to leave a negative review without speaking to the restaurant first

[horchatatresleches]

We had lunch at a local restaurant this week. The food was okay though not as good as before but the main issue was the service. Because the staff were rushing around constantly, they didn’t have time to notice when tables needed service and were impossible to flag down. It took two hours to get through mains (a salad and a flatbread) and dessert. That’s with ordering mains very quickly because we were there just after opening before it got busy and decided what we wanted by the time they came for the drinks order.

While we waited for our plates to be cleared from mains, the table next to us were served, finished, and also starting to get impatient. We had to go and find someone to clear our plates, then find someone else to take our pudding order. Getting the bill was also slow. We had to approach two different staff members and it took another 15-20 minutes.

I left a two star Google review saying that the food was good (though I did say it wasn’t as good as previous occasions) but the service was far too slow. The restaurant responded saying we should have raised it at the time to give them a chance to fix it.

I would always raise food issues directly such as wrong order, undercooked or missing food and let them fix it, but when the problem is being understaffed, they can’t give me my time back. The staff were clearly working flat out, so complaining to them felt unfair when it’s a management problem. We also weren’t the only table getting frustrated at the delays.

Was I wrong to just leave the review?

I would have contacted the restaurant first as it might be a one off and staffing is normally fine. I wouldn't want a review permanently there for a one off.

I would’ve spoken to the restaurant first.

Generally I wouldn’t leave a negative restaurant review unless I thought there was a very serious issue, like food safety. Even then, I’d probably just flag to the appropriate authority (e.g. enviro health).

Reply how were you supposed to flag it at the time if you were struggling to speak to a staff member? Like you say they can’t give you back your time

Speaking to the restaurant first is fine if there is an issue with the food or you want a different table or the music is too loud. But the idea they couldn’t be aware that the service you experienced was crap without you making them aware makes is ridiculous.

I’m not a fan of the new ethics around rating. There shouldn’t be a moral obligation on paying customers to spare restaurants poor feedback so long as it’s genuine. And I completely get that it’s tough for hospitality, which is why places that get it right deserve to outshine those that don’t.

You did try to flag it so I think the review was fine. A one of issue with the food or a mistake on the bill is something you can resolve at the time. Very annoying that this is their response!

Most people wouldn’t speak to the restaurant first before leaving a review in this situation. What you did was fine and I’d have done the same.

Probably not Google. Tripadvisor maybe. But as Google is more public and less anonymous I think I'd rather speak to them about it as the bad review will be seen by much more people. Or simply not go back.

A salad and a flatbread taking that long to come out is pretty bad. They must have been short staffed.

This exactly. I'd say this on the review site.

If it’s a small local business I think it takes a certain kind of person to take time to write a negative review because of one bad day.

I don't think you were unreasonable to leave the review rather than raising it at the time (it doesn't sound as if they'd have been able to fix it particularly easily), but before writing a negative review I'd probably look at their other reviews to try & judge whether it was a one-off or a problem they've had for a while and haven't bothered fixing. In the latter case, I might leave a review.

An honest review reflects the service you received, and is for the benefit of potential customers. Why wouldn't they expect a bad review for bad service?

Ive just posted a very critical review on Trustpilot about a company. I did raise the issue with the company several times but got an unsatisfactory "this is the way we do it" response. So I now feel justified in leaving a purely factual negative review about certain aspects of their service. I don't make a point of leaving bad reviews for companies and most of my Trustpilot reviews flag good service and products. On this occasion I was left feeling upset and undervalued.

YANBU. If your food is cold, fine, speak to the waitress. Again, if you order chicken and get fish, fine. But sometimes it’s clearly obvious that immediate feedback won’t help alleviate the problem. “Your service is slow.” What are they going to do? Only a bad review might make the management take notice.

What would've talking to them at the time done? You couldn't get their attention, let alone have service improved. I think your review is fair because that was written on your experience on that day.

It sounds like you did quite a lot of approaching, which does kind of count as giving them a chance to sort it. I suppose you could argue it's not directly talking about the problem to management. I do tend to go easy on a small local place as I know it's really hard getting staff and making the restaurant pay. So I want them to do well even if they aren't perfect. Two stars does seem a bit mean if the food was okay. I'm not one of those 'all "perfectly fine" reviews should be 5*, but two is veering into "don't go" territory. Is that actually what you are recommending?

