Shane Bezuidenhout (left) and Tammy Ockerse, co-owners of the Bushman's Grill. Photo / Michael Craig
Shane Bezuidenhout (left) and Tammy Ockerse, co-owners of the Bushman's Grill. Photo / Michael Craig
Meal critique bogus ‘from first word to last’, says restaurant.
Food wars have been taken to a new level after a bar manager wrote a scathing online review about a rival restaurant.
The Commons bar manager Craig Lamb took aim at nearby Bushman's Grill, in Hillcrest on Auckland's North Shore, penning a caustic review and posting it to online restaurantreview website Zomato this week. The foodie face-off is the latest incident of alleged review revenge, after Mt Eden restaurant Molten hit back this week at a group of disgruntled diners, responding to their Zomato review by "reviewing them as guests" in a Facebook post.
In the North Shore incident, Lamb, who did not mention in his review where he worked, described Bushman Grill's menu as "terrible" and looking like the type of food expected at a pub.
"And [it] was presented as such ... big plates, small portions garnished with a limp pathetic sprig of parsley, a la 1987. The ribs were tough, the fries were cold and don't even get me started on the garlic sauce on the chicken.
"Raw garlic and chopped parsley soaked in oil and served on the side as a sauce. We were tasting garlic for the next three days," the review said.
His group wasn't "brave enough" to try dessert, Lamb wrote, while also firing shots at the "sterile brightly lit surroundings", wet menus and staff demeanour.
Lamb gave the restaurant, which has a Zomato rating of 4.1 out of 5 based on 123 votes, a score of 1.5.
But Bushman's Grill co-owner Tammy Ockerse told the Herald on Sunday Lamb's review was "totally bogus". She did not hold The Commons, which is in central Takapuna and opened in August 2012, responsible. The blame was on Lamb.
"He's a big foodie on Facebook. If you look at him on Zomato he seems to have a lot of restaurant connections. I think he's just trying to gain his own popularity on the site and get more ratings."
Craig Lamb, manager at The Commons restaurant and bar in Takapuna. Photo / Facebook
She confronted Lamb at The Commons after reading the review. Her restaurant had received "the odd" negative review previously.
"Things where we might've had a problem and it has been constructive criticisms and we've been able to sort things out. But with this one it rang false from the first word to the last."
A defiant Lamb said on Friday he stood by his review, but wouldn't comment further because his employer had forbidden it.
"If it was just me I would talk to you for half an hour."
The Commons general manager Ray Murphy also declined to comment.
Leading food and wine writer Lauraine Jacobs said aggrieved diners should take complaints to restaurateurs first. She also disliked the use of pseudonyms.
"The written word lasts forever so you better be damned sure of what you're putting online. Really good restaurateurs will reply to you in an appropriate way."
Jacobs launched a withering attack in February on "amateur diners" destroying the reputations of top eateries with their online reviews.
