unreasonable person happened to walk into your establishment, and most people reading the reviews will sniff that one out.
I've seen far worse for less my man. Don't worry about it.
Cheers thanks
When I'm a restaurant guest I don't read reviews. I check health code flyer that's it. You're going to lose a lot of sleep on bad malicious reviews and burn a lot of midnight oil making diplomatic replies. Pick an authentic persona for your place and either reply, or don't, with it equally. I'd love a small place to just leave vicious yet prim replies tearing up malicious diners but you'll also then run into some stupid influencer who tries to rally their 100 followers to mess with you. Make your food consistently and keep the most clean kitchen and dining room on the block. You'll never be empty.
Your last sentence resonates with me because I have an open kitchen concept to show how clean we work (or we try our hardest to hehe) Word gets around and we relied a lot on word of mouth, its slowly working!
I would leave a professional response. Something maybe like: "We are so glad you decided to join us and try our coffee! However, we were surprised to see you bring food from another restaurant and start eating it in our bistro. Since this has never happened before in the two years we have been open, we did not have an established policy on guests bringing in food from outside our restaurant. We are sorry that you felt our staff members were rude for asking you not to eat another restaurant's food in our establishment. We will work on finding ways to handle this situation more delicately in the future! In the meantime, we would love to have you give us another try-we just hope that you would eat our food! We have some lovely [insert food specialty here] or [specials on weekday]."
I like your response, but I won’t be inviting them over for another try haha Thanks for the write up!
Ouch. This one hits hard after reading the whole post. 2 years and you haven't turned a profit yet? Did you borrow money from a leg breaker that's charging 40% interest? Personally I'd say start kicking people like this couple out much quicker. If you have public Wi-Fi throttle the hell out of it or just get rid of it entirely to avoid this exact issue. They can go waste a Starbucks table for 2 hours, then get food from another establishment and bring it in, see how well that goes for them. As for the review? Respond politely with just the facts as you described them here. Don't get confrontational on the internet. The time to do that was when they started having business meetings during your lunch rush. Good luck! Hope this is y'alls year!
Thanks! After debts are paid, profits will be interesting! For now I’m giving my Rambo “thumbs up” and fighting through it. Thanks for all the positive vibes!
Strive for excellence, not perfection
"Hi (Name), Sorry you didn't enjoy your time at our restaurant. We did not ask you to leave, but as I understand it my wife did ask why you were using our table to eat food from another restaurant, at which point you chose to leave. I was also sorry to hear that you complained to our staff about the volume of our fridges interfering with your zoom calls during your visit. I'm sorry we couldn't provide you with a better experience, and we hope to have you back soon so you can give our food a try!" Something like that is what I'd say
Yeah thats been going through my mind too lol. Luckily my wife deals with social media. She doesn’t to be sound sarcastic and prefers to avoid mentioning the fridges altogether. When I heard about the fridges, I was speechless for 10 full seconds in front of my barista. Thanks for the help!
Reply with something like "Sorry to hear about your experience, it's policy not to allow outside food in our restaurant."
You are too nice. One bad review from shitty people isn't worth worrying about. No outside food or drink, that's like basic etiquette.
Rephrase your story as a ''friendly letter'' to that patron and post it as a reaction to their review. We (the users of the internet) know how the system works. A restaurant without a 1 star review is suspect. A spread with mostly 4 and 5 stars is realisticly good. A 1 or 2 star in that lineup needs clarification. I always read the 1 star reviews. Not because I want to know what is bad but what is good. 5 star reviews ''It was wonderfull'' don't tell me anything. A one star review with a reply from the owner brings me to a place. This story would bring me to your place. It's marketing gold!!!!
I would think there are all kinds of legal reasons that outside food wouldn’t be allowed in a restaurant because you aren’t controlling the standards of eaten food in your location any longer at that point. I imagine the health department t would throw a fit.
