Ethical Dilemma: Blogging about bugs
I recently returned to a restaurant that I had reviewed glowingly. In the middle of our amazing, authentic, inspiring meal - we find a bug in our food. It was so upsetting. We quietly notified the staff, they were horrified and comped our meal, we left feeling unsettled. As a blogger, I want to report the full story. This is a hole- in-the wall place trying to run an honest business and I would not want any harm done to them. What is the right thing to do here?
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13 Comments:
@Fressa, sounds like possibly a one-time occurance. For the sake of everyone's sanity, I'd not feel like saying anything unless they turn out to be repeat offenders, which may not happen.
LunaPierCook at 7:42PM on 05/19/09
@fressagirl - That is a hard one - if, as you say, they are an authentic little place that is trying to turn a little profit, couldn't you cut them some slack? I wonder if you would "keep an eye" on the place, although after your experience, you might not fancy another dish served up from that restaurant. On the other hand, if it was just a one time thing, it would be so sad to ruin their reputation - I guess you will just have to go with your conscience - do you review for a living? Do you have an audience large enough to do a great deal of damage?
bareneed at 7:43PM on 05/19/09
what kind of bug and in what kind of food. a bug in a salad? or was it a roach in a pancake? (which i had the pleasure of being served once)....
sometimes these things happen. it's not fun, but if you have a good feeling about the place and the staff was horrified, that's a good sign. i've heard of people finding stuff in their food and the staff just shrugs it off.
pooch at 7:47PM on 05/19/09
Do you want to blog about the *experience* of finding a bug in your food, or about the restaurant in which you found it? If it's the former, then do so, but don't reveal the name, and make clear in your post that the other times you went there this wasn't an issue.
If it's the latter, well then, I don't know...
NYCEater at 7:47PM on 05/19/09
If they were truly horrified, that indicates to me that it was probably an anomaly; plus, they comped your meal, which further suggests that they were appalled at the incident and that they value your business. I'd say, especially given that it's a small establishment, that the right thing to do would be to hold your tongue--unless you hear of or experience similar problems at the restaurant in the future. Surely nasty things happen in all kitchens at least occasionally.
annatr at 7:58PM on 05/19/09
I think you should probably blackmail them. You know, tell them you'll write about the lone insect--which will definitely run their small, fledgling business into the ground--if they don't (a) make sure never to allow a bug to sneak into their food again (this process surely involving the spraying of OFF! into their food--you know, just to be extra-cautious) and (b) comp your meals forever.
maxcriden at 10:19PM on 05/19/09
Where I live, one of the local news web sites has a regularly updated restaurant inspection review. Information available are places that got very bad inspections and places that have had to close because violations are so bad. On the other hand they do list restaurants that receive perfect inspections also. If you have access to this info, keep an eye on them. See if they show up on the list. For right now I would give them some slack.
finsbigfan at 9:42AM on 05/20/09
I'd write about the ENTIRE experience and include the name of the restaurant. If they sounded sincere about the issue, include that as well. If you felt that
I, on the other hand, wrote about my experience on every single online outlet I could find and continue to tell people not to go to the restaurant. The posts were removed, unfortunately.
My experience, on the other hand, was horrible. I got the wrong order (wrong meat in pho - I didn't order one with tripe, tendon, balls, etc. WITH onions and cilantro) and sent the food back. Kitchen screamed at the server, server came back and said I had to eat it. I refused.
When my husband's food arrived after I got my meal back, he had live crickets swimming in his pho. He was not impressed. When we asked to have the food replaced and showed the server the reason, she was horrified and mentioned it to the manager/owner, who got pissed off at us.
We were disgusted and got up to leave. They began yelling that they'd call the cops if we didn't pay for the entire meal. We threw the money at them and left.
With an experience like this, how can you NOT write about it. :P
Cassaendra at 11:47AM on 05/20/09
oops - my first paragraph wasn't complete. :P
I'd write about the ENTIRE experience and include the name of the restaurant. If they sounded sincere about the issue, include that as well. If you felt that they reacted poorly, write about it. It sounds like they did what they could.
I personally feel that a restaurant gains more "points" when they screw up and are able to recover well.
Cassaendra at 11:52AM on 05/20/09
Was it a cockroach, or was it something that might have followed you through the door? Was the place clean? Dirty kitchens usually reveal themselves by their odor. No odor? Something other than a cockroach, earwig, or ant? Grade 'em on their food and atmosphere and don't mention the bug. If the kitchen smelled rancid or sour and the floor was sticky, nail 'em. They aren't long for this world as a business anyway.
Grumpy Old Man at 12:27PM on 05/20/09
@bareneed- I highly doubt I have even close to enough readers to influence the future of the place, but the principle of the matter just got me thinking. I can never eat at this place again, which is sad because the food is so amazing. But I think had this not happened I would maybe not want to know if someone else experienced it, so I could continue eating worry free.
We speculate it was a roach that maybe got into the rice cooker, but we can't be sure...Its true that its a good sign that at least the chef, owner, wait staff were upset by the situation. I hope it was a freak event. I think I'll keep up my older post and leave it as it. Its not the cleanest of places, I have no idea what the kitchen looks like- the restaurant is in a basement and I think the kitchen is above it. The bathrooms are pretty gross. But that comes with the territory when eating adventurously in Queens. Don't you think?
fressagirl at 2:21PM on 05/20/09
I was going to say, if it was an inchworm in a salad, I wouldn't mention it on your blog. He probably came by himself from the farm on a spinach leaf. But a roach in the rice is pretty horrifying and a health hazard to boot. Also, roaches usually don't travel alone...
I'd be concerned about safety and with that in mind, I might quietly shoot an email to the department of public health. If they can send an inspector over, they might be able to fix the problem without anyone getting sick. I wouldn't write about it on your blog though if you don't want to have potentially adverse effects on their business.
yayfood at 4:31PM on 05/20/09
Ugh, (possible) roach in rice makes me feel queasy. :x I can't see how a moderately clean place could get a roach in rice. Rice is kept in a sealed rice cooker...
Cassaendra at 8:43PM on 05/20/09