Bad Restaurant Review - WWYD?

[foodcritic]

NC for this on the off chance someone works out who we are and decides to do someone similar...

We have a small independent restaurant, been established over 10 years, lots of lovely regular customers, and always grateful for new customers. Many of these come due to our good reviews on various sites such as TripAdvisor, Google, etc. Also we do a fair bit (probably weekly) on local community Facebook pages which also attracts new people and reminds existing customers of what we are doing by way of Chef Specials etc.

Last week a Google review went on with 2 stars - and a comment along the lines of 'sad to see xxxxx on the menu'. (xxxx being a dish that some people find unacceptable, others specifically come to our restaurant to eat as it's difficult to find in supermarkets or other restaurants)

There is a name so I know exactly who has written this, and she's a local person who has never eaten at our restaurant. She has on occasion also used a crying emoji when she sees posts for certain dishes on Facebook that i have posted. (Suspect she's not a meat eater)

So - I have responded to the review with a similarly short comment, basically saying how disappointing someone has given a review based not on eating in the restaurant and experiencing our food/service, but based on a specific menu item.

Reviews are so important to small businesses, we can't afford massive advertising campaigns, and although this one hasn't really put a dent in our overall rating it's so frustrating. But I'm now wondering if I shouldn't have responded as I've made us look as petty as her. What would you have done?

Honestly, that sort if comment would only tell me you have veal on the menu. And that this particular person has issues with it. Her issue, not mine.

I think you’re right to have removed your answer.
And that comme t would make me want to try your restaurant! At last, something différent is my first thought.

Leave your reply. I like it when owners respond to unfair reviews and you are within your rights to do so.

Can I ask why veal is considered worse than lamb or other baby animals ?

I honestly don't understand, if you eat industrial raised beef like burgers and things, surely not only was the meat from either a dairy cow who had a crappy life and was once a veal or from a bull who was once a veal ... I don't get why it would be worse to kill them as babies than to raise them in the conditions they are raised in - only for them then to be slaughter once adult....

Can I ask why veal is considered worse than lamb or other baby animals ?

Because people are uneducated about how animals are raised and killed. It's easier to take exception to veal than it is to think about how all the meat they love is raised and killed.

I say that as a meat eater btw - the weird "sad" reactions to veal from other meat eaters makes no sense IMO.

https://thehumaneleague.org/article/veal-animal

Humans will continue eating veal because they’re selfish, it’s called cognitive dissonance, as long as they don’t witness the male calf being taken from their mothers, fed artificial milk and then led to slaughter for others to consume their flesh. If you agree with that, then you clearly lack a conscience.

Why is it worse than eating any other types of meat?
Why is it worse than the calves being shot and sent to landfill as a by-product of the dairy industry?

If you don't want veal to exist, you shouldn't drink milk.

I'm going to assume you're vegan?

Because ALL dairy calves are separated from their mothers at birth. Some are hand fed until weaned and then released in to the cow field until old enough to be bred from and milked, others are shot at birth.

I don’t drink milk, eat dairy or consume the flesh of animals. Not since the day I saw a video of a calf being separated from its mother and taken to a fattening cage and after watching Earthlings, that was all I needed to see. I realised it was hypocritical of me to eat animals but refuse to witness their death, like many others, I disassociated the animal from the meat.

As long as you didn’t get personal (which I presume you didn’t) it’s not petty. It’s to give context as she has never been to your restaurant! I would have kept it brief “to confirm the person who wrote this review has not visited our restaurant”. My OH had to do the same after a disgruntled neighbour, (business) who had never been a customer, posted a review with 1 star.

Fair enough if you don't eat meat or drink dairy.

But it seems that lots of people don't seem to realise that those cages have been outlawed in the UK for almost thirty years now, and in Europe since the mid-2000's, so using them as an argument not to eat veal while they still drink milk and eat other types of meat is nothing more than ridiculous.

Sometimes it is easier to leave the dots unconnected and not delve too deep into the realities of modern animal agriculture, the cruelty present in it, and how interconnected some of the sectors are. That being said, at some point or another, it is important for all of us to truly analyse our current food system and ask ourselves, is this really the type of system I want to be supporting?

It would benefit the planet if people consumed far less meat in general if they still choose to eat it, it’s an industry plagued with misery and climate change (deforestation and methane).

@Coffeeandcake15

exactly, we can’t just bury our heads in the sand

I’d be sad to see veal on the menu too. I’d appreciate her flagging it up to me if I was thinking of coming to your restaurant (I wouldn’t on seeing you served it). But I’m well aware that lots of people are happy to eat it. So some you lose, some you win…. That’s how it goes in any establishment (I own a café myself). But your reply to her valid comment looks pathetic really. If you’d have said sorry you feel like that, lots of customers like it, you’d have at least looked mature, open and honest.

Absolutely love veal, brill that you're serving it.

Surely google will remove the review as the reviewer didn't actually use your services?

Most people don't eat veal because it's not sold in supermarkets. But milk is.

I wish more people were able to visit actual real life farms. in the UK (or wherever you live) and see them on a day to day basis.

Earthlings & Cowspiracy aren't what I see when I spend my day to day time on various farms.

Some people have some very out of date opinions about veal. The animals are no longer kept in awful crates and at least the bullock gets a bit of a life. If you eat any meat, you shouldn’t have a problem with it.

That's good then.

But it's not cognitive dissonance when you know how your food is produced and continue to eat it - it's simply coming to a different decision than you.

I absolutely believe though that people should be fully aware of how their food is produced (not just the farm raising but the transportation, the slaughter house, the meat packing etc) so that they can make fully informed decisions. I suspect we'd have more vegetarians and vegans.

I don't understand the outcry for veal when people happily eat lamb. Either you care for all baby animals or you don't.
You did well in removing your reply .Ignore and move on. However, if she does it again, then yes, you should correct her.

The fruit and veg growing is also full of dubious practices with human pickers being trated appallingly. Are you ethical with your dietary sources?

If what you serve is rose veal then you missed an opportunity to explain what that is and why some meat eaters believe it is desirable to eat it.

Personally I'm in the camp that likes to see owners respond. If it is a polite response to an unreasonable complaint I'd go there, if it's sarky, claims they are perfect or is arrogant I wouldnt. Sometimes poor reviews encourage me, especially to book hotels where people complain the bar stops serving drinks at 11.

Never be defensive in a response, never say you are the only person to complain when several other reviews have said the same thing. Always, always be polite, even if you are explaining the customer was stealing the cutlery or demanding a discount and threatening a bad review.

And deforestation occurs so palm oil can be made into ethical foodstuff for vegans but it's ok, it's a plant. And it's ok for plastic to leach into the sea and kill marine life because of the greenhouses in Spain that grow your cherry tomatoes and not forgetting the misery of human being migrants "employed" to pick your lettuce.

Wow comparing a cherry tomato to an animal suffering, you’re wrong, the biggest cause of deforestation is food for animal agriculture I’m sorry to say. I also avoid palm oil.

A huge percentage of meat comes from factory farming which is abhorrent.