Left a medicore restaurant review. Restaurant wants me to email them to discuss....what?

roses2 · 2023-07-06T09:36:18+00:00

I went to a restaurant a few weeks ago. It was just alright, not as wow as I was expecting from the 4.6* Google reviews. My food was wrong, they returned it then the new meal was under cooked. DS wanted to order ice cream and the guy was in a rush and told DS "I will order you vanilla" when DS wanted a few seconds to think about what flavour after the man told him what they had. It was £140 for 4 of us (2 adults & 2 kids). Not high end but not cheap either. So I left 3* on Google and the restaurant posted back "please email us back to discuss". I'm not sure I have anything else to say. It was in a village we went to visit for a day so I won't be back. Does anyone ever reply? What do they want to discuss that I didn't already write about objectively in my review?

VenAqui · 06/07/2023 10:37

It’s par for the course on tripadvisor etc, doesn’t mean you have to.

OneTC · 06/07/2023 10:37

Compensating you in return for editing I guess

HoogahToogah · 06/07/2023 10:37

They probably want to offer you a complimentary voucher to dine there again if you remove your review

SwedishEdith · 06/07/2023 10:41

Hmm, recently had similar and we got vouchers for double the value we'd spent. I'd see what they offer.

Sunnydaysarentagiveneveninjuly · 06/07/2023 10:42

Await an offer.
I reviewed Toby Carvery and apparently they will take my review on board...

nancy2022 · 06/07/2023 10:47

Often it's just a generic reply so other viewers can see they have tried to rectify it.

I bet no one ever replies.

justanothermanicmonday1 · 06/07/2023 10:47

I had the same issue with a restaurant after a bad experience. They emailed me and asked to call to discuss. They refunded me the meal. That wasn't my intention of the review, but it was a bonus.

Frabbits · 06/07/2023 10:49

Less ethical places will do this in an attempt to get you to remove your review, completely destroying the point of review sites in the first place.

The reason why mediocre restaurants have nothing but rave reviews on tripadvisor etc is exactly because of this.

KnottyKnitting · 06/07/2023 10:50

I posted a so so review about a restaurant recently. The restaurant owner replied with an absolute tirade of rebuttals to my complaints - it made her look like a total loon and obvious to anyone reading it that " me thinks the lady doth protest too much!"

Fightyouforthatpie · 06/07/2023 10:51

KnottyKnitting · 06/07/2023 10:50

I posted a so so review about a restaurant recently. The restaurant owner replied with an absolute tirade of rebuttals to my complaints - it made her look like a total loon and obvious to anyone reading it that " me thinks the lady doth protest too much!"

These are always a hoot to read.

towriteyoumustlive · 06/07/2023 10:53

KnottyKnitting · 06/07/2023 10:50

I posted a so so review about a restaurant recently. The restaurant owner replied with an absolute tirade of rebuttals to my complaints - it made her look like a total loon and obvious to anyone reading it that " me thinks the lady doth protest too much!"

When places respond like this, it says it all really! Their ridiculous reply just backs up the poor review!

Nordicrain · 06/07/2023 10:55

SwedishEdith · 06/07/2023 10:41

Hmm, recently had similar and we got vouchers for double the value we'd spent. I'd see what they offer.

Well that will explain why the reviews were misleading then...

AutumnDragon · 06/07/2023 10:55

It may be genuinely to ask for more details. Friend runs a restaurant, they've always had 4 & 5 star reviews and suddenly received a number of 1 to 3 stars over a couple of weeks. She contacted everyone and those that replied let her know that it was a specific member of staff that had annoyed them. The reviews hadn't mentioned that one staff member was rude, just made comments about poor service. Once she had this information she was able to resolve it.

fortheloveofflowers · 06/07/2023 10:57

Why don’t you reply with what you have written here unless you wrote all of that on the review. It’s not clear from your post what you wrote or whether you just put 3*.

They might just want to know what they can improve.

Original poster

roses2 · 06/07/2023 11:07

Here is what I wrote:

It was just ok. Service from the women was great. Service from the men was not so good. My order was wrong. They took it back and the replacement was slightly under cooked.

