If a reviewer should really dislike a restaurant, there are certainly more restaurants out there. Find one that you can write positive comments about. Help the good ones with your praise. Help the deserving restaurants thrive in these difficult times. We need your help, not public condemnation over items that may be only be objectionable to your individual preferences, and possibly not of concern, at all, to the clientele who currently support us
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33 comments:
I have heard that place serves beignets in a bread basket at the start of a meal. Mmmm, steak and beignets.
Gbomb
I was being sarcastic, I don't think that came through.
g
I'm sorry but the "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" argument is weak.
Yes the food/restaurant industry is getting hit hard right now, but a reviewer has as much responsibility to consumers as he/she has to the business being reviewed. Also I have relatives who work in the industry and you'd better bet that when I've gone out with them here in townand they've found the service/food to be lacking, they don't hold back their opinion.
I think about half of all restaurant probably deserve a review that is more negative than positive, and I think his reviews are more positive than that, so I think overall he's being pretty kind. That wasn't even that negative of a review! And they are pitching themselves as affordable so I think it's valid that he point out that dinner for two will run around a 100 bucks. That's crazy they don't have corkage, though. That would make me more likely to try it.
A restaurant reviewer's only responsibility is to write an interesting article.
JD
That's a bold statement!
As someone who hasn't really even considered going to Iron Steaks, this review actually made me more curious. I want to see the inside & I like the free corkage. It was an honest review. The owner can't expect all the reviews to be like Greg "hey, look on the bright side!" Lucas's kid glove SNR reviews. This wasn't even a bad review - just not a glowing one. It was much more informative than his Orphan one which, while I tend to like BR's reviews, seemed more like a character assasination than a review.
I can see why the owner is stressed but he needs to give people some credit & stay out of the comments. People can read between the lines of a few reviews & get an idea if it's a place they may like or not. Especially with Yelp - there are a lot of voices out there giving different takes on a restaurant. Besides, I've had to stare at that damn "No Whining" t-shirt at Willie's for way too long to feel bad for the owner! However, in his defense, I do think it was a little early to review this place.
-miller
Seems like the Willies chili guy should've stayed with his Willies chilli fries. Zing!! Seriously though, the owner should let criticism lie, if his restaraunt is good enough he'll survive. Love the BAR hatred though, as a sacbee comment troller I am especially pleased!!!
The Willie's guy better be careful what he wishes for; I doubt he'd enjoy seeing this in the Bee:
"In the interest of not giving negative reviews, I am going to tell you that I have eaten at Willie's, I will not review it, and I certainly won't tell you why I won't review it."
On the one hand, I think it's great to see some non-fawning reviews in the Bee. On the other hand, BAR comes across as so fucking smug that every time he pans a restaurant, I can't wait to eat there.
Never been to Iron Steaks, I never will.
Yes but do you have a friend at iron steaks?
I wonder how the dour, pony-tailed Willy's worker (aka, the Willy's Guy) is taking all this?
I bet the Willies guy feels pretty mellow about it.
If KJ could magically turn Sacto into Phoenix with little sprinkles of Portland in between bits of L.A., and knock down the Tower and build a monstrous stucco Magic Johnson multiplex with a new arena for the Kings on top of it, that Willie's guy will always have the same expression. He is the most consistently dependable feature of Sacramento.
I like how he described the flavor of the steak as "beefy."
JD
Oh, though his joke about the sirloin only points out that he doesn't know where the sirloin is.
JD
I don't blame the owner for speaking up. Restaurants near and far, big and small have been getting slammed by nasty Yelpers and online reviews galore, not to mention mainstream reviews when the business is still finding its footing in a terrible economy. These reviews actually do make a big difference in their business - their livlihoods - so being touchy is understandable. The guy put a ton of money and time into the place and is definitely working hard to make his first foray into fine-dining work, not only on the food side, but in renovating a historic building. BAR doesn't have to always say nice things, but maybe he should take a little less pleasure in being mean. And that's coming from someone who sometimes takes a lot of pleasure in being mean.
I am sure I have described beef as "beefy" many a time.
Since your commenters seem much more sensible than The Bee's, I am going to respond a little. The most interesting thing about my commenters is that the emails (signed, from real people) are completely different. 80 percent positive, and the ones who disagree usually have legitimate points made in a respectful manner.
