Yelper Claims Chef Responded To Negative Review With Threats, Racially Charged Messages

One of the messages allegedly sent via Facebook from the chef to a customer who left a one-star review on Yelp.

One of the messages allegedly sent via Facebook from the chef to a customer who left a one-star review on Yelp.

UPDATE: The customer involved in this dispute has reached out to Consumerist with more details on his side of the story.

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Some folks in the Cleveland area are calling for a boycott on a recently opened restaurant after the owner of the eatery allegedly responded to a negative Yelp review by sending a series of hateful, threatening, and racially charged messages to the diner.

The situation began back in September, when a customer posted this one-star Yelp review, expressing his disappointment about the food and service.

What happened next is still a matter we haven’t quite been able to sort out. According to the Yelper, the restaurant’s chef contacted him on Facebook and let loose with a vitriolic response to the negative review.

The customer screengrabbed the alleged back-and-forth for posterity and subsequently posted it to the Facebook page created to urge a boycott of the restaurant.

“Great to hear feedback from food experts,” begins the first message allegedly sent by the chef via Facebook (the two apparently have mutual acquaintances). “Especially when they’re here with girls who are not their girlfriend… Do not come back to either of my restaurants ever again.”

The screengrabbed message then likens the customer to a small pieces of feces, and suggests the customer have fun copulating with an “ugly Indian bitch behind your ugly Asian bitch’s back.”

After a sentence or two of actually debating the merits of the review, the first message comes to a conclusion with the statement that “If I ever see you near my restaurants again you will be in trouble.”

A one-sentence “You are something man” reply from the customer results in a second string of insults that he claims came from the chef.

This time, the message insults the diner for “living off mommy and daddy” and being “ugly and physically weak” with a girlfriend who he believes is an unattractive piece of feces.

The customer responds to this barrage by pointing out that the chef could probably learn how to better deal with criticism.

“You are not only putting yourself on the line but also your business,” he writes before referencing Amy’s Baking Company, the Arizona eatery made famous by Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares for the over-the-top reactions its owners had to unhappy customers.

The person believed to be the chef responds by saying that he doesn’t watch TV before restating his threats against the customer.

“Bottom line is that your ass is in trouble if I ever see you in person.”

We’ve attempted to reach out to both the customer and the restaurant to confirm their sides of the story, but have yet to hear back. If we hear anything further from either party, we’ll update.

[via CleveScene.com]

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