Toronto restaurant owner barks back at customer who left one-star review

A online dispute between a customer and restaurant owner in Toronto had brought to light some important questions about the customer experience versus safety measures amid the pandemic.

Restaurateur and chef Anthony Rose issued a response to a 1-star Google review posted yesterday about one of his restaurants, Madame Boeuf.

"Don't go unless you have a smart phone with data and you're a millennial," reads the review written by Pamela Mejia.

"You can only order online and don't EVEN try asking what the average price is for a bottle of wine. They won't tell you.. no more wine by the glass. You must order a bottle which is against LLBO standards."

"They have no compassion for a person who is above the age of 50. Can't wait to see how well you guys do as seniors. Life is poetic!"

A response from the owners Rose and Robert Wilder issued below the review chastised Mejia, saying that she is no longer welcome at their establishments.

Rose elaborated further on his Instagram and outlined that many of the issues Mejia cited are the result of health and safety measures.

View this post on Instagram

When you get a ONE STAR on google. Life is poetic!!! At a time when the world is struggling to fight covid 19, when hospitality has been gutted, when communities are struggling for change all you can say is “poor me for not having a data plan and being over 50” (for the record - Anthony's mom in her 70s has adapted to the app just fine). This is not an age issue. This is a selfish, self centred and myopic issue. We along with our restaurant peer have gone to great lengths to set up an environment where it is safe for our staff and customers to be at our restaurants. So why digital ordering: 1. Social distance - we felt this was a safer way for you to order and pay and have less contact with our staff. 2. Staff safety - this allows for less staff in the building and therefore less risk of covid 19. 3. Restaurant economics - we could go on for hours - basically at a time when restaurants are crushed and under resourced we are asking the customer to do a little work - it saves the restaurant some time and money that can be used for your experience. 4. No glasses of wine - we do not want multiple hands touching the same bottle. Less contact means less chance of spread. 5. You Berated our Staff. We have only hired back a small group of staff to make them and our customers feel safe with less people in the building. The majority of our staff is still furloughed. YOU made us feel unsafe. We are in this together and we need the buy in from our customers. Events change every single day and we are constantly second guessing every decision. Right or wrong, all we know is that we are trying our hardest. Harder than we have ever tried before to make it safe for our staff first. If they feel safe, then we hope that will make you, our clientele feel good about being outside of your comfort zone. So we say SHAME on you our customer for being so selfish at a time when you should be helping us and others. Thank you to all our lovely staff and amazing partners for working so hard and helping us make our restaurants survive during these unprecedented times. Thank you to all our staff and suppliers who are waiting patiently to come back to work. Keep Safe. AR RW

A post shared by anthony rose (@chefanthonyrose) on Jun 29, 2020 at 9:29am PDT

"We just want people to be kind and patient and respectful," Rose told blogTO. "This is an exhausting process for everyone in the industry and it takes such a huge toll on our mental health daily," he continued.

"Everything is different. I definitely was no expert before but I'm certainly no expert now. That I know one hundred percent."

"We aren't trying to shame this woman," said Rose. "We are unfortunately using the whole thing as an example. We are all relearning together."

by Lisa Power via blogTO