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Customer not always right, Allston restaurant owner writes
By adamg on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 7:16am
Allston Rat City captures the Allston Diner Yelp drama between somebody who declared his breakfast at the newly opened place the worst meal in his entire life and the owner, who declares he will not put up with irrational people who demand "Corn beef out of a can:"
We will certainly improve as an organization - and perhaps you would consider that treating people rudely speaks more about your inadequacies rather than inefficiencies in restaurant operations.
Apparently as evidenced by staff present and fellow customers your behavior was beyond the acceptable tolerance of normalcy.
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Comments
Lulz
"your request for 'Corn beef out of a can,' is simply one that is impossible to fulfill" is a great line.
That said, if you read the first five-star reviews, they do read as very fake. And the owner practically admitted he's been faking reviews for the joint: "We feel Yelp is a great channel to communicate with the community and with our customers." Memo to Mark B: lying through sock puppets =/= "communicating with the community and your customers."
Any way you slice it, faking reviews for your restaurant on Yelp is dishonest behavior. Once someone behaves dishonestly, you tend to doubt their further protestations of innocence. If someone lies about one thing, he's likely to lie about another. I am certainly not motivated to visit a noisy place full of abusive people shouting at each other, especially if the owner is a sneak.
I wouldn't put good odds at this place staying in business, and when it does fold, he's likely to leave a trail of stiffed suppliers.
After reading the whole
After reading the whole thing, I think the business owner had a point. The complaints the customer made sounded like the stuff you make up when you're grumpy and have to justify why (seriously--you didn't like how the menu was printed?). They didn't even address the food, which in a restaurant review is important.
Um, yikes?
Sounds like the customer had a lot of legitimate complaints, especially about the slowness and lack of coffee refills.
Yelp says it's between Denby and Rugg Road on Cambridge Street but that doesn't sound right. Is it on the other side of Denby near Cafe Brazil?
Do people pay that much attention to one review?
When I use yelp, I would ignore this unless there were several similar reviews with similar issues.
In my mind, one bad review = nut job or hit job. One extremely happy one = friend of owner. Multiple of either = pattern to notice.
Location
Yes, you're correct. It's in the space that used to be Grain & Salt, in the block between Denby and Wilton Streets.
Yelp has the address right, but the block wrong
Allston Diner is at 431 Cambridge St in the former Grain & Salt space. That puts it between Denby and Wilton, not Denby and Rugg, and hence on the same block as Cafe Brazil. The Denby to Rugg block on that side of Cambridge Street has no storefronts; it's all residential.
Who knows what went down here
But when the reviewer takes issue with the menu being printed in black and white (oh, the horror! I hope they didn't use Courier or Arial) I smell a guy who has some kind of weird beef . Maybe he just had a bad day. I can see being annoyed by slow service but there still doesn't seem to be much specific detail in his complaints about the food..
Agree
Agree that the menu complaint is trivial, and he didn't really say anything specific about the food, but his complaints about the service were specific and 100% valid, IMO. There's another review on Yelp who complains that it took 40 minutes to get some biscuits and gravy. Sounds like they're not ready for prime-time -- which happens to many restaurants, many of which go on to be successful -- but the owner really put his foot in it. All he had to say was "We're still working out the kinks and I hope you will give us another chance."
Also, it's pretty suspicious that his excuse is "we're brand new" but there are already 11 reviews on the site, mostly from new users.
You got the unforgivable font wrong
If you have a friend who's a professional designer, you know the unpardonable sin in font choices is Comic Sans.
I generally think this kind of Yelp review is unfair, and can be damaging, especially to brand-new places. There's a reason why pros don't base their reviews on experiences in a restaurant's first few weeks.
On the other hand, it sure looks to me like Allston Diner is also trying to game the Yelp system with a handful of obviously fake rave reviews.
It can be damaging
It can be damaging, but that's the nature of the internet. It's not that different from bad word-of-mouth spreading in the old days, it's just faster and more widely spread.
Is it "unfair"? It is what it is, to use a trite cliche. In one sense, it's no different than an Amazon one-star review that says "This took two weeks to arrive and the book was damaged" instead of reviewing the book itself.
