Jazz'oo - OF Comments Disabled? [General]
2009 Jun 24
That sounds like the right explanation to me. Reviews are subjective, Monty, but putting yourself in the vendor's shoes for a moment...
if a well-respected, peer-reviewed food website carried nothing but negative criticisms of your restaurant, would you want the criticisms to stay?
My experience with Jazz'oo is that it views itself on being a swanky, chi-chi type lounge/restaurant. Reviews are subjective, but if you have nothing but negative reviews (if I recall there were four or five in a row, all of which sounded legitimate) it makes for a hard sell.
I am, however, very curious, to hear Fresh Foodie's side of the tale.
if a well-respected, peer-reviewed food website carried nothing but negative criticisms of your restaurant, would you want the criticisms to stay?
My experience with Jazz'oo is that it views itself on being a swanky, chi-chi type lounge/restaurant. Reviews are subjective, but if you have nothing but negative reviews (if I recall there were four or five in a row, all of which sounded legitimate) it makes for a hard sell.
I am, however, very curious, to hear Fresh Foodie's side of the tale.
2009 Jun 24
Monty - "I just think it says something when a restaurant chooses to bar comments, instead of taking note of the problems and making changes."
I couldn`t agree more... it does indeed say a lot about a Vendor and their commitment level. Unfortunately some Vendors (and obviously their lawyers) think otherwise. Thank goodness that people here are smart enough to make up their own minds, and make choices with their dining out dollars.
As for the comments:
"This post was more of an attack on Fresh Foodie for conceding to their demands (presumably via threat of legal action!) :P"
Although I understand the intention (razzing) sometimes indeed the more difficult decisions must be made.
I couldn`t agree more... it does indeed say a lot about a Vendor and their commitment level. Unfortunately some Vendors (and obviously their lawyers) think otherwise. Thank goodness that people here are smart enough to make up their own minds, and make choices with their dining out dollars.
As for the comments:
"This post was more of an attack on Fresh Foodie for conceding to their demands (presumably via threat of legal action!) :P"
Although I understand the intention (razzing) sometimes indeed the more difficult decisions must be made.
2009 Jun 24
that kind of tweaks me and not in a good way
(no blame to FF at all)
but if you as a restauranteur have not enough confidence in your product to do such a thing, then you deserve the negative karma
some know where I work and I welcome them to stop by and try it
I can testify to the food but not the service or the loopy owner
my reasons for animity is to read "unbias" reviews and change what I can if I see it is justified
I just don't want to have to defend myself or the resto nor the service which I know is awful
and I am here to represently myself quite frankly since I receive no remuniations from being here and I am a Foodie and a winie and beerie lol
and want to talk food and promote food and see what is running up and down the local pipeline for planning future menus
(no blame to FF at all)
but if you as a restauranteur have not enough confidence in your product to do such a thing, then you deserve the negative karma
some know where I work and I welcome them to stop by and try it
I can testify to the food but not the service or the loopy owner
my reasons for animity is to read "unbias" reviews and change what I can if I see it is justified
I just don't want to have to defend myself or the resto nor the service which I know is awful
and I am here to represently myself quite frankly since I receive no remuniations from being here and I am a Foodie and a winie and beerie lol
and want to talk food and promote food and see what is running up and down the local pipeline for planning future menus
2009 Jun 24
You all pretty much got it. The business owner sent me a thinly veiled threat of legal action and asked me to remove the entire entry for that vendor. At the time, I explained that removing the entry would not accomplish anything because people are free to add vendors that don't yet exist.
I realized I needed a solution for this sort of thing and now you see it. A vendor can choose not to be reviewed here, but I think that in itself could be considered quite meaningful. Ottawa Foodies' stated goal is to connect you to Ottawa's *best* food. We are still fully equipped to do that. :-)
Some of you might also appreciate the more cynical view that any vendor who is worried enough to make the effort to be removed is likely already struggling to turn a profit. And if the vendor won't be around much longer do we really want to spend our time writing comments on it?
I realized I needed a solution for this sort of thing and now you see it. A vendor can choose not to be reviewed here, but I think that in itself could be considered quite meaningful. Ottawa Foodies' stated goal is to connect you to Ottawa's *best* food. We are still fully equipped to do that. :-)
Some of you might also appreciate the more cynical view that any vendor who is worried enough to make the effort to be removed is likely already struggling to turn a profit. And if the vendor won't be around much longer do we really want to spend our time writing comments on it?
2009 Jun 24
Thanks for clarifying FF. Just giving you a hard time :P
I had a feeling it was a threat of legal action. I can sympathize with the owner seeing as nobody wants their restaurant trashed on a public forum. However, by doing this he/she has eliminated any chance of good publicity. Not to mention restaurant owners can take comments as constructive feedback and work on them. I presume this is what Steve Beckta is doing on OF all the time.