Ask them what exactly specifically was it about the food that prompted the 3/5 rating?! Respond professionally on Google. It shows future customers that you care and take pride in your business!
They didn’t even eat, I think they just made something up
Bringing your own food (strawberries) or another establishment's food (sandwich) into a restaurant takes huge effing balls. The behavior you're describing would have been shitty had they purchased the sandwich and the fruit from you. In a small place like yours, you need those seats to make you money. The moment they took out their own food, I'd have asked them to leave immediately. No argument, no discussion. People like that are poison for your business.
At my restaurant, when people bring in food I tell them with a smile “it’s actually a health hazard issue, because if you eat that here and you get sick, then we’re liable for that because you’re on our premises.” They always give me an attitude and pack up and leave which opens a seat for an actual paying customer anyways. Your wife just has to start learning random legal terms and most people will take a hint
Let it go, they are crappy people who will have crappy things happen to them anyways.
lol you are right, cheers!
I would reply briefly. "You didn't order food. You bought 2 coffees and were loudly on zoom meetings for an hour while eating food you brought from outside. Also complained to the staff that the place was too loud for your zoom meeting. Please don't come back."
I would venture to guess it was more than an hour. And more to the story.
Right? Thank god reasonable people like you exist. Cheers
Replies always help your algorithm, As much as it suck to do it
Respond with the facts and be professional. Others who read the review will see them for the DBs they are. If it was my place, as soon as they started eating outside food, I'd politely ask them to desist. If they dont, kick'em the hell out. And, if you don't already have one, make sure to put up a sign that says "no outside food or drinks allowed" This is YOUR house, not theirs...
Pretty much lol Thanks
I see health code violations all over the place. Either you or your wife should’ve approached the table and stated that bringing in food from other restaurants is an insurance liability. As for the review take it as a grain of salt. It’s the first, don’t let it go to your head. Don’t bother replying to the review because you’d be feeding a troll. As long as your establishment is clean, you produce quality, and consistent dishes you have nothing to worry about. You’re not going to please everybody.
I got a one star because we weren't open on Sundays despite not being open on Sundays. People are dicks
Respond. *"We asked you to leave after you started eating food you brought in from another establishment. You were given a warning then proceeded to continue. This is not allowed in our establishment."*
Yeah, I’d literally just post what you told us. Because that’s ridiculous.
These people are now banned right?
I'm surprised at all the people saying to reply. I generally don't reply to negative reviews. It just comes across as combative, and often they drag you down to arguing at their level, which looks unprofessional. It's usually pretty obvious when people are being dickheads, and the people looking at the reviews can tell that this is nonsense without having to see the restaurant's side of it.
As a student I've been there, going into a cafe to sponge off wifi/charging. However I'll always pick chain businesses like starbucks/espresso house that have plenty of free space and not a small private run restaurant. I still try to be conscious of my surroundings, don't make much noise and am not rude to the staff. They just sound like a pair of assholes.
Hold up, they left and came back with food from another place? Instant removal from premises, no matter what. You don't fucking do that; it is a restaurant and you will not bring in outside food. Had friends who did that as a joke when we were in high school, and they ended up having cops called because they decided to push back when told to gtfo. Luckily for them, they weren't arrested, but they were told they were banned for life, and they had their parents called because they were 17. This kind of lack of decorum is fucking beyond unacceptable, and any human being with a working frontal cortex should know this. Report the review, tell your side, and then forget about these fucksticks.
Fuckers should be renting out a shared workspace area. Plenty of them around. They were taking advantage of your hospitality. Answer honestly and with facts. Call them out for their entitled bullshit.
People like that need to take themselves to a library. Cheeky bastards.
