Bit of a moan really, maybe for the other thread. But oh took me out for lunch to loch fyne today. I fancied a 'seared scallop bacon watercress orange and fennel salad' . When it came, the scallops were cold, the bacon was like leftover breakfast bacon, cold and greasy, the watercress was doused in watery vinegar, and there was no orange. I questioned our waitress, who came back saying it was always like that. I asked her what she thought 'seared' meant, and she agreed hot. I asked where the oranges were, she said they usually grated a bit of orange over the top. It was awful. They took it away and didn't charge me, but by then the meal was spoiled. What do people think, would you expect hot scallops and hot crispy bacon with a salad of orange segments, fennel and watercress? That's how I do it at home.
yes, I expect it the way you think it should be. Hey that is why they have Trip Adviser. Go there and review.
Give them a rotten but accurate review. Owners are to blame and the chef ( probably an untrained low paid 17 year old left to cope ).
I don't know if your complaint got to the boss but I would send them a letter (or email, if they have one) complaining about how they ruined your lunch outing, and see how they respond. If that doesn't work then social media is available. I try never to use social media unless other methods fail. Direct written complaints usually get good results for me. Quite often the bosses don't know what has happened and they respond well to a friendly but regretful letter. Free meals and future good service quite often follow.
I have given some bad reviews and never got a free meal. But, would not want one anyway, they might spit on the food. I move on to a find another "better" restaurant. When were in New Orleans, we at at Emerils (the chef on TV) husband sent back his meal, yes it was not good, smelled wrong for fish. Even me, who does not mind a more "fishy" fish said no to the meal. Only a discount they gave. But we are on their computer, later got a post card from them.
Cold seared scallops sound awful....I'd definitely want them to be hot. I think you were right to complain.
they deserved the bad reviews. I don't go back to them anyway. Usually I can cook better than most restaurants anyway.
I think that every business (especially small businesses) should have an initial complaint made to the boss. This gives them the chance to put right something that they don't know may be going wrong within the business. I worked for many years as an adviser to the local Consumer Advice Department. Going about things the right way allows businesses to improve, give better service and enhances the quality of the whole area. Just simply posting a bad report on social media is non-constructive and can make for a failure of a business and loss of jobs. This doesn't help any locality if business units go empty. We see too many of these anyway! Apart from the obvious negatives of this happening it creates other problems. Empty units give a rundown appearance to an area and this can generate hooliganism. Also, if units are empty, the landlord has to put up rents to the existing businesses to be able to survive. It's a self-defeating circle. A bit of forethought and understanding can help in so many ways. If the response to a complaint is negative then social media can be used. As it happens, there have just been reports brought out that show that feedback on social media is being manipulated and giving a false impression. There are even businesses that do exactly that for their clients! The reports say that feedback media, particularly Amazon and Tripadvisor, should still be used to look at in order to help decisions but they should be used with extreme caution.
who should use them with extreme caution. (lost you there) the consumer or the business. If someone would look at my tripadvisor they would see that 8X out of 10, I give good rounded thoughtful reviews. But, if there is one that really is an issue I am going to give it a credible heartfelt review.
The consumer looking for information. I've no doubt that your reviews are as you have experienced the visit. The reports run into many pages but in brief:- The Amazon star rating is unfairly weighted. Amazon give different weighting to their contributors depending on who they are and how many reports they have given. On the face of it this seems OK until you look into it. They give a high weighting to reports from people who have been given products to test, and keep and a high weighting to people who have bought products from them. Other contributors are given low weightings to their report. Tripadvisor has had many investigations made into how their systems operate. Which? have done an investigation and found that they don't do sufficient to stop fake listings appearing on their site. They even put false restaurants, B&B's and tour groups on there and then got people to write reports for them (there are websites where people advertise that they will write reviews for a small payment!). Some of the reviews were patently obvious as fakes. Tripadvisor have been rapped across the knuckles by the Advertising Standards Authority, and may even be among those being examined by the Competition and Markets Authority. Critical studies have also been done by Cornell University and Philadelphia's Temple University. This doesn't mean that you should not use the sites but that you should view them with a bit of caution - and particularly how high up the ratings they are placed. I post reviews on Tripadvisor but if they are going to be negative I first complain to the business to see what sort of response I get. This response is also put into my review - including the fact that the business didn't even respond to my complaint, which sometimes happens.
One of the business responded to a complaint the other couple in our group offered up on trip adviser. And there is a local restaurant I go to sometime, which after a good review from me, they send me a certificate for $25.00 off the next meal. I like looking at TA especially when in a new town, so far its been good to me, that is if I check them first.
