On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:00:01 -0700, Terry Pulliam Burd
> magnanimously proffered:

>I was, however, happy to see that the restaurant that got sued in the
>above post was in Australia and not the notoriously litigation-happy
>US.

Actually, the first example in the article was a restaurant near
Philadelphia and the paper sued was the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But it's made me wonder what might happen in New Zealand, where my
wife and I have been guests of a restaurant critic three times. The
reservation was made in my name, because the critic's name would be
recognised. However, the magazine pays the bill.

The critic always goes out to the restaurant he's reviewing with a
hospitality trade expert and at least one other couple, to get their
feedback. But he decides on the final score on his own.

Amongst other things during the evening we discuss the service,
ambience and food amongst ourselves. But as far as anyone else is
concerned we're just a few friends talking about Paris Hilton or
something equally fascinating.

On the following day the critic phones to discuss the experience again
and then goes away to consider his verdict.

As he clearly states in the preamble to his monthly review, the points
(points for food, service, ambience = overall score of 0 - 10) reflect
the experience of the critic and his guests on that particular night
and nothing else. So the score refers to one single experience and is
not intended to be an absolute rating for the restaurant.

Unfortunately, that's not how some restaurateurs see it - especially
an old friend whose restaurant got a 5.5 one year and a 6.5 another.
She's never forgiven the magazine or the critic (even though both
scores were well deserved). Frankly, I would have thought that
switched-on restaurateurs would learn from a negative review and make
the appropriate improvements instead of blaming the reviewer for
noticing the obvious.



--

una cerveza mas por favor ...

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