Experienced internet users know to take a review like that with a grain of salt. In the case of Amazon, they probably ignore it altogether. In this case, they'll probably say, "Hm, sounds good, put two people mentioned long waits, so I'm going to wait a few weeks before checking this place out."
But really, that's neither here nor there. The story isn't "new restaurant gets bad review with some petty complaints. The real story is the owner's response.
"The customer is always right! That's why everyone loves us!"
- Homer Simpson
Choose something besides "unfair" if you like
But I'll reiterate: there's a reason why professionals don't base reviews on the first few weeks of a restaurant's operation. Would "likely to be unrepresentative of typical performance" fit the bill better?
Sure
And, to reiterate: Most people beyond their first week on the internet understand that as well (you don't have to be a professional) and will take such reviews with a grain of salt, especially there's only one such review (which is not the case here).
There's still the adverse impact of star ratings
Many users of Yelp and similar amateur-review sites don't take the trouble to read through a passel of reviews and will rely on star ratings. The impact of early slams (most based on a single experience) will drop over time, but in short term will inordinately affect first impressions of casual readers. That's especially a problem for new businesses: early bad word-of-mouth can really hurt.
Star ratings are problematic this way in general: they include but mask the opinions of people you probably don't want to get advice from -- you're probably not taking the trouble to figure out how many reviewers' favorite restaurant is actually The Cheesecake Factory.
I wish I shared your optimistic perspective of the broader sophistication of consumers of online reviews.
I guess my real point...
I guess my real point is that good restaurants don't live or die on their Yelp ratings. Yeah, some people will look at a low star rating and write the place off, and some people will write it off because of the color of placemats or the menu font (ha). But in the long run, if it's good, it's good, and word will get out, especially in a neighborhood like Allston where, I don't imagine, most of the breakfast clientele are even looking at Yelp before deciding where to drag their hungover selves for coffee and grease.
And besides, if the restaurant owner is really worried, all he has to do is buy some Yelp ads and his negative reviews will fade into the background.... or so I hear...
All's fair in love and war
Once someone starts using shills to post fake positive reviews on the web, then he deserves no mercy whatsoever.
You'd think people would be smarter
--both the folks who base their nightly dining choices off of Yelp reviews AND the restaurant folks who think they're going to put their thumb on the scale with a string of five-star raves. Personally I'm pretty wary of basing my choice of restaurants on the whims of a bunch of opinionated 22-year-olds who get upset because some place coesnt carry their favorite brand of hot sauce or the Brazilian BBQ joint didnt accomodate their girlfriend's gluten-free vegan diet and ruined their Valentine's Day dinner. And dang, if I were a dishonest restaurateur I'd be able to write some convincing fake reviews, throw a few flaws in there. "the home fries were almost too crispy and delicious." "I'm only giving it four stars because my waitress was so hot, I forgot to finish my omelet."
no you got the unforgivable font wrong
It's f***ing Calibri.
At least Comic Sans reflects some glimmer of intentionality.
Whenever I see Calibri I think: whoever wrote this was too lazy to reject the dogshit (in a can) that Microsoft serves up as its default font.
Ha! My company is in love with Calibri!
And I hate it, too. But Comic Sans is older and more universally loathed (NSFW): http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007
Microsoft should really leave font design to someone else.
The "weird beef" is described...
...when he demands "corn[sic] beef from a can."
In the reviewer's defense, though, I have written a legitimate, honest, and IMO justified bad review for a store once and been directly contacted by an angry store owner demanding I change it. It's really creepy and I haven't made any effort to return to his store since, despite the fact he did have some interesting stuff.
Menu
I assume that the the controversial reviewer also has problems with the font used on street signs in the South End.
Weird beef
Not weird beef, just corned beef from a can ;-)
"I smell a guy who has some
"I smell a guy who has some kind of weird beef."
But apparently not corned beef out of a can, as that was not available.
He Didn't Like It...
...that is not a review, that's a matter of personal opinion.
Fake or useless, you decide
Here are some quotes from reviews on Yelp for this place...and then some random comments from me.
