A restaurant manager has been praised for the no-nonsense reply he gave after his business was hit by a series of one-star reviews.
Jason Monteforte of Plenty Restaurant and Bar in Mission Beach, in Far North Queensland, used Facebook to show three one-star reviews left by angry diners.
Mr Monteforte did this to fight back and get his response in, rather than just accept the poor reviews and let them go unanswered.
One irate customer said they had booked for five people, but were refused a table on Saturday to celebrate a birthday, as there was only a table for two booked under their name.
‘The manager came out and was extremely unhelpful … No attempt for problem solving. We will not be back,’ the person who made the booking said.
But Mr Monteforte’s post allowed him to present his side of the story.
‘If you make a booking for 2 people and arrive with 5, on the busiest dining night of the week and on what was essentially our biggest night of the year so far, it is likely to lead to disappointment,’ he wrote.
‘After spending over 10 minutes discussing and providing you with options to accommodate you, which you chose not to accept, we would appreciate if you didn’t go down the path of telling fibs and attempting to damage the reputation of a quality local business.’
The manager of Plenty Restaurant and Bar (pictured) has been praised for his no-nonsense answers to several one-star reviews the business got online
The person who made the booking said (pictured) ‘The manager came out and was extremely unhelpful … No attempt for problem solving. We will not be back’
In his post, the manager also shared a photo of an online booking form which showed a request for two people.
‘As you can see, you aren’t even able to get your facts correct when leaving scathing reviews on a business which was essentially a result of your own shortfalls,’ he said.
Mr Monteforte added: ‘We are sorry that your birthday celebration left a lot to be desired but we are not able to take full responsibility for the outcome and did everything possible to resolve the issue.
‘To rate one star for food that you didn’t even taste, rate an environment you chose not to enjoy and then rate our service, after bending over backwards to try and appease you, is truly an appalling act.’
His frank and unyielding response was praised by many other customers, and also by the Wandering Panda Coffee Van which applauded him for calling out ‘keyboard warriors’.
The manager took care in his response to acknowledge what he called the restaurant’s ‘valued customers’ and point out what they get for their money.
‘As you know, we here at Plenty Restaurant and Bar provide an exceptional level of customer service, highest quality food and menu selections and a serene, beautiful environment and atmosphere making us a very popular dining venue and destination,’ Mr Monteforte wrote.
His honesty about getting some bad reviews while showing appreciation for the vast majority of customers paid off, with some of them leaping to his defence.
‘I absolutely love the food and exceptional service at Plenty Restaurant and Bar – we are so lucky to have such a quality restaurant in our area,’ wrote one.
‘Amazing food and service,’ said another.
The restaurant manager said the bad online reviews (such as the one pictured) were ‘an appalling act’
A third wrote: ‘Plenty Restaurants food has always been fantastic same with the entertainment and the staff are wonderful also they have always tried to accommodate us.’
Others, though, pointed out the difficulty caused by poor reviews, even if they have been explained away.
‘Good luck trying to get rid of a negative review. It will be there forever, it doesn’t matter how wrong it is,’ one person wrote.
But the It sucks for your star ratings, but the Wandering Panda Coffee Van pointed out that ‘most people take these reviews with a grain of salt and will read on to know how awesome you guys are’.
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