The tough, one-star review had only been online for a few hours when the owner decided he couldn't stay silent. Photo / 123RF
The tough, one-star review had only been online for a few hours when the owner decided he couldn't stay silent. Photo / 123RF
If there's one thing more satisfying than a five-star meal, it's watching a restaurant owner snap back at a furious customer's one-star rating on a business review site.
So if you're hungry for drama, this one should come as a real treat.
Broadway Oyster Bar in St Louis, Missouri, was left a very poor review on Yelp last month by a dissatisfied customer named Mary S, news.co.m.au reported.
Mary gave the restaurant one star following a bad experience she said she had there. It was a rare low rating for Broadway Oyster Bar, which has 4.4 out of 5 stars on Yelp from 919 reviews.
But Mary was not happy with the restaurant during a recent visit for a friend's birthday, and detailed her upsetting night in a lengthy, angry post.
She began by explaining she had reservations for nine people, and after three extra people showed up, the group was forced to wait a "gruelling" two hours before eventually being told the group would have to be split up to be seated.
Mary said the manager "was unwilling to work with us" so they took their party of 12 "very hungry (and) upset people" to another restaurant, where they were apparently enjoyed a "FABULOUS" dinner with "EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE".
"It is our fault as a society for allowing this behaviour to be accepted and to allow sub par customer service," Mary continued.
"That was my FIRST and LAST time at BOB (Broadway Oyster Bar) for matter of sheer principle only."
Image / via Yelp
The tough, one-star review had only been online for a few hours when Broadway Oyster Bar owner John J noticed it and decided he couldn't stay silent.
And it turned out he had a very different version of that night's events.
"And now for the real, rather than the alternative facts," he began in his biting retort to Mary.
He explained that Mary claimed she had made a reservation, which was interesting on two counts: one, she didn't; and two, Broadway Oyster Bar didn't even take reservations.
Further, he said the group actually waited only one and a half hours (not two, as in Mary's account) and as for the number of extra guests, Mary had that number wrong, too.
The first nine were squeezed onto a table designed for eight, he said.
"Shortly thereafter, five more people, not three as you claim, showed up and wanted to be seated at your table that was already overcrowded," John said.
"Instead of asking our staff for assistance, MEMBERS OF YOUR PARTY PROCEEDED TO GO TO ANOTHER PART OF THE RESTAURANT AND TAKE CHAIRS THAT WERE NOT BEING USED AND PUT THEM AROUND THE TABLE FOR THE EXTRA 5 PEOPLE TO SIT!
"Members of your party were literally sitting in the aisles and RIGHT NEXT TO guests at other tables around you. Your party was infringing upon the personal space of those guests seated around you."
John said the floor manager did try to "work with" Mary's group to find a table for the extra five people, but one of the members of the party started an argument that was littered with "numerous F bombs".
John also pointed out that after Mary apparently left for another restaurant, "several of your party stayed ... apparently too embarrassed by your party's behaviour to continue to be seen with you".
"We do have our problems in society, and many of those problems come from privileged people like you who think you can do whatever you want to because the customer is always right! Well, they are not always right," John continued.
"Sometimes they are loud, ignorant, rude and verbally abusive. We are not a restaurant that will put up with such behaviour from guests because their corporate office tells them to do so. Please be true to your word and NEVER COME BACK TO BOB. Guests like you we are happy to do without."
Mary came back with her own retort, saying the only reason anyone stayed was because they'd already ordered food, but but she didn't address the discrepancies John had called out in her original review.