Decent enough quality raw ingredients. Expensive but inline with most places these days (£140 for a family of 2 adults & 2 kids). I went out of my way to come here but wouldn't do this again.
Food: 2/5 | Service: 3/5 | Atmosphere: 3/5

====================================================
Response from the owneran hour ago
Dear roses2, thank you for your review though we are sorry to hear your last visit fell short of our usual high standards. I would to discuss with you further in order to properly resolve the issues you experience - [email]

OP posts:

LanaDeIRabies · 06/07/2023 11:11

I once left a polite, factual one star review on Trustpilot for a satchel company - the bag I bought cost £160 but within a couple of weeks the straps had cracked and frayed, and when I tried to contact them, they didn't respond. The company left a very nasty response saying I had the same first name as the owner of their main competitor's company and if I didn't remove my review they would take legal action. I left the review up but TP removed it for not being a genuine review - they said I hadn't used the company in question. Needless to say I've shared the heck out of screenshots since and would tell anyone looking to buy a leather satchel not to use that particular company!

Hopefully they want to you to get in touch to put it right OP - maybe some vouchers or something.

SummaLuvin · 06/07/2023 11:11

yeah sounds like they wish to either:

offer you a gesture and ask you to return to 'make amends' (I always think this is naff as it's usually a £15 bottle of wine and you will end up having to spend £100+ to access that goodwill gesture)
pressure you to remove the review
properly understand what went wrong, why, and how they can improve so that customers aren't left feeling unsatisfied in future.

truthhurts23 · 06/07/2023 11:12

They always do that just ignore them , i left a bad review after a local place gave me the worst food poisoning I’ve ever had and they had other reviews for food poisoning too, and they still wanted me to email them, I haven’t and I won’t

N27 · 06/07/2023 11:16

I would contact them. Your review was specific enough for the general public but in terms of them taking action with their employee they will need more information. If they have ongoing performance issues with this employee they can’t just sit him down and say the service wasn’t great they will need specific examples

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 06/07/2023 11:18

LanaDeIRabies · 06/07/2023 11:11

I once left a polite, factual one star review on Trustpilot for a satchel company - the bag I bought cost £160 but within a couple of weeks the straps had cracked and frayed, and when I tried to contact them, they didn't respond. The company left a very nasty response saying I had the same first name as the owner of their main competitor's company and if I didn't remove my review they would take legal action. I left the review up but TP removed it for not being a genuine review - they said I hadn't used the company in question. Needless to say I've shared the heck out of screenshots since and would tell anyone looking to buy a leather satchel not to use that particular company!

Hopefully they want to you to get in touch to put it right OP - maybe some vouchers or something.

I had this with trustpilot. I complained a company was removing reviews under 5* on their website. They said it wasn't a genuine review and deleted it.

I'd reported them to the ASA with evidence and they'd upheld my complaint ffs!!

TP is completely pointless.

narrowmindedbigot · 06/07/2023 11:20

I would ignore

TequilaNights · 06/07/2023 11:21

If you leave a bad review, I would 100% give the restaurant an email to discuss and remedy the issues you had.

If they don't know who and what happened in further details, they can't act on it.

Reugny · 06/07/2023 11:24

Ignore them or edit your review to state they have contacted you but you don't understand why as you won't be going back there again.

Thing is if you are known reviewer on Google or whatever, and people know you have a habit of leaving truthful reviews then by altering your review you look terrible.

ManateeFair · 06/07/2023 11:24

I left a review of a disappointing meal at a decent restaurant once - the food was actually great, but the service was incredibly chaotic and slow. They asked me to email them with further details of what happened, so I did. They apologised that the service didn't meet their usual standards and invited us back for a free meal - at which the service was excellent. We've actually been back there loads of times since. They didn't ask me to take down my review or anything.

You don't have to email them if you don't want to - just ignore it if you'd rather not.

Normandy144 · 06/07/2023 11:26

Even if you won't return I agree you should respond and allow them a right to reply/rectify. It's a tough trade to operate in and you have made fair comment..I think it is only fair that you allow them an opportunity to rectify and find out more. They may offer to compensate and you can always decline but I think it is the decent thing to do to allow them to speak with you. It will allow them to put things right for future customers.