# Really harsh restaurant reviews

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 22, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951 "2005-09-22T21:57:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951/1 "2005-09-22T21:57:01Z")

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For my class, I’d like to show them some really negative restaurant reviews – “never, ever eat here” kinda stuff.

Suggestions?

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**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951/2 "2005-09-22T22:21:07Z")

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Have you looked at Ruth Reichl’s latest book? She’s writing about her experiences as the critic for the NY Times. I think she recounts the episode where she got vastly different treatment at Le Cirque when she went anonymously than when she went as herself.

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951/3 "2005-09-22T23:38:54Z")

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See if you can find some reviews by Michael Winner, he writes for Sunday Times. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1774050,00.html](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1774050,00.html)

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951/4 "2005-09-22T23:44:57Z")

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I second anything by Ruth Reichl. The treatment she got while going to chic restaurants as her timid character was brutal, and the places got what they deserved for walking all over her.

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-harsh-restaurant-reviews/322951/5 "2005-09-23T07:59:31Z")

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Here is a [blistering review of Spenger’s restaurant](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/03/12/PK99771.DTL&type=food) in Berkeley, California by Michael Bauer, one of the food writers for the San Francisco Chronicle. For years, Spenger’s was a very popular but mediocre seafood restaurant. The place went out of business for a while, then was reopened under the same name by different owners. Bauer’s review was so harsh that is was a topic of conversation among food lovers in the Bay Area for some time afterwards.