I think what you’ve done is perfectly reasonable. How could you have dealt with it at the time when you were struggling to get their attention?

Your review would make me think twice, but their response would really seal the (no) deal for me if I was thinking of going.

I often post on tripadvisor when we go to restaurants, hotels etc. If its mainly all good, then I post a balanced review.

If its been very bad, I try to email/contact the company firstly, to give management an opportunity to explain/apologise/refund etc. Depending on that response, this aids my decision on what to write in a review. If I call/email and get no response then I'll add that info into my review also. If they apologise, explain etc then I might soften my review and add that management did respond to my concerns etc.

I've never reviewed on google.

No I think it’s completely reasonable. You brought the matter to the attention of staff at the time . They should have picked up on the fact that you had to ask for courses / the bill on more than one occasion .

YANBU.

They couldn't have fixed it on the day, it's not like you had a broken lamp on the table or something or the wrong food came out. It's not like you sat there waiting either, you repeatedly tried to flag staff down. WTF else were you supposed to do?

Perfectly reasonable to leave a review to say they are understaffed or need to manage customer flow better or not take some many bookings, online orders, whatever. In fact I would say it is better to raise something like that publicly in a review, very visibly.

The reviews of the restaurant are generally very good, mostly five stars. It’s a busy restaurant so it’s not like my review is one of four really affecting their score. Their overall Google review score is 4.6. There are some poorer reviews in there though. No one star reviews but two and three stars complaining either about portion size or service. There’s also a notable (to me at least) number of these poorer reviews saying that they feel the restaurant has declined in quality recently, which is a view I agree with. I left a five star review four years ago but also have been left a little disappointed by it over the past couple of years. We hadn’t been for months and went as a rare child free lunch and it just sort of confirmed the underwhelm. I didn’t just leave a poor review following a single bad experience but it was the straw the broke the camel’s back.

People have asked about the size and they’re part of a local group of restaurants, not a small independent, but not a huge chain either. Each restaurant in the group has its own name and menu. They’re a very popular local group, and this restaurant is no exception which is why it was so busy on a midweek lunchtime.

I almost never leave poor reviews. I know that hospitality is struggling and I generally prefer to champion restaurants I love. The poor review actually replaced a five star one I left a few years ago. But on the other hand, reviews are useful for the consumer and a factual review of very slow service in the sort of thing that I would find useful.

YANBU
I think it's an easy comment to trot out by restaurants when responding to a negative review, in order to soften its impact on the potential punter reading them. As other people have said, 'raising at the time' only really applies when receiving poorly made food, or errors in the bill, for example.
That sort of response to (what I assume was) a perfectly reasonable review would, in my view, put the restaurant in an even worse light - as it demonstrates it don't understand how to fix problems of that nature.

You did raise it at the time when you had to repeatedly go and get staff.

I'd respond and say exactly that - you went and found staff after waiting an excessive time, told them you had been waiting and hadn't been able to get anyone's attention to clear, and then you had to do it all over again to order dessert when they already knew you'd been left waiting before.

If they were very short-staffed, they would have known this very well; they shouldn't have needed a customer who suffered from this to inform them in the first place.

Lots of places put up signs to let people know that they're short-staffed, food waiting time will be X minutes from ordering, or similar - then people can either accept it or go elsewhere.

Yes, a 2-star review on the face of it looks bad; but surely people look at the details of the poor reviews - especially when they're in the midst of a load of good ones - and come to their own conclusions from that, and decide if it might be a problem for them? OP didn't say that they swore and threw the plates at their faces, or that the sausages were actually dog poo - it was a fair, balanced review.

I've seen Amazon reviews with one or two stars where people say e.g. "Doesn't work with Apple laptops" (mine is Windows) or "Delivery person left it out in the rain and it got ruined". Things like that don't bother me and I will go ahead and order. If, on the other hand, there are lots of bad reviews saying e.g. "Flimsy, broke after a week" or "It's designed for one purpose and it cannot do it at all"... then I will take them on board and not order.

Have you previously left good reviews? If yes then YANBU…but if this is the first review then you are very much being unreasonable

2 stars is really harsh imho.