Speaking with a few of the employees, the nephew and others, and I find they all track our reviews online. They know how we compare. And it's funny this, because I've never checked, never cared, know damned well there's nothing I can do to change anything, but as they're all quoting the reviews and I'm bored I decide to check it out...
Yep. We rate highly, better than most, but the reviews are polarized, love us or hate us...
I read them over, some are legit, some I recognize when they were here, some are clearly bullshit, recommending our "Muscles" or "Pizza", one is illiterate, the other has clearly never eaten here...there's the bullshit phony ads and reviews by imaginary customers, these are set up by the review sites to offer you the chance to "manage your online reputation", for a fee they'll remove them, they can, they were the ones to post them after all...
...and recognizing various of the servers mentioned by name, S**, Z**, A****, the "Hostess", I know her, yep, the Nazi demands for a hat, a coat, J**, for sure, "Snobby Servers", hmmm...not sure who specifically that is, one recommends us on the basis of forgotten charges on the bill, incompetence, not charity, but that's been an issue there forever...
Expensive rating? For value? sure, I'll buy the service sucks, I'm a server, but the food, value, it's there. Fuck that. People who complain about the food, the portions, they haven't eaten there, or anyplace else that for that matter, raving about the "lemon risotto" or the "pizza", a surprising number of online reviews are by people who clearly never dined there...
Still, overall, despite the thickets and forests of misinformation and bullshit if you pick your way and read through what they're really saying you can figure out the truth. It's never what they're telling you, but it's there...