“Any publicity is a good publicity”!
That was the case with so many restaurants in K-Town. No?
Napket was reviewed by so many bloggers, many wrote negative reviews… how did Napket team handle it? With total grace. The original idea of Napket serving food in plastic-ware was not accepted by many – although it is their style for those who know Napket. I for example went to Napket because many told me they did not like it and I ended up LOVING IT! (link) – Not only that… I got hooked and addicted to that place… its one of the most popular restaurants now at The Avenues
Burger King is another example… I once posted a very negative review about them (link) – their reaction? The Operation Manager at the time contacted me and asked me “NOT to remove my post” and instead he offered to take me to any Burger King of my choice to go see the kitchen of it. They took it as a constructive criticism, in which I had to write an updated post about it (link)
I am sure many bloggers encountered this at one point in time! Many experienced an incident (if not more) about reviews they posted…
It just saddens me that a restaurant had to file a lawsuit against Mark for writing a review about their restaurant (link) stating his “own” and “personal” opinion. I read it at the time, and read it again (twice) today to find out what really triggered them in the first place… it wasn’t THAT bad to be quite honest!!!
They should have just let it go right then and there… or even better? Contact him to know what the problem is/was? Try to fix it and maybe make it up to him.
I think we dont have the same tastebuds no matter how influential we are! I personally go to restaurants because I want to go… even if I read bad reviews about’em! That would never stop me from experiencing…. As a matter of fact, I get tempted to go because of this.
What do you think?
You may also wanna check out the following related posts by fellow bloggers:
FIVE ONE EIGHT 
Like you pointed out they overreacted, i’ve been there 4 times since opening and i saw the quality of the food dropping alarmingly.
What Mark said was fair and talked about his own experience, but i guess they fear for their reputation a bit too much. once i went with my blogger friends and told them that we want to review their restaurant and they went crazy with amazing service and made sure we are satisfied, so i guess they care a bit too much about their reputation.
Honestly, Mark has his own rights to entitle to his reviews, I don’t really find a reason to be aggressive about it, and this is not magazine, just some dude write on his own site his own opinion, so If i wrote bad review, do I get sue too?
then, heck everyone will be sued for saying “this food tastes bad”.
I didn’t see anything wrong with Marks review. He stated his own opinion, it doesn’t mean I would agree with him. Maybe out of curiosity I’ll go and check out the restaurant, but honestly I’m put off by the so called GM’s reaction. I also doubt the real management has any idea about what’s going on. Maybe he should contact the management of Las Palmas Restaurant Company and inform them of what’s going on and the threats he is receiving from the so called GM “Mike Servo”. This is a free country after all, and blogs are public places where people can state their own experiences and opinions.
Like you I’ve read so much bad reviews about Napket, but I went anyway, and I love it there, the food and the service are excellent. Any place who can tolerate my monkeys have a 6 star rating in my book. I even followed your posts about BK and how they reacted after your negative post. They really earned my respect even though I’m not a fan of this fast food chain.
Now I’ve stopped reviewing restaurants in K-town because I’ve noticed whenever the staff notice the camera they get extra nice in their service which makes me feel it is all phony because they know there will be a review written about their place in one of the blogs.
Just my assumption! i guess, Mark did mess up the original comment by ‘Mr Servo’, there two styles of writing in that first reply, easy to make out! I don’t think any one in their sane mind would ask ‘BTW are you Lebanese’?
Also he did say ‘you block and filter…..’ so If Mark has really altered the original comment it’s shameful.
Also, also, IMO bloggers should have courtesy to inform the Manager if there is a fvckup in service or food. Not ruin business, after all everyone makes mistake, You, Me … even Mark & Servo 😉
Unless mark did his some alterations on MR. Servo reply, then I don’t think mark did anything wrong! His review was fair and honestly I went there again with some friends a few weeks ago and I still don’t recommend the place. It was even worse than my first experience back when I newly opened to the public. The food quality has gone down.
