Sour ex-staff cook up bad eatery reviews

Disgruntled ex-employees are using anonymous restaurant review sites to attack their former bosses, a restaurateur warns.

Online sites such as MenuMania have enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years, but controversy around their legitimacy and capacity for baseless, anonymous slander are putting more diners off.

The owner of The White Swan in Greytown, Rob Slater, said people who wrote bad reviews liked to "hide behind the computer".

"Some of them are obviously ex-employees, I can tell because their spelling is as bad as it was when they were here. Others you can tell by the way it's worded. I assume some of them are other business owners."

However, word of mouth carried more weight and few paid attention to the thoughts of strangers, Mr Slater said.

"I've never gone on the likes of MenuMania or TripAdvisor to [decide] where to go to dinner."

Mr Slater responded to serious complaints, but never heard back from anonymous posters.

Online reviews of Wairarapa eateries include gripes about "rude" staff and below-par food.

"The first time we came in, I found a lump of plastic in my slice of cake. When we asked our server about it, she told us it was a clove. We are both chefs and can recognise a clove, this was definitely not," one customer posted.

Another wrote: "I received a full two drinks of coffee down my front and not one apology. To make matters worse, the young waitress went outside to tell everyone at a particular table that it was my fault. Wow - top service here."

One diner rued not doing some homework:

"OMG I should have read the review before I wasted my time and money. My 12 year old can do better pizza bread."

Restaurant Association NZ national president Mike Egan said online review sites had grown "hugely". But concerns around the legitimacy of some reviews was pushing people back to word of mouth as a more reliable source.

"There are so many fake reviews. I read a review the other day where someone claimed the [side dishes] were deep fried in butter. You actually can't deep fry in butter because you can't get it up to that temperature."

It was more helpful for both parties if a complaint was lodged at the time, Mr Egan said.

"You go to America and you go to a restaurant not to your liking ... you say, 'My steak's too well done', and you get it fixed. In New Zealand we have a bad experience, don't say a single thing and then get home and anonymously post an online review."

Because there was a tendency to abuse the sites, reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, he said.

The owner of Palmerston North cafe The Tomato, James Pettengill, caused a stir defending his establishment online in November.

"Before you take your opportunity to soil our good name with your petty little contrived review, you may like to first look at our menu before you cook up your fake review ... Go jump in the lake!" he replied to one customer's post.

Another response to a customer was similarly blistering. Mr Pettengill has been accused of lashing out unfairly but argues he has a right to reply.

Last year's American Express Dining Survey found those who dined out the most frequently were the most influenced by online reviews.