A disgruntled restaurant boss has slammed a pair of ‘immature’ customers for shaming the venue with a one-star TripAdvisor review written ‘by their dog’ – because he ‘wasn’t allowed his own table’.
Simon Docker, 40, owner of HUIS in Portsmouth was baffled to find a ‘highly strung dog’ had written a scathing review slamming his staff’s ‘paw service’.
Staff had asked a pair of ‘rude’ customers to remove their dog from the sofa at his restaurant’s prime spot in the front window on Sunday, but the next morning they voiced their anger in a first person rant pretending to be their pet. The post has now been deleted.
Displeased Simon, who was on holiday at the time, posted a screenshot on Facebook, where he refuted the dog’s gripe, maintaining ‘we are dog friendly’, ‘but we cannot give a dog its own table’.
Simon Docker, 40, owner of HUIS in Portsmouth was baffled to find a ‘highly strung dog’ had written a scathing review slamming his staff’s ‘paw service’.
Staff at Huis (pictured) had asked a pair of ‘rude’ customers to remove their dog from the sofa at his restaurant’s prime spot in the front window on Sunday, but the next morning they voiced their anger in a first person rant pretending to be their pet. The post has now been deleted.
Huis, which has 12 staff, can currently only accommodate 22 people rather than the usual 60 in order to maintain social distancing.
Owner Simon says he can’t afford to be giving tablets to dogs or losing business because of anonymous reviews, and that’s why he ‘took a stand’ by posting this bizarre example online.
The one-star write-up initially beams of the mutt’s delight to be welcomed with a tummy rub, but explains this ‘turned to horror’ when he was ‘cast down to the floor like a salad at a BBQ’.
It boasts of his ‘sterling on-lead behaviour’ while sat on the Chesterfield two-seater as his ‘pawrents’ enjoyed their beer and Camembert before moaning about the workers’ request.
The baffling review, titled ‘not a happy pup, paw service’ then concludes by demanding the same privileges as humans and announcing ‘although I am a dog to some, I am a customer to you’.
To further their facade, the unknown couple even featured the dog in their TripAdvisor username of 408dogwilso and their profile picture displayed the fair-haired mutt sat contently on the sofa.
Simon has since blasted the ‘trolling’ pair as ‘immature’ and stressed how ‘malicious’ and damaging anonymous reviews can be for restaurants.
His post has been seen more than 56,000 times and users were quick to slam the mystery moaners, with some telling them to ‘stay at home if they want their dog sitting on the sofa’.
He said: ‘We’ll take negative feedback on board but to have a dog review the restaurant, written by the owner, is just bizarre.
‘When I saw it I was just baffled.
‘As much as I love dogs, we won’t give one their own table.
‘It’s immature that they’ve hidden behind the guise of their own dog.
‘They’ll have been in for a few hours, so it wasn’t like they’d had a bad time.
‘They were very rude to our staff. Just being sarcastic and difficult.
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‘The sofa’s right at the front window. My staff didn’t even touch the dog, they just asked the owners if they could take him off the sofa.
‘We put the review on Facebook to say we welcome dogs but we can’t give them a table, in a light-hearted way.
‘It wasn’t meant to bully the poster.
‘The woman has called the restaurant about 10 times to ask us to remove the Facebook post but they’re the ones who posted the review in the first place.
Owner Simon explains he can’t afford to be giving tablets to dogs or losing business because of anonymous reviews, and that’s why he ‘took a stand’ by posting this bizarre example online. Pictured, the sofa at the front of the restaurants
‘When she rang she said she was really angry at her partner because they were really drunk, but it was done at 9am so they weren’t drunk all night.
‘The woman said she’s been getting stressed but nobody can message her because the account has her dog’s on it. It’s definitely backfired on them.
‘It’s not shed their dog in a very good light either. He seems quite highly strung. I’m sure the dog is much more polite than the owners.
‘We’ve been shut for a lot of the past 12-18 months so we’re all just doing our best at the moment to deal with very difficult circumstances and this is really unhelpful.’
Owner Simon explains he can’t afford to be giving tablets to dogs or losing business because of anonymous reviews, and that’s why he ‘took a stand’ by posting this bizarre example online.
Simon insists he’s tried to call the pair to resolve the issue, but the ’embarrassed’ woman calls on a withheld number so he hasn’t been able to discuss it.
Their baffling review has since been deleted from TripAdvisor, and Simon is relieved as he says just a couple of one-star reviews can reduce takings at his six-year-old establishment by 30 per cent in a week.
Simon said: ‘Restaurants have been through hell for the past 18 months and we’re doing everything to stay open and support our staff.
‘This is completely inappropriate timing to put a malicious review on there.. I’m more baffled than finding it funny.
‘I want to make a stance on it on behalf of restaurants who are getting screwed over by anonymous reviews and people trying to get something.
‘We don’t need this trolling sort of sarcasm. Two more reviews like that can really reduce our turnover. We’re all fed up with these anonymous reviews, abusing good nature.
Simon’s post on Facebook simply said: ‘We are Dog Friendly! But regret as a small restaurant, we cannot give a dog his own table!’ Dozens of people replied supporting Simon.
‘It would be nice if the guy who wrote the review called up and said ‘sorry, I was an idiot’ but he hasn’t yet. We’ve tried to reach them but they don’t answer their phones or their number is withheld.’
Simon’s post on Facebook simply said: ‘We are Dog Friendly! But regret as a small restaurant, we cannot give a dog his own table!’
Dozens of people replied supporting Simon.
Phoebe Tilt said: ‘It’s a dog not a paying customer. If you want your dog to lay up on a sofa in comfort, stay at home on your own sofa!’
Hidie Maria Wal added: ‘The dog is very clever. Being able to write a sh**ty review like that.Some really sad people in this town.’
Amy Graham said: ‘Wow, that poor dog having an owner write obnoxious reviews like that on its