AIBU to avoid leaving a negative review for a new restaurant?

[Idontneedanotherhero]

Interested in other views.

my sister has coeliac disease and today is her birthday. We travelled quite some way to another town so that we could visit a newly opened gluten free restaurant, to give her the opportunity to be able to choose anything from the menu without being scared of contamination.

anyway we have been to the restaurant. It has literally just opened - in fact the official opening isn’t until next week.

the staff were lovely and the owner took great pains to explain his processes to us.

However. The kids enjoyed their goujons and fries but the adult meals were very poor. It was very expensive so we (three of us) all chose pizza. The menu stated that pizzas were made freshly using their own home made gluten free dough. When the pizzas arrived they were clearly on a pre made base which was burnt on the underside and raw on the top. There was also an issue with my glass of wine - as I would be driving later I asked for a small but was given and charged for a large - advice was given as to how much I could pour out into a separate glass to give to my birthday sibling, who was not driving. No mention of a refund but a bit of an apology.

anyway, we paid our (expensive) bill and left without really enjoying our food. Perhaps we should have said something but they were so nice and so pleased with their venture that we didn’t.

so to get to the AIBU. They begged us to put a review online as they are a new business.

my sister thinks I should leave a review saying it wasn’t up to scratch and pointing out the problems.

I think just don’t leave a review at all - but then am I condemning others to have a mediocre experience at a high cost?

I wouldnt leave an online review, but I would probably email them and give them my feedback.

I did think this might be a better option

I don’t understand why you didn’t bring up your dissatisfaction in person when they asked you about leaving a review? They handed you the perfect opportunity to tell them and instead you paid in full without saying a word?
certainly not how I’d have handled it!

We just felt bad for them as they were so excited about it all! In any normal restaurant situation I’d have said so

You're within your rights. Reviews are to help other customers, not the restaurant owners.

Personally I wouldn't because the food and drink problems could well be down to teething problems and diners in a month or so might have a completely different experience.

I’d email them, if it’s rubbish they’ll get bad reviews, but some feedback might help them.

Oh no, there are so few gf places around, when you find them you want them to be decent! I wouldn’t leave a public review unless you could say something very vague like ‘the staff were lovely and so nice to have everything gluten free’ which isn’t lying but also doesn’t say much else. Hopefully their pizzas will get better - we have just been to Italy where the gf food is incredibly good and I don’t know why they can’t do the same in the uk.

I know it can be tricky when you are put on the spot for a review, but I would have still mentioned some of the not so great things.

I would email them directly and depending on the response, then write a review. If you write a review, you can be factual that the staff were lovely, it has potential, but early teething problems you hope get resolved etc.

We went to a new Italian restaurant in our home town the other week and the pizzas were honestly excellent - couldn’t tell they were GF. I think that’s why we were so disappointed and also because they were described as home made dough and clearly weren’t though again that could be down to the fact they aren’t “officially” open until next week - but they did take our booking and should have explained

So you ate overpriced undercooked and burnt food to make them feel good?

Well we were also hungry and no other options!

It would be kind not to leave a bad review. It's such a tough time to start a business, and presumably they are soft launching and there's time to put things right. I would email them though, with your feedback.

Maybe it's expensive due to marketing itself as a GF restaurant but unless an establishment is the absolute muts nuts, and again even then it's only that person's view, they're not always going to and shouldn't expect all their raitings to be 5 star.

I think a majority of those people that complain while eating fail to mention it if a waiter/waitress ask if everything is ok, it's normally "yes, lovely, thank you," but that really is the time to speak up.

I think I'd only leave a review if the food was inedible and service just as awful.

I am coeliac and would approciate a fair review.

You ate there during their soft opening, so teething problems are to be expected. I would email them rather than leave a bad review. Hopefully they will send you some vouchers for another meal.

Leaving a bad review would be rather unkind considering that you had the opportunity to mention these issues when you were there and didn’t. You could email them and hopefully they’ll appreciate some honest feedback.

In Southport? I literally just read this and you were given a full refund and took the wine away

If you’re going to leave a review - to be meaningful it has to be honest - you can’t say 5stars - excellent etc if you don’t think it is.

personally I’d just skip writing a review

It was in Southport but this wasn’t us so I can only assume someone else has had the same experience. You’ve just outed the restaurant which i didn’t want to do.

I shall do this :)

Of course there were. You use your big girl words. Honestly I think to eat it all and then bitch about it online would be awful. Just leave it.

Oh my god! Have you never been out with hungry children at the end of a long day? I was asking for opinions!

If you are coeliac you can't always just leave and eat another place. Wirh children you can also be stuck.

Definitely one to be avoided then! Next time go to Sapori their gluten free pizzas are amazing

Exactly this! My sisters birthday meal and in a different town and no idea where else might be coeliac safe!