It should be noted the Jazz'oo entry is still alive on the "other" local restaurant review site (full of terrible reviews, no less)
As an aside - is it Jazz-'eww' (like kazoo) or Jazz-'oh' ?
I had a feeling it was a threat of legal action. I can sympathize with the owner seeing as nobody wants their restaurant trashed on a public forum. However, by doing this he/she has eliminated any chance of good publicity. Not to mention restaurant owners can take comments as constructive feedback and work on them. I presume this is what Steve Beckta is doing on OF all the time.
It should be noted the Jazz'oo entry is still alive on the "other" local restaurant review site (full of terrible reviews, no less)
As an aside - is it Jazz-'eww' (like kazoo) or Jazz-'oh' ?
2009 Jun 25
The funny part is that the comments about this vendor are still visable on the other well known to all, more hostile site. Ours were most likely constructive criticism.
They should be so lucky to feedback like this. A good restauranteur uses this to their advantage and resolves the outlined issues.
My first reaction was, "oh, somebody threatened to sue."
The Winnipeg Free Press critic got into a battle with a particular restauranteur for her critiques of his restaurant and basically the poor product\problems with it.
He barred her from the restaurant and accused her publicly of trying to destroy his business. Bottom line was the lousy food and service destroyed it.
They should be so lucky to feedback like this. A good restauranteur uses this to their advantage and resolves the outlined issues.
My first reaction was, "oh, somebody threatened to sue."
The Winnipeg Free Press critic got into a battle with a particular restauranteur for her critiques of his restaurant and basically the poor product\problems with it.
He barred her from the restaurant and accused her publicly of trying to destroy his business. Bottom line was the lousy food and service destroyed it.
2009 Jun 28
I just sent them the following, also via their contact link on their website:
Why have you threatened the OttawaFoodies.com website with legal action instead of using the reviews there to make your restaurant a better place? A restaurant that handles negative reviews in this way obviously has no interest in providing the best to its patrons. I, for one, will be avoiding Jazz'oo until it decides to take into account its criticisms.
We'll see if I get an answer...
Why have you threatened the OttawaFoodies.com website with legal action instead of using the reviews there to make your restaurant a better place? A restaurant that handles negative reviews in this way obviously has no interest in providing the best to its patrons. I, for one, will be avoiding Jazz'oo until it decides to take into account its criticisms.
We'll see if I get an answer...
2009 Jun 29
I expect some establishments see a bad review on a web site like this one, and consider it akin to someone marching up and down outside their restaraunt with a sign reading 'bad food, go somewhere else'. First reaction would naturally be to tell that person to go away, and if required threaten them with calling the police. Savvy.. not really... predictable.. yes. That being said, perhaps FF could datamine and tell us how many vendors here have only one review? One review that might be bad, or might be good, but likely does not fully represent the reality of that vendor; and in the web world, that one review would hold much more weight than one review among many.
2009 Jun 30
Wow. It looks like a lot of people have given it a thumbs down in light of the comments being disabled.
That said, it still doesn't have the lowest rating of all vendors. I'm fairly sure that it was a -6 or so when the comments were turned off, or at least that was the last I had looked. All said, it's now at a -11 (I looked mostly because I was shocked to see the negative reviews for Blue Cactus, which I was about to refer to someone...)
That said, it still doesn't have the lowest rating of all vendors. I'm fairly sure that it was a -6 or so when the comments were turned off, or at least that was the last I had looked. All said, it's now at a -11 (I looked mostly because I was shocked to see the negative reviews for Blue Cactus, which I was about to refer to someone...)
2009 Jul 8
Good to know I'm not the only foodie spaz, Nanook.
Erm, tempting they look. Tempting they are. But when we went with friends, there was no jazz (it was lika salsa, or rumba, or something...but with no place to dance). The food/service were mediocre at best, and my fiance had stomach problems later that night (no way of knowing if Jazzoo was the cause, but suffice to say, he couldn't eat cheesecake for months afterwards).
Erm, tempting they look. Tempting they are. But when we went with friends, there was no jazz (it was lika salsa, or rumba, or something...but with no place to dance). The food/service were mediocre at best, and my fiance had stomach problems later that night (no way of knowing if Jazzoo was the cause, but suffice to say, he couldn't eat cheesecake for months afterwards).
monty
First time I've seen this on the site and curious if FF can share the backstory? Presumably this means they have had some unfavourable reviews (note the "-4" rating). Restaurant reviews are incredibly subjective - it would be nice to see the comments regardless, and let users judge for themselves.
Why the censorship?