Found a restaurant on Google Maps with solid reviews, so I figured I’d see what the fuss was about.
Portions were massive and prices were low, but the food was just meh, and the service sucked the first time I went. The waiters looked like they hated their jobs.
I was hungover and in a bad mood that day, so I ended up writing a long and detailed review that mostly focused on what I didn’t like about the place.
Fast forward to today, I decided to give the place another shot. Surprisingly, everything was better this time. The service was good.
There was this guy walking around, recording videos of the place, and he kept stopping by my table to check if everything was okay or if I needed anything.
The way he kept staring at me and the attention he was giving me felt a bit off. I couldn’t help but feel like he knew exactly who I was for some reason. He seemed like the owner, and I eventually realized he was.
I finished my meal and asked for the check. The owner came over himself and handed me a piece of paper with a QR code. He looked at me straight in the eyes and said, “If you leave us a positive review, we’ll give you 50% off this time”
I was shocked he recognized me just from my Google Reviews profile photo, especially since I left that review months ago.
I felt super uncomfortable and just said “sure”. After that, I quickly deleted my old review and left a quick, positive one instead.
I had to wait a few minutes for the guy to come back, I flagged him down and just said “done”.
The funny part is, he didn’t even check if I actually left a review, he CLEARLY knew who I was. Couple of minutes later he came back with my check, and it had 50% off just like he said.
I felt extremely uncomfortable and dipped. Needless to say I won’t go back to that place ever again.
TL;DR: left a bad review on Google maps for a restaurant, went back to the restaurant several months later, the owner spotted me and offered me 50% off my check to leave them a review, hinting that he knew who I was.