Restaurant reviewer busted

On 03/01/2011 11:49 AM, notbob wrote:



My opinion of them is that they provide pretty good sound quality for a
plug in and play system that takes up a small amount of space. A little
bit of counter space, plug it in and away you go. But the price????
holy shit. I am not paying that much for a kitchen radio.I offered to
get a small set of speakers and install them in the kitchen.

FWIW,,,, she has had a number of different small radios in the kitchen.
I just can't stand to listen to really low quality radio. I find it to
be annoying noise. She now uses a small AC/DC, battery, crank power
cheap radio. She listens to it all the time. I usually turn it off.
 
James Silverton wrote:


How ridiculous. If she booked under her own name, do you think she
would get a "typical customer" dining experience to share with readers?
Of course not. It's not like she's having lunch at the Pentagon for
heaven's sake, and posting to WikiLeaks.





Darn right. That's why many places ask for a phone number along with a
name. When we were first married, I learned that restaurant
reservation-takers were confused enough by our last name that they NEVER
recorded a reservation, no matter how slowly or carefully I spelled it,
and they never had our reservation when we arrived. So for over 40
years I have been booking under my husband's first name. It works every
time, for both the restaurant and us.

gloria p
 
In article ,
Boron Elgar wrote:


But, but, but. . . wouldn't it have been a LIE?



--
Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Holy Order of the Sacred Sisters of St. Pectina of Jella
"Always in a jam, never in a stew; sometimes in a pickle."
Pepparkakor particulars posted 11-29-2010;
http://web.me.com/barbschaller
 
On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:13:04 -0500, Boron Elgar wrote:


unless public accommodations law is vastly different in l.a., i don't think
this is true.

your pal,
blake
 
Nancy Young wrote:


My brother's town has a cafe that has a "Liars" table for the old guys.
They "lie" about the size of fish they caught, the women they've had,
etc. It works the same way as you notice.
 
On 05/01/2011 1:56 PM, blake murphy wrote:


That's what the newspaper and their reviewer wrote? I hadn't realized
that you had so much faith in the integrity of the press.

My personal view of the situation, based on the various articles linked,
is that the owners of the restaurant had agreed that they did not want
that critic to review their restaurant.


FWIW.... below is a link to a review published Dec. 31.2010.... but
someone who starts off the review saying that she is not a restaurant
critic, not that it stopped her from doing a review.


http://suzanne-marques.blogspot.com/2010/12/taste-of-red-medicine.html



As for the outing...... Several of the articles I came across said that
all the top chefs and restaurant owners know which reviewers matter and
know what they look like. IN some places restaurant critics are
celebrities. In the UK, their pictures appear beside their columns.

As for the bad press.... I still believe that a lot of Americans tend to
support the underdog and that the conflict with the critic would
probably get them more support than a review, good or bad. The author of
the linked review supports the idea that bad press is better than no
press. She was inspired to go there as a result of the furor over the
outing and expulsion, so she went there to check it out, and she wrote a
positive review.
"Even though @koreanyenta and I have been complaining about not being
able to fit into any of our dresses, we've heard so much talk about Red
Medicine, we wanted to see what the fuss was about. The diet can wait
another day."
 
On 03/01/2011 6:56 PM, Melba's Jammin' wrote:


It wouldn't be a problem if others were allowed to go out and do their
own thing. She expected everyone to wait for her or perhaps to go out
for a while in the morning, provided they come back for her..... and wait.
Those two couples went away to Caribbean all inclusive resorts a couple
times. One brother got fed up with that SiL wanting to sit in her room
all morning and expecting everyone to wait that he would not go on any
more vacations with them.



Yep. One a two week trip to Europe she wasted what added up to three
whole days of my time. I consider that a cost because I was on
vacation, paying for hotels and meals and stuck there doing nothing. She
had a melt down over one hotel in Paris, so we had to waste a whole day
making arrangements with our travel agent back home and the place they
moved into cost me an extra $150 a night for my single room. She would
not go to a restaurant that offered a pretty good the course menu deal
for $40 and insisted on a place a few doors down from the hotel that
cost me almost $100 for a crappy meal that left me hungry.
 
On 30/12/2010 8:24 PM, Boron Elgar wrote:




I am not familiar with her reviews, but, according to another article
about that incident, the managing partner was upset about a review of
another partner's restaurant and said that it was unnecessarily cruel.
Some journalist's reviews are more about them ranting in their
particular style. All they need is a target for their venom.

If reviewers want to sneak around and then drop bombs on the
unsuspecting restauranteurs, if is only fair that they be able to fight
back. She has felt free to profit by expressing her view about the work
of other people. He merely turned the tables on her. Seems fair to me.
 
On Tue, 4 Jan 2011 01:25:19 -0800 (PST), "[email protected]"
wrote:


I have a vet that's close and convenient, but stopped going there with
my first pet because every time I went in they wanted to take an xray.
I wasn't even upset about them compromising my pets health, I was mad
that they padded the bill playing on people's emotions like that.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.
 
On Tue, 4 Jan 2011 01:31:46 -0800 (PST), "[email protected]"
wrote:

In other parts of retail, suggestive selling is called "up selling"
and it's something I hate. I buy a pair of shoes, they try to upsell
other accessories. Executives love it, customers (like me) hate it.
I didn't want to spend that amount of time shopping or that amount of
money, I just wanted a simple pair of shoes.


As a customer I want to get there as fast as possible too... but when
I'm following a clerk - sometimes another customer cuts me off (stores
are crowded here) and some customers have bad joints so they can't
keep up very easily.


I like suggestions that expand my thinking... "if you like this, then
you might like to try this" (with a sample) sort of suggestion. If
you like brie, then you might like St. Andre or d'Affinois... but not
every frikkin' time when I'm a regular customer. You can pretty much
tell by the conversation if they're open to suggestions or not.
"Closing the sale" sounds like you're selling cars or audio equipment
instead of working at a deli counter, but I guess they want you to
keep the line moving. Seems like you're doing a good job and all you
need to work on are some not too pushy upsell lines to throw out at
strangers.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.
 
?
"Lyndon Watson" wrote

Many people give false names to the restaurant. Widely done and accepted,
no big deal. It was not done for any illegal operation or theft from the
store. I know one guy that still uses Dick Nixon when he makes a
reservation. Some places only take your first name to make it easier. Who
cares, this is a non issue, IMO. See my comment to #4 below also. It may
not have been in her name and thus, a non-issue



So what? She gets paid to do that. Secretly, you may be jealous that she
is getting a free meal.



If we were talking stock transactions, real estate sales, I'd agree with
you. Plenty of people go by the name of Mr. Cash when the check is being
written for services. I've never been asked my name in a restaurant so
they don't care either.



What behaviour? False name? SOP in the industry. The name may have been
one of the other guests in her party and not a lie. We don't have the facts
do we.




Don't bother patting yourself on the back. The foul mouths have been here
and are well known.
 
Dave wrote:


It should be pretty easy to test the assertion. Just compare some review
dates to restaurant opening dates. Both should be readily available.

Bob
 
On Fri, 7 Jan 2011 10:56:44 -0500, "Nancy Young"
wrote:

Oh! Sounds like the chess/checker/Go players. In my area, they're
mall walkers... actually mall sitters. They sit and wait for their
wives to finish shopping. Their wives are "mall walking" from store
to store... getting their exercise, well their wallets are being
exercised.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.
 
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