1. Sounding smug? You win. It's very hard not to sound smug being a restaurant critic. Try it. It's just the way it is. But I'll take smug over prissy, which is what I think of most restaurant reviews. My challenge is trying to balance being critical with being interesting. Not as easy as it looks. You have to realize that 80 percent of my readers don't intend to visit the restaurant. They just want something good to read. If I were writing a separate piece for so-called foodies, my approach would be completely different. The most important thing is it has to be true (yes, my view of true), and I've never had anyone argue with the facts in my reviews, including Orphan (I actually called him out of fairness and went over what he said before writing). The second priority is it has to be entertaining and the writing has to be good. I spend a lot of time putting forth my very best writing and trying to approach reviews in a creative way. I don't want people to be lulled to sleep with a formulaic review that goes point by point through the menu. I know that can be frustrating to the high-end food readers out there.
Do I think I hit it out of the park every time? No. Do I come back and try to do something else that might work? Yes, because I really want my readers to feel like they are getting something of value when they read the reviews.
2. The sirloin joke. Yes, I know where the sirloin is. The original joke was "I'm glad I didn't ask about the prairie oysters." I toned that down at the last minute so I wouldn't get fired. It was between skirt steak and sirloin. Loin just sounds funnier.
3. Taking pleasure in being mean. I actually find it very difficult. I have never complained to anyone at a restaurant. I don't set out to be mean. I have to psyche myself up, sit in a room alone and try to be completely honest. Then I have to make it entertaining. Sometimes I'm startled that it comes out the way it does. Then I go to the park with my three dogs and play Frisbee.
Finally, I have to give kudos to the author of this blog. It's an important component of why Sacramento is becoming a more sophisticated food and dining community. Her work is consistently interesting and adventurous and I wish we could hire her at The Bee to bring it to a wider audience. She is the reason I went to Thai Thai Express, and indirectly, the reason people from as far as Placerville drove there to wait for two hours to eat on the day my review came out. That's a pretty cool thing.
There is also lots of other food opinion in and around Sacramento. The more the better. We can decide which opinions and argue about them on the merits.
BAR- glad you are doing what you do. Sacto has long had a small-town attitude re: constructive criticism- if you aren't a cheerleader you are not welcome.
We need to understand that telling the truth in a review (not to be confused with grinding an axe) is a good thing, even when it hurts.
Thanks for taking it up a notch and for telling the truth, even when it's not pretty.
-omf
I am sure I have described beef as "beefy" many a time.
I didn't mean it sarcastically. I just feel like it's almost futile to describe food after awhile. Or at least that it's easy to run out of ways to do so. So I like the simple and obvious. It struck me as an acknowledgment of the futility of trying to describe the flavor of steak.
JD
I've had more than one friend get food poisoning from Willie's, which is why I will never go there again. As a mover and shaker about town, I have tried Iron Streaks and they were a few months in already and overly nice and gave us a tour and the works. The chicken was good, but have not tried a steak there yet. Better than Willie's, unless you like to suffer. New post please, cause me and The Armeniac are over it.
Chris Ancient
Also, I'll concede the sirloin joke. Loin is indeed a funny word. And I guess many people wouldn't know offhand that pointing to the sirloin wouldn't necessarily be an embarrassing or inappropriate thing to do. Though using 'round steak' might have actually been funny enough in a couple ways. Maybe.
JD
so few food words, especially since I have ruled out "toothsome" and "unctuous" for my own writing. sometimes beef is not beefy. i think i also remark on the porkiness, swine-iness, and pigginess of certain pork.
May I suggest "nummer-nums"?
-miller
And of course when a place has both Sapporo and Racer 5 on tap I can talk about how I'm having a multiple beergasm.
Can the words "mouth feel" also be added to that list with the exception of reviewing a meal of cold BBQ eaten in the basement of one's creepy uncle?
DKK
I never liked fish because it smells like fish. People who like fish don't like fish that tastes "fishy". Is "beefy" beef good or bad? I have no idea.
I think beefy beef is good. I like beefier cuts, rather than say, filet mignon, which is super tender but needs a flavorful sauce.
Can I go on record here and say that as a harshly critical reviewer i FUCKING love Willies, five stars, two thumbs up, way up?
-omf
Beefy beef, to me, says the flavor is true and perhaps robust, as opposed to beef that has very little taste.
Mouthfeel is a great word, though I can see how it can be overused. When drinking a perfect cappuccino, you can't really call it perfect without assessing the way the creaminess coats the mouth in a moment of simply luxury.
Once I got in to good beer I had to accept 'mouthfeel'. I would welcome a suitable substitution...
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