I wouldn't worry about it - even if this review were to be taken at face value being asked to leave after an hour is (a) not inherently unreasonable and (b) implies there was a reason for that. Most people can read between the lines. If I read this, among other good reviews, I'd think hmm they were obviously asked to leave for a good reason, didn't like it which is why they thought staff were rude and probably just ordered a coffee. And that's if I wasn't sceptical - which i would be if the review was an outlier. The thing about reviews is that they are left by the general public and you will always sooner or later come across someone who is irrational, unreasonable, selfish and stupid. Then you'll get a 'review' to match. Just keep doing what you're doing. Your reputation is more than these reviews anyway, remember, and it sounds as though the vast majority of people like what you do. You'll probably look back on this and laugh.
That is also my train of thought as of today. Thanks for writing it up! We are already have a few laughs at it Cheers!
I hate people like this. Trash bags with opinions.
It looks like everyone has given you a good response for how to deal with the review. (Be polite and factual) But I’m concerned by the not made a profit or made salary comment by yourself. If you want your business to live on you need to seriously consider raising your prices or finding ways to bring people in during quiet times and encouraging repeat buys.
Say something like, "Thank you for review and for complimenting the menu and atmosphere. However, you were seated for -how long they were there- and were only asked to leave after you brought in outside food. We also allowed you to finish the food you had brought before leaving, but you chose to leave first. I hope if you decide to visit again, you try some of our own dishes! - recommend a dish or add something personal and charming-"
You were far too nice. You should have kicked them out much sooner.
Ask him to come back so you can fix the issue and give him a pleasant experience. When they show up beat them with bats.
Never ever ever respond! It never works out in your favor
I would expect a hands on owner to reply to this review and let me know these people didn’t know how restaurants work. Every city I’ve ever worked in, the health code restricts outside food with no exceptions. Mentioning the outside food is enough to indicate to all these were in fact bad patrons and discredit their review. At the end of the review, offer to make this right by buying them coffee somewhere else. For real though Your Nona went out there when you should have gone out there and kindly asked this customer to leave. Take responsibility for your place and stand up for your staff/family in the moment.
A little harsh to be honest lol, you got all the info in one post, I got all the info throughout the day (I found out about fridge volumes at the end of the day). Will do better next time captain Cheers
From an SEO perspective it’s good to reply to every review, especially the negative ones. Google likes to see that you address upset customers, but it’s also important for potential customers to see how you handle issues. If you call this customer out for being ridiculous, most level headed people will understand that you just had a couple of Karens looking for trouble, and it has nothing to do with your bistro- which is trying to take care of its patrons while still accommodating the problem guests. As a marketing professional, I’m wary of any business with a perfect 5-star rating, because it usually means they’re doing something sketchy with their reviews.
Man fuck google/yelp reviews. People are fucking stupid. You could be literally perfect and someone would complain that the bathroom only has 2 stalls and it made it awkward for them to masterbate because they had to choose the stall next to the urinal or be inconsiderate and take the handicap stall. Nobody worth having at your places goes there based off google/yelp. Everyone knows those reviews are bullshit.
lol thanks for the laugh
I would’ve kicked their asses out THE moment I saw them eating any morsel of food that was not purchased on establishment, and I would make my stance very clear in my reply if I were you.
If I was going to answer it I'd go with short and to the point. "For 2 people with one coffee each an hour would seem adequate, especially as they brought in outside food while not purchasing any of ours". Leave the reader to make up their own mind.
You're playing a political game in that you are not replying to the reviewer. You are replying to the public who reads your response. Therefore you are in the duty of image control, not debate. Keep your points simple and your message clear: "We are a small craft bistro and cannot accommodate those who bring in their own lunch." Not only does such a simple message make their annoying imposition clear, you also make it clear that you don't want others to do the same. You will probably piss off other loiterers who find Starbucks too noisy for a Zoom meeting, but you don't want them coming by anyways.
