As a consumer I really like Yelp. As a restaurateur? Not so much. My restaurant, Sugo Trattoria, has a solid four stars out of five in their rating system, so I am not just saying this because our reviews suck, because they don’t…most of the time.
And I am more than willing to admit that on occasion we screw up. As I am sure you sometimes do too.
But, here’s a prime example of why as a restaurateur I am sometimes not a fan of Yelp:
Apparently, I need to bathe. According to a knowledgeable Yelper, I stink. They actually said the “owner”, so technically this can mean either me or my husband. But, have you seen the man? He’s pretty even when he wakes up in the morning and after 14 hours of travel, with severe jet lag.
See exhibit A below. This was after a fourteen hour flight with no sleep for over twenty-four hours.
And any guy whose nail beds look like this everyday can not possibly be accused of being stinky. His feet are also naturally as smooth as a baby’s butt and he has NEVER had a cavity. Can you sense the jealousy?
Besides, if you were close enough to smell him, you need to take a step back, away from his two foot bubble…and mine.
So, that would lead me to believe that the reeking comment was in reference to me. I immediately smelled my armpits. All good there. And today my hair smells like strawberries. Nice. I also used coconut-lime lotion on all my limbs.
If anything, I am going to overdose potential Yelp authors with scents of fruit.
This would appear to be an attack on us personally, most likely from a disgruntled employee. What? Us? Turns out they can get pretty angry when you do crazy things like fire them for not doing their job.
So, what is our recourse as business owners?
We Can Respond
Here is the problem as the restaurant owner: If I were to respond to this comment I look like the desperate (& a bit pathetic) restaurateur trying to justify why we could possibly be smelly that day. And that just ain’t gonna happen. I don’t respond to stinky crap. Pun intended.
We Can Flag the Review
If I flag the review and tell Yelp that it is a disgruntled employee and I would like the review removed, they will most likely think it is just another owner excuse, much like the ones given while trying to escape a speeding ticket.
What do I do? I do nothing, except wear a little extra deodorant, hoping that people are savy enough to read between the lines. And, if not, I can offer free whiffs of my underarms.
For the record, we take showers daily and most people think we smell pretty good.
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Oh no, that stinks! It must be so frustrating, but at least you can laugh about it.
And your husband has never had a cavity?? Impressive!
He’s 45 ad hasn’t had a cavity! I make up for it.
I honestly think some people just like to complain and pick fights online for attention, whether their comments have merit or not. Sometimes that’s actually the fun of reading comments, but only as a consumer, not a business owner:) I think you’re taking the right approach; I’ve never smelled you or your husband, but you look like clean people to me! I’m sure the negative comment will get pushed down by positive ones in no time!
Though most people are friendly or at least criticize constructively, there are definitely those few who are natural complainers!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I hate Yelp and this is a GREAT article!!!!! Me and the girls are coming for lunch today just because of this article!!!!!! Hopefully we’ll get to meet you……but don’t really want to smell you…I’ll take you word on the not smelly thing……LOL
See you at lunch!!!!!
You sure you don’t want to smell me? I even put on perfume today ;)
Ha! Yelp can be any business owner’s worst nightmare. I look forward to visiting your restaurant when I travel through NoCal.
Luckily, I have a pretty good sense of humor, but many business owners would really be affected by reviews like this.
Let me know if you are ever in the NorCal area.
Yeah, but I don’t….maybe you don’t want to smell me…..lol
For what it’s worth, I’d still try your restaurant if I were ever in the area, despite the bad Yelp review. :-) I like to try things out for myself and not go by hearsay. Actually, that person could just be unhappy. Misery breeds misery. Perhaps they’re jealous of your perceived happiness or maybe they know nothing about your restaurant and are copying and pasting a similar review about many other restaurants they haven’t tried.
Thanks! Hopefully you will make it to my neck of the woods one day to judge my stinkiness for yourself ;)
Wow Annette – that stinks! I wouldn’t sweat it though! If 90% of your reviews are good you are fine. I can only speak for myself, but if I look up reviews for a venue, I tend to take the average. A personal attack like this one is very upsetting, and I would be through the roof, but there is little you can do about it. Please don’t go overboard on the pretty smells (lotions and shampoos) – they are nice, but for some people, they are overpowering and you run the risk of complaints that could be valid if you are overpowering, even if of nice scents! Too bad you have to go through the un-niceties of dealing with firing a staff member and their childish review. Keep living up to the standards your customers are used to, brush off the idiotic and you know your customers will keep coming back for the amazing food you and ambiance you serve!
