ottawa foodies

I ran across this on Urbanspoon. I find it a little hard to believe but if this actually happened it is sounding a bit desperate. Makes no sense to me. Would owners or managers really resort to this sort of activity to drum up business. I thought restauranteurs in Ottawa helped each other out from time to time.

June 1, 2012
Doesn't like it
Fatboys Southern Smokehouse, ByWard Market/Lower Town, Ottawa
Bad Manners...
by Mia Simone (1 review)
This is not a review of the food or service of Fatboys, but rather a comment on the behaviour of the owners. On Monday of this week I was eating at another smokehouse in the market, and towards the end of the meal the owners of Fatboys got up from their table to advertise their own restaurant and hand out discount cards. While I do understand the need to market your business and expand your clientele, capitalizing off of your competition's business in such a way is poor form indeed. I was shocked that they actually went into another business to try and poach customers. I have not yet been to Fatboys to try the food there, and I must say that this experience has not encouraged me to go there. Thanks for your discount card, but no thanks.

LOL. Well if you've been to Fatboys you'd believe it. These idiots have it so ass backward it's not even funny. They have everything about the restaurant down to the tee, except the food. Which is total rubbish. If they'd gotten that right first.. and then spent a million dollars or whatever that place cost.. it would make sense.

They're going to take a massive loss on this place, oh well. Perhaps Smoque will get to buy the gear at 5cents on the dollar when they go out of business.

Only thing worth eating at Fatboys, and this was probably a fluke.. but it was the Chili.

I have been to Fatboys Ravi and could not agree with you more about the food. Just thinking would it not be easier just to make better food and get a pitmaster that knows how to work a smoker?

You're right, pay the money. Whatever the cost, it's that or lose the business completely. Paying someone 80k is immaterial if you consider the overall loss they're facing.

Obviously having someone like Steph Legere prance about for a few hours isn't sufficient. Menu design isn't the problem. It's execution.

This is hilarious. Every once in a while I think about going just to see if it could truly be as much of a joke as everyone says it is. Between this and their hiring practices and encouraging facebook fans to review them on urbanspoon... I'm not even going to go to satisfy my morbid curiosity.

I know where I can find good BBQ, good deals, and good beer. I'll keep going there.

Well call me twisted. Based on the reviews here, I never wanted to go to fatboys, but a small part of me is now really curious to see just how bad it can be.

It's a date then! When are you picking me up?

me too blubarry.

me too blubarry.

I'm definitely up for it, but heading out of town again later in the week and not back till the last week of June. Plan ahead much?

End of June/beginning of July works for me. I'm leaving on Wednesday for 2 weeks in Italy.

Rizak?

nice love to eat. Whare are you going in Italy?

Still deciding if I am jumping on a plane for a week in Paris.

Anytime, anywhere. That's my motto. I'm flexible until the end of July. Just let me know and I'll be there with a bib on.

I'll go again for the chili =D

With my luck.. it was a fluke that it was good..

Okay then, Friday. I'm going Friday night at 7pm. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome. They'll be in a busy period, so it'll be good to see how things operate at speed. I'll be at the door at 7, timing things as I go. No reservation. Keep this in mind if you come. I'm gong for the full experience. Advertised in advance.

@foodtravel - 5 days in Rome and then I'm going to a cooking school in Abruzzo.

Sorry to post out of topic.
nice love to eat... bring back some recipes for us..

Rizak - how was your Fatboys' excursion? Were you able to go in the end?

Yes. A friend and I went. I'm not going to give a detailed report, just the generalities.

The food was passable (not great, especially the desserts) and decently priced for a market restaurant. The beer was only slightly interesting, and limited to larger names. The outdoor patio was actually quite nice. It was the waiting that I noticed the most. We were sat down immediately, but then had to wait a while for someone to come around with menus. Then we had to wait for a drink order. Then we waited a good 10 minutes for someone to take the food order. Things picked up a bit after that to more reasonable levels. I know that things sometimes get out of whack, but the place had about 2 tables to a server at that time.

Overall I'd go back. There are a couple of other places I'd like to check out.