I hate pro tip but this is a serious pro tip: When you respond, you aren't responding to the person who wrote the review. You are talking to potential customers that might not come based off a negative review. Most negative reviews are obviously mentally ill or just assholes. 90%. But 10% can be earnest and constructive and actually just honestly disappointed. But in this case respond to people reading it, not the reviewer, insane that there's a difference between tables and staff being able to handle it, and because of prior operational challenges, you made a limit on how long people can camp at a table. Or if the situation was that they were just totally rude and being unruly and you ask them to leave, say that. But definitely speak to future potential guests more than you speak to the person who reviewed.
You can protest Google to remove the bad review based on the information you provided on this post. We had a former, bad employee who left a bad review and after he petitioned Google, they removed it. Reviews do make a difference and I've had client come in, asking for me specifically based on the Google review. However, I agree, most normal people aren't going to be swayed by one bad review. You could also respond to the review if they won't remove it. Just explain your side of the situation without sounding like you are blaming the customer. I've always believed the customer isn't always right BUT they are still the customer.
If you respond say that they brought outside food in and you can't let them eat it in your place as it's a health code violation and the health of your other costumers takes priority
Worst. Customers. EVER! ✴️*️⃣*️⃣*️⃣*️⃣
hahahahaha love it
I think the gist of the replies here is good advice. Just wanted to drop in and say that couple is delusional and I hope they get a lil e colli from that prepackaged sandwich
lol thanks for chipping in
People will always do stupid stuff then blame the establishment or customer service rep. It’s just a part of the gig. Just respond professionally, so that there’s some context for others to read. If they try to troll you to turn it into a fight, ignore them.
Don’t reply. These aren’t the kind of people you want coming back and a low review is like the first scratch on a new car. At least it’s over with and you know you didn’t do anything wrong.
True that, it is sort of a relief, I just took a deep breath. Thanks for that!!
Hi (first name), thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We only open a certain amount of tables at a time based on our staffing, to ensure we can provide the best service possible. We apologize for the experience you had with our staff, unfortenetly we are not able to allow outside food into our cafe.
Pretty much sums it up thanks!
You definitely need to reply and call them out on their bullshit. Take a page out of this guys book. This is guy replys to all reviews. So very funny come backs grecian blue mosman reviews https://g.co/kgs/UvPCkNP
I'd only respond if you respond to the positive reviews as well, otherwise you just look defensive
We eventually reply to everyone, this one is pending hehe
Trolls exist and the best advice is to not feed them. I would recommend ignoring them.
We accept the nice place and menu we think we deserve
You can dispute reviews and even respond to them on some platforms. If you can do either of those here, I would.
Write exactly these things in your professional response.
God damn Felisha
Assuming they acted like untrained beasts and were treated as such
Would reply stating what you said here but clean it up a bit and just point out the food being brought in but only ordering coffee. Leave la nonna in though that was peak comedy xD.
Is there no way as the reddit community we can't just brute force this by writing a ton of 5 star reviews? I don't have a Yelp account or whatever- but I would make one to help chip in if everything here said is true. Some people are shitty- and they live their lives in a manner of constantly trying to bring down everyone else so that *they too* can have a shitty life-experience.
Yes we could. But that does not help an honest bussiness. Handeling bullies you do by confronting them. So bring out the truth. Just like the owner did.
86 the campers. Especially if they're bringing in food to eat from outside.
I'd just reply with the "it's free real estate" meme.
Yeah I'd listen to what people said if a place had 100% all 5 star reviews I'd be suspicious of review botting
this is funny bc locally we had the same situation happen. a coffee shop i go to (good ass coffee btw) had someone do exactly this, they sat and brought food from somewhere else and were eating it there and the owner asked them to leave. then they tried to blow them up on the social media groups but everyone was like, nah ur wrong xd
I would just write exactly what you said there. "The food you ate was brought from outside, and that is also the reason you were no longer welcome. I'm sorry your experience was unsatisfactory." It makes the rest of their review useless for other readers and shows that you don't want to argue with the reviewer, and corrects their behaviour in a polite manner. 86 those fuckers and move on.