To leave a not-so-good review

[cleofatra]

On a cafe's Facebook page- about their food? Or is writing bad reviews just petty?

I feel guilty now.
Does anyone else write reviews or do you just vote with your feet if you get a bad meal somewhere?

I would but I’d make sure it was fair and I’d highlight any positives I’d found.

Also, did you give them a chance to resolve the issue at the time as I think that’s very important before reviewing negatively.

Well could you elaborate as to what exactly the problem was? It's very hard without context. What was wrong with the food?

You can write a "shit sandwich" review if it'll make you feel better. (The shit sandwich is where you put a positive either side of the negative, as in Positive thing 1 - Bad thing - Positive thing 2)

Generally if it was bad I would raise with manager and if they dealt with it properly I wouldn’t leave a bad review, I think it’s fair to give small businesses a chance to defend themselves - sometimes they aren’t aware of the issues unless you tell them.

It’s a bit petty if you didn’t raise a concern when you were there. If you did and they were rude or unhelpful then less so.

It also depends on whether you got the type and quality of food for the type of establishment.

Yes, write a review, it's what they're for! However you could balance it out by leaving a couple of nice reviews for places you've enjoyed 🙂

To elaborate, it was a poor meal that didn't match the cost.

Did you mention it at the time face to face? Give the cafe the option to redeem themselves

Did you report it to them first?

Presumably you knew the cost before you ordered? In what way was it a poor meal? Not cooked properly? Gone off ingredients? Cold when it was meant to be hot? If you just write "Poor meal, me no enjoy" no one will pay any attention to it anyway. How much space do you have to write this review?

I've seen people order a steak rare before and then whinge about how it was "under cooked"

Given your lack of total disgust at this "poor meal" I'd probably just leave it alone and not go there again. If you'd said "there was a badgers ball sack in my spaghetti and then the waiter punched me in the face and called my gran a whore" I'd say flay them alive online.

To be honest, we didn't have the time for them to cook it again. I suppose I should delete the review.

I leave review on tripadvisor regularly. I try and focus on the positives as well as the negatives.
It's perfectly reasonable to suggest the meal you had was overpriced.

topshagger Yes, my review was more descriptive than on here. I probably should have just left it, I've not written too many reviews before...may avoid in future.

Write a review if you gave them the opportunity during your visit to sort your grievances and they didn't.
Don't bother if you didn't say anything at the time. It's petty and seems disingenuous.

I think it’s actually very unfair to leave a poor review without having raised it at the time, and given the restaurant the opportunity to correct/remunerate the issue.

If you did that and it still wasn’t satisfactory then fair enough.

Yes - but if it’s overpriced average food, how can it be corrected during the visit?

Easily. You tell them that the mean wasn't up to par and give them the opportunity to knock money off your bill. Which most places will do, unless you've eaten the food. In which case why should they?

Hmmm, I may delete the review and just not go there again. (no loss to them)

I think you can always tell the difference between a shitty review someone's written in anger, that may be very petty, and a more balanced, honestly critical review where something was truly unsatisfactory. The idea of balancing it with some good comments helps with this. I also tend to leave it 24-48 hours so any emotional side has had a chance to subside. Agree that it's better to raise any issue while you're there though, to give the business a chance to rectify it.

TBH in most reviews I've seen, if the establishment can respond and say that the customer didn't give them chance to put it right, they usually come off looking better so it's a bit pointless anyway

I think with food places, you have to say there and then that you weren't happy. It's unfair to leave a review when you haven't given them a chance to put it right.

YABU. It is very poor behaviour to write a bad review when you didn’t even give them to chance to correct it.

It’s not their fault you didn’t have time for it to be fixed and they had absolutely no way of offering you anything (not even a voucher for next time or another quick gesture) because you didn’t tell them anything; you just upped and left and thought you’d punish them behind the anonymity of a screen.

I wonder if food critics say if their meal isn't up to standard (or just write about it later)

Not at ALL comparing myself, it just had me thinking and wondering.

I think it is very fair to leave a poor review for places that serve low quality food for high prices. It warns other people before they go there.

This isn't the type of thing someone can fix if you highlight at the time. It's not like the food was too cold or undercooked.

I rely on reviews when i go out and find this kind of thing very helpful.

I think it’s actually very unfair to leave a poor review without having raised it at the time

A meal can be poor without being bad enough to bother with a complaint. I do find it irritating when people are asked directly, say it's lovely, and then moan later.

Personally, I would never, ever eat somewhere that I had to send back food. I have worked in kitchens and know what some chefs do about complaints.

If it was a poor meal that didn’t match the cost did you raise the issue when you paid the bill? Or just pay the full price for it?