The place opened the same exact day of the review. How poorly "kept" do you think it could possibly get in under 3 hours from when the doors opened?
"Sweet and attentive"? I think I'm sensing a theme...you both also "definitely" recommended the BBQ brisket breakfast too. Allston "finally" has a great breakfast joint? Must be news to The Breakfast Club, Deep Ellum, Refuge Cafe, Steve's Kitchen, @Union, and even the Grecian Yearning was open until about 3 years ago.
Well, at least the staff weren't "sweet and attentive"...they were "warm and friendly" this time. Must be a Midwest thing. But seriously, you ate there "last weekend" after friends recommended it...but it was only open for like 3 days prior to your visit.
Obviously
Obviously, he's friends with Erin and Eleanor. Duh. And who wouldn't such a sweet, attentive breakfast joint to a dear friend from out of town?
In soon, reviews from Ellen, Edwin, Edmund, and Egbert...
Describing the "kind and attractive" waitstaff, the "attractive and kind" waitstaff, and recommending the blueberry pancakes which they'd heard about from their mother who visited last week from Tuscaloosa.
So I don't know what the
So I don't know what the actual deal with this place is, but I was in there on Saturday around noon, when this reviewer was presumably also present. I've got to say, it's all true. Our food took an hour and a half to arrive, and was cold upon arrival. The diner had one coffee pot for the entire place, so when the waitress would come refill your cup she would give everyone at the table a sip of coffee. We weren't offered any apologies for the ridiculousness of this place aside from the fact that "this is our first weekend."
The way I see it, in any sort of customer oriented business, opening weekend means having extra staff on- just in case. I only saw three staff members on, and god knows there was probably just one person in the kitchen. The manager didn't appear to be in either.
Many tables who arrived after us got their food first, but also many tables sat and waited forever for eggs. That's what I ordered, plain old over-easy eggs- nothing special.
So anyway, I just really wanted to defend this reviewer because I suffered a similar experience and it was apparent that others were also.
Good luck Allston Diner, unfortunately I'm not interested in giving you a second chance for your overpriced mediocre food. Especially not planning on supporting a place that has false reviews written and a nasty tempered manager/pr person.
Cross posting this to Yelp now.
Plot thickens
Also, whoever put together the Allston Diner website didn't use the restaurant's actual food for their pictures which is a bit deceptive...they used stock photos in some cases and just plain stole them from other places on the web in other cases.
Witness:
Allston Diner's picture of Chicken and Waffle plate
vs.
Goodie's First 2007 blog entry for Amy Ruth's restaurant
(Props to awesomerobot on Reddit for being the first to notice this)
Allston Diner's website
Also, a couple of things regarding their website. The photos of the food do not depict what you will actually receive, although this is quite common with some other restaurants, pizza shops, etc. The prices are WAY different. The "In It To Win It" meal is priced at $7.49 online, actual cost is $12.99. The "Traditional Eggs" is priced at $6.49 online with the option of 2 or 3 eggs, actual cost is $7.99 with no option for an additional egg, just 2.
Also, if you notice their Yelp badge in the top right corner you will see their claim of having 32 five star reviews on Yelp. When I visit their Yelp page I only see 14 reviews total and they break down like this:
7 *****
2 ****
2 **
3 *
Poor work ethic
Even their sock puppet is sleeping on the job
I love yelp controversies
But why wouldn't yelp filter the one time reviews? I know you can see them anyway, but I also found it funny that there were a lot of first time one star reviews too.....either way I love this stuff
And further, there are
And further, there are currently three filtered reviews. If you take a peak you will see that a fourth was taken down altogether. Why? Because it was written in May 2011.
http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/WndR5f-9KmnE0...
Yeah, it's cool Allston Diner, we don't think you're faking reviews.
Review Removed
Hey Cori B., the review was removed because the angry yelper involved in the controversy removed the review on his own accord.
He contacted ownership and they kissed and made up.
That is the story.
Perhaps you shouldnt "pile on" if you dont know what the hell you are talking about.
I am guessing you are the same Cori B. on yelp that gave Allston Diner a 1 star.
You sure you dont work at any local diner spots? You seem pretty "obsessed" with Allston Diner.