If I ever make it to your neck of the woods, I can’t wait to try out your restaurant.
For the most part, when it comes to reviews like this, I laugh it off. It’s the ones where I know we screwed up that get to me a little. But, as long as I’m doing my best and my restaurant is successful I know all this comes with the territory.
PS: I’ll try to taper down on the pretty smelling stuff, maybe put one less fruit in the mix :)
I seriously want to punch that person! :(
I appreciate that :)
When I read stupid childish reviews on YELP that personally attack others I usually disregard them.I know it is YELP but from my POV if you are going to write any type of review it should be just the facts NOT opinion and should contain the good points along with the negatives.Some people that YELP do it to cause problems for business owners.It is a form of anonymous bullying IMO.
I just don’t think that EVERYTHING at a restaurant could be terrible. That is always a red flag for me when reading Yelp reviews.
I admit that when I’m in a new place, I do take a look at restaurant and hotel reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp. However, like AnitaMac said, if a review is an outlier, I don’t let that keep me from trying a place if 90% of the reviews are favorable. I usually also don’t believe the few that say a place is second only to Heaven. I wouldn’t “sweat” (pun intended) one (or even two) off reviews.
My favorite review example was for a wine lodge we stayed at in Mendoza, Argentina. On TripAdvisor, everyone gushed about the gracious hospitality of the owner which was our experience also, but one haughty English B&B owner said that the owner seemed very nice, but that her niceness was obviously fake because she was nice to everybody. Huh?
I too always go to Yelp and Tripadvisor when I am visiting a new place. They are a terrific resource if users understand that a couple of bad reviews out of hundreds should be taken with a grain of salt.
Hilarious example! Can’t anyone just be a nice person anymore?
I never pay attention to reviews like this. When people are quick to find negatives and splatter them across the internet based on *their* one-time, personal experience, I never take them seriously. These are people I would never want to have dinner with in the first place. They just seem petty and looking for something to complain about. I can’t stand people like that.
I am happy to hear that many people are able to read between the lines of these types of reviews. I personally don’t take them too seriously, but I worry about potential customers.
I’ve never seen you not look lovely on the blog, so I can only imagine that you smell and look lovely in person too. There’s always gotta be a hater.
Aww shucks…thanks!
Some girls and I from work tried your restaurant for lunch like we said we would and it was FABULOUS!!!!!! LOVED IT!!!!! Thank you so much for your hospitality and I may get something to go today….I actually thanked the person who wrote this review for bringing you to my attention…..Keep up the good work and don’t worry, you didn’t smell……lol
It was a pleasure having you and I am happy that I put on extra deodorant the day you came in ;)
Oh how terrible…I can totally relate but my critic was very vocal and in public!! I was at the eye dr, sitting on my own bench in the waiting room , this little jerk of an 7 year old starts looking at me weird then telling his parents “she smells” I don’t wear perfume very often so I know it wasn’t an overpowering scent created from a spray…it was mortifying, i wanted to go jump off a bridge!! It was really quiet too and you could tell the parents were super embarrassed…though they did not deny his claims! He said it at least 20 times- most embarrassing moment of my life…now had I just come from the gym or passed gas- I could understand but I had just showered, it makes me wonder if I’m that person who has a gross smell and is clueless!!
Don’t worry about your review- I NEVER pay attention to negative comments they’re usually just fueled by some rare personal experience mixed with a poor personality. Before we went to Hawaii, after we had booked out 5 star resort that we were so excited about we read the reviews…there were several negative ones- after our trip we thought ‘wow some people literally will find stuff to complain about- this was the nicest most exquisite place I’ve ever been, if you have anything to complain about then you must have a very poor quality of life to bitch about being in paradise!’ also I swear, every time someone tells me a movie sucks I end up loving it! In fact now when people say that I make it a point to watch it!
Oh boy! That must have been terrible! I probably would have told him I took a shower with dog poop that morning ;)
Ugh, but I wouldn’t worry. Most Yelp readers completeley disregard posts like this when it’s clear the writer just wants to rant, especially ones like this that are so poorly written! I completely ignore any negative restaurants reviews that mention anything other than the food, knowing that so many reviewers are hyper-sensitive, somewhat obsessive prima donnas :)
Thanks for the support! I typically ignore the rants too. I just don’t think the absolutely EVERYTHING could possibly be bad at a restaurant.