Lessons you can learn from Bad Restaurant Reviews
When dealing with negative reviews and after providing a response and solution, it’s a good idea to take some time to reflect on them. Every negative feedback is an opportunity to learn something about your restaurant.
A good way to approach this is by recording bad reviews along with ideas about how to address them. Go through negative reviews with your staff and talk about them. See how you can work together to turn a bad review into a positive change at your restaurant. Below are examples of bad restaurant reviews and the lessons you can learn from each of them.
Lesson 1: Improve your Food
Sometimes a bad restaurant review happens simply because the food wasn’t to a guest’s taste. However if a reviewer is highly specific about a dish, you should consider looking into how it’s prepared and whether there is any improvement potential.
Lesson 2: Extensive Menu
Nowadays, restaurants are expected to cater to a variety of lifestyles (vegetarian, vegan, keto, paleo) and food sensitivities (dairy, gluten). Consider to include options for vegetarian, keto, vegan dishes and provide information on dairy and gluten contents. If reviewers are upset about your restaurant’s lack of options, think of it as an opportunity to expand your offerings.
Lesson 3: Adjusting Prices
If you have one negative restaurant review stating that your food is overpriced, it’s possible this is a single occurrence. In case several guests start claiming that your menu is too expensive or doesn’t deliver on the price tags, you should think about re-pricing. Even if you don’t want to lower prices, you can improve your offering to help your guests feel like they’re getting added value.
Lesson 4: Improve Service
If you stumble across many reviews mentioning that your service is lacklustre, it’s a good idea to investigate and implement measures to improve service and hospitality. This can be related to wait times, poorly trained staff or a disorganized kitchen — regardless, you need to iron out these service complaints.
Lesson 5: Change the Atmosphere
Complaints pertaining to the music, the temperature or the lighting at your restaurant can all be clues that it’s time to re-think the ambiance. If your guests aren’t happy with the atmosphere, take the necessary steps to make their experience more pleasant.
Even good reviews can come with constructive criticism, which is why it’s a good idea to keep tabs on everything that’s being said about your restaurant online — the bad and the good.
You should also try to see your restaurant from your guests’ perspective and look objectively at your service, food and atmosphere. Try to anticipate anything guests may complain about, and address those problems before a bad review is even written.