The GM actions ( thats if he is really the general manager) were very improfessional! The only thing that might stop me from going to the restaurant after reading marks review was him. I would be affected more by an improfessional manager threatening a “Blogger” because of a negative review rather than the review itself!
replay:
1) Mike Servo’s response of informing him and threatening him with a law suit without even knowing what premise he’s basing it on, whether he’s not breaching the contract of the franchise, without already looking into legal action, already clarifies how childish and unprofessional he is. A comment such as “are you Lebanese” only adds racist to the list of adjectives Servo could be described as
2) A review, negative or positive, never “ruins” a business. In this case, it is the ability of the restaurant to maintain good quality food, and more importantly, impeccable customer service. Given the way Servo handled everything, I know can safely say, they do not value customers, not do they care on making changes that would satisfy them. Instead, they decide to threaten them. You want people – listen to the what the people want and give it to them. It’s not rocket Science
———
I haven’t tried Benihana, and Marks review didn’t change my mind about trying it. Servos response definitely did! Unprofessional and extremely petty.
@Anonymous
It’s ‘Reply’ not Replay, please get my name right!
I have never been to Benihan and never will be, because Japanese food just not my taste, Anyway my point being, I have certain experience with couple of bloggers in Kuwait having my comment moderated (re-written) to make me look like a fag! Know what I mean? I ‘guess’ Mike Servo’s comment has been re-written to make him look like a racist. Refer to his second comment where he says “@mark Even you block and filter our letter to you , this will not stop us on filing a law suit against you and your website.” .
But if he did really write all that (first) comment he is really dumb and doesn’t deserve any respect.
My second point is Mark says in his original post ” Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work”
If some shit tastes terrible, just DON’T EAT IT DUDE!!. No one pours sauce over a ‘terrible’ dish to make it tasty. What are you 8?
My final point is Was this all rigged? (given the fact that Mark makes money out of ads and hence can be bought for a fake review .. again assumption)
“Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.”
If i know my math right! Marky Mark is in deep shit!
BTW I am not related to any of Benihan people, I love Mark, Love his blog, but i would be seriously pissed if he did this to my business.
Peace.
what they did is wrong and stupid, its not in their own good, and for what they did i think a lot of people will be boycotting benihana including me, i read marks post and i think it wasnt bad either, they should respect a customers opinion wether they r bloggers or just critics.
Pingback: My Benihana Experience - 2:48AM [The A-Sides]
I don’t edit comments, I either delete them, mark them as spam or approve them. There is also no financial benefit for me to bash a restaurant since I make good money from banners and that’s it. For reference you could get a copy of my media kit which lists ALL and the ONLY advertising options available. No paid content, no give me a gift and I will post something positive deals and no pay me to hurt your competition options are available.
You kn0w i’ve known many bad restaurants in my experience in Q8 and i am not afraid of pointing BOTH bad and good things… we are not living in utopia where we should only see the good in everything and keep the lid on bad things!!!
To file a law suit against someone for pointing their BAD service and bad food?! Real mature and real professional. You should thank the guy because 1- he gave you a honest review and you can build from there and 2- he gave you bad publicity which is PUBLICITY! People will go out of curiosity!
I would’ve gone even if i read a bad review… in fat i would’ve gone out of curiosity
I will never EVER EVER go now that they sued a fellow blogger!!! and whenever i pass by i will glance in their direction and think that is the place that sues people who don’t like their food instead of improving it! Plus you know what? I will make sure that every single one of my family and friends know about their shameful approach to suffocating the right of speech and handling their negative reviews… there are one million other restaurants around… we can always go some place that would appreciate our freedom of speech…
by the way? their tv ad? irritates me when it comes on…
Hey guys!
I just happen to be at the Avenues, and took an extra step to Benihaan, I guess it was pretty busy at 5pm. I guess negative publicity works as well.
@Mark, Respect man! Stay strong! this shall pass.
Why i keep saying benihan is beyond me *Benihana !! yep Got it right this time 😉
I read Mraks blog always and he has the right to say what ever he want but the thing is I know someone in person that asked him to check his buissness and write about nd he asked for money …..so how do i know if he is creditable in his writings and that no problem happened with the restaurant made him angry and wrote this ,,,,,and he knows for sure that this is going to effect the resturant since he has a lot of followers !!!
Pingback: Media coverage on Benihana lawsuit - 2:48AM [The A-Sides]
الله يكون بعونه انشاءالله
هل مطعم خسر وايد ناس بهل قضيه
انا من الاشخاص اللي كنت بزور المطعم ولكن بعد الي صار حتى ماني مقرب صوبه
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