Writing a negative review yesterday provided me no pleasure whatsoever.
There was a strong impulse to just forget about it.
Like, I presume, the majority of food bloggers, I overwhelmingly want to talk about the food we really love and the places we adore that make it for us.
As well, because we pay for our meals-out, getting a bad or even indifferent meal is a downer of the kind we’ll certainly go out of our way to avoid.
So why go ahead and write the review anyway?
Well, for starters, this was a planned outing with a review as the planned outcome.
It hardly seemed fitting with the Consider The Sauce ethos to just slink away because there were some notable rough spots in my experience.
As well, there is what I think of as the Pollyanna Factor.
I much prefer writing about food that turns me on.
And I am enormously proud of the our western suburbs food culture, am totally grateful to be part of it, want to see it bloom and for the rest of the world to learn how great we have it here.
But I remain convinced that making out everything is good, grand or fine – or only writing about those places that genuinely are – is foolish.
Earlier this year, I started following a newish Melbourne food blog.
The big-hearted person involved covers a lot of ground and is very prolific, not to mention sincere.
But they oh-so-obviously subscribe to the “if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything” school of thought.
I stopped reading that blog weeks ago.
There is no incentive to read the reviews and posts when you know beforehand almost exactly what is going to be said.
And how much credibility can one grant a media outlet for which there is only the big thumb’s up?
I’m almost sure it’s not the case, but you could be excused for thinking the blog consists of little more than what are referred to in the blogging business as “paid posts”.
To be reliably meaningful, high praise on a frequent basis seems to require the sort of context that can only be provided by the occasional bad rap.
consider the sauce 
Whilst in a perfect world every venue would be wonderful in every respect and tick every box. The reality however is obviously quite different. From what I’ve observed, it’s fairly rare that you have anything particularly negative to say about a place, and when you do it’s stated factually and without malice.
I’d much rather hear the whole truth about your dining experiences instead of merely the positive, so please keep telling it how it is. At the end of the day, it’s not what you say, but rather how you say it. Instructing people verbatim not to visit a restaurant because you had a bad meal is clearly inappropriate, but commenting that the chicken was a tad dry or bland is perfectly acceptable. At the end of the day it’s all about providing a balanced, honest report.
Cheers
Nat Stockley
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I totally concur with Nat’s sentiments – your blog is extremely fair and balanced, and when you do have a “negative” comment it is delivered with tact and balance. Keep up the fantastic work and don’t change a thing in your winning formula!
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Thank you both! Nevertheless, some degree of soul-searching seems both inevitable and likely advisable. Have already been told by another blogger they’re wrestling with the same issue.
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I imagine it would take some soul searching, and it must be a tough decision, but I valued your recent post. You gave good objective examples of the rough spots, and without such reviews I guess there is the risk of “the filer draw” effect.
The interesting thing is that after reading your post, followed by the provided
link to a related post/comments (Ms Baklovers), I am actually keen to try this place out and judge it for myself. Maybe it adds to the adventure?
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Kenny I agree with the coments above. Reading between the lines only goes so far, sometime you have to tell it like it is.
Also, you have two Andrews posting which will muck up your authorisation processes, so I have changed my moniker.
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Couldn’t agree more with people’s posts – keep the fair and honest reviews coming Kenny!
As Andrew mentions, a bit of controversy actually makes us interested in seeing for ourselves.
We all know you want to promote what’s great about the West. But cotton wool does the west no favours. Businesses have to know what works and what doesn’t. Otherwise we’ll end up with something like the Australian film industry! :0
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Yes, I’ve had many internal arguments about this issue! It’s difficult to muster up the enthusiasm to write about dull or worse experiences and it doesn’t feel good to write very negatively about businesses where many people are probably working hard.
Most restaurants have strengths and weaknesses and I try to discuss both fairly.
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Good points there, Cindy. The jobs factor niggles away at the back of the mind, too.
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hey at least you tried to be nice and also gave a link to another food blog to give another perspective. good on you
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I must admit I sometimes just avoid writing a post where I had a poor experience. It generally depends on whether I think something has just gone wrong on the day and it may not reflect the experienece of 99% of the meals served there. On the other hand if there is truely something bad about a place you shouldn’t be afraid to say it.
One thing about trying out random food outlets – by defination most places are going to be average.
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