Bad restaurant review? Fight back with a blog

Here’s another tool for restaurant owners who receive bad restaurant reviews and want to fight back.

Start blogging, and review the reviewers. 

That’s exactly what Roberto Donna, owner of Bebo Trattoria in Arlington, Va., is doing. He’s upset about the factual errors in a review his restaurant received in this month’s issue of Washingtonian magazine. So upset, in fact, that he’s starting a blog to critique local restaurant critics. 

Roberto is rounding up his fellow chefs to participate in the blog, scheduled to debut next month. He’s even printing thousands of bumper stickers that say “Don’t Believe the Washingtonian.” He’ll give them to his chef buddies and patrons.

The bumper stickers appear to be sour grapes. But I love the blog idea. In the past, restaurateurs have retaliated against newspapers and magazines that print bad reviews by doing dumb things like pulling their advertising, which can often do more harm than good.

But a blog offers restaurant owners a chance to take reviewers to task, explain their side of the story, and even post comments from patrons. I’m a former restaurant reviewer, by the way, and I offer 11 other tips for restaurant owners on how to respond to bad reviews.  

Thanks to Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog ezine for tipping us off to this one.