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?

Out of interest, where is the other review where they left with the wine?!

Tbh if a glutenfree restaurant does not deliver a reasonable serving then I see no reason not to mention it in a review.
Many of us travel far for these special eateries. And they are often quite expensive.

It was expensive. I don’t know where you are but £125 for three pizzas and four kids meals is expensive here

Please don't leave a bad review. It can break a business. Take it up with them directly.

Maybe but also save others for a bad experience.

I’m not going to, but from a previous answer who has clearly identified the restaurant I’m speaking of (quite bizarre to be honest) I’m not the only one this evening

Not sure if you need to be a member, or long photo takes to upload 🤔

Ah what a shame. They are tucked down a side street too so need to get their act together quickly

Just had a look at that page I think they were a bit out of order but I’ve tried not to be!

Yes I thought that, sorry I thought it was you 😆

Haha don’t worry I’m nicer than that! But I will email them as I’d like them to do well as it’s important and we trekked from Preston today :)

New place opened near me a couple years ago and we went for a takeaway. I had katsu, my fav. They asked for an honest review and I did. I praised the good bits (sauce was superb) and pointed out the bad bits, like they only cooked the veg in panko on one side, leaving a horrible soggy uncooked side. I also wished them well going forward. There response to the review was to say thanks for the honest and valuable feedback, they would sort it out.

You can leave reviews but be truthful and balanced and it's fine. Any good company will take it on board, good and bad. I just don't think people should be nasty for the sake of it.

I think it would be unfair if you kept very quiet all evening and waited until days later to leave a review.

left without really enjoying our food.
without enjoying or without eating?

If it was really uneatable, you should have spoken. By all means, send them an email.

Oh no never be nasty! But if things are expensive and substandard I think I’d want to know. I won’t be leaving a review but sadly we won’t go back so that is what it is

If a business is not doing what needs to be doing, is disappointing and wasting customer money then they arguably shouldn't be in business.

It wasn’t inedible, it just wasn’t enjoyable, and when you are paying premium prices for gluten free food I think it’s fair to expect that. However, as I’ve said in previous comments, I think they are doing a good thing but so far they are executing it badly. So if they don’t get feedback they don’t get better, and if they don’t get better they go under very quickly.

Yes, I would want to know too - so leave a review?! I rely heavily on them as eating out is a treat and I don't want to waste my money.

Oooh that page is a bit spicy. Good job you didn’t leave a review op 🤣

To be fair to the other poster, I think all of us coeliacs across the UK have heard about this opening so on all the groups etc - I'm not local to there but as soon as I read your OP I knew which one you were referring to

Really?

Genuinely! I'm a couple of counties away and news of this place has been spreading like wildfire on the various coeliac and Gluten Free Facebook groups. It's being marketed as "the first fully gluten free restaurant in the UK" so it's a big deal. There are other 100% GF places though so I'm not sure they can get away with that. We'd been thinking about making a trip up to try it but I won't be rushing now! I'm sorry that you all had a poor experience there.

Preston to Southport with all the traffic around for the Open as well 😱😱

Ah I’m so sad that I can’t recommend! Because maybe in a few weeks they will be better!

And the car parking prices were a joke! Because of the open! We were lucky to get it for a tenner because a few of them were £25!

Well, YOU didn't have to out the restaurant yourself by agreeing that it was the same place! 🙄