New BBQ Joint getting ripped on reviews.

[landarc]

It is not at all unusual for restaurant cooks and front of house folks to interact and trade stories and techniques after hours. When I cooked, we often ended up at a local all night diner eating and talking shop. I can't count the number of times I have been in a bar or restaurant and met a cook from another restaurant, hanging out, sometimes even trading shifts in a new kitchen.

I can't speak to everywhere, but, in Oakland and San Francisco, it is rather common for folks to socialize within the restaurant trade. And in my real profession, as a landscape architect and irrigation designer, there have been many times my competitors and I have helped each other out.

On edit to a different point, I will note that BBQ is one of those things, everyone is an expert. There are two shops in Oakland, that I consider to be quite good, several friends of mine hate them both, one even said she left her food and spit out her first bite, it was so bad. These folks love, love, love a place that I will not visit, I gave their favorite place two tries, first time they sold me garbage brisket, chopped mush, the second time, shiner ribs. When I mentioned it, the owner came out and said he was "sorry, but, if I didn't know good BBQ, it wasn't something he could fix" and "ribs bones showing is normal"

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I'm not sure what I'd do in this particular case. On one hand you hate to see the guy get raked over the coals but at the same time a lot of people, most people in fact, do not accept criticism very well. They get defensive. I'd be afraid in an attempt to help the guy he would get pissed at me and take it as I was bashing his business and trying to be a dbag. Sometimes the best thing is to leave well enough alone and let him figure it out. Because trust me, if enough people feel that way he'll see it in his sales.

 

[Jacked UP BBQ]

I own a restaurant and i can tell you this, dont believe a review unless someone you know that is reliable gives it to you. A large percent of reviews are fake and from competitors, others are cheap people who dont want to pay a premium for good food. There a few fair reviews here and there whether good or bad. Best thing for you to do is only write a review about someone that you would want written about yourself. If not people will think you are doing it from a business point of attack. Yelp, trip adviser, google, all that crap can kill a restaurant and most of it is just plain bs

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I own a restaurant and i can tell you this, dont believe a review unless someone you know that is reliable gives it to you. A large percent of reviews are fake and from competitors, others are cheap people who dont want to pay a premium for good food. There a few fair reviews here and there whether good or bad. Best thing for you to do is only write a review about someone that you would want written about yourself. If not people will think you are doing it from a business point of attack. Yelp, trip adviser, google, all that crap can kill a restaurant and most of it is just plain bs

I don't know if I'd discount these reviews that much. We use urbanspoon and yelp when we go out of town and for the most part they've been pretty accurate with the majority of reviews. We've even gone to some restaurants where we had the exact same "complaint" or problems that we saw on the reviews. Granted, I'm sure you have those who maliciously abuse those reviews but from my experience they're not that far off.

 

[cynfulsmokersbbq]

Meet the guy. You'll either want to help or condemn him after that. I agree with a few people, he may throw business your way for catering if you get along and he's booked, or vice versa.

I'd just let it go - we all feel for the place, it's in our BBQ DNA to want things to work out for small local bbq but there's very little you can help and still stay a competitor across town. If his food is lack-luster, why try to help out? Half of us brethren make better food than any restaurant, so leave him to his fate.

Absolutely meet the guy. BUT, meet him more than once.

I started to go into detail here, but decided I would rather PM anyone that wants the details.

Here is the short version:
I met a competitor at a BBQ vending event. The first day he was great. On day two he was an ass. I thought his food was crap from day one, but I defended it during the event. The way he became an ass that second day, I was done defending it and never will do so again.

 

[rookiedad]

don't view him as competition. you have no reason to feel bad. you do the best you can and let him do the best he can. everything will work itself out the way it should.

 

[Demosthenes9]

For all OP knows, the same folks might be out there saying the same kind of stupid things about his Q.

You can correct their misunderstandings without endorsing the guy or his Q.

 

[IamMadMan]

Review comments listed


"Absolutely no seasoning on or in ANYTHING! Let's start with fried potato chips that are so thick they hurt to chew, the severely over cooked & cold mac-n-cheese, baked beans that leave nasty taste in your mouth, and pork bbq with no base sauce. Comes to you plain on small burger roll in chunks. You have to squirt your pork with one of their lack-luster bbq sauces. If you do not cook bbq in a base sauce with seasoning it has no flavor, period. Soggy cvegetables in potato salad. Indigestion had by all at our table. We are not happy campers & our tummys aren't happy either."

This review is from someone who probably only eats crock-pot pulled pork

 

[acguy]

Don't agree with much of this. While I appreciate "round table" type arrangements that benefit all the participants, that isn't the case here. The OP has been offered a window into the competition's business and has been shown some of their weaknesses. That can be useful in making your own business decisions. For the most part everyone here is in "business". True, accurate or not, ignoring poor reviews WILL cost you sales. If and how you react determines how many sales it will cost you.

 

[landarc]

A friend of mine out here had a real problem with dishonest reviews, from a variety of sources. It turned out, that a local competitor had targeted his clientele and was placing completely bogus reviews in Yelp. It took a lot of attempts to reach out, to finally get Yelp to remove the reviews.

 

[Uncle JJ]

At the risk of appearing pollyanna, my advice is to employ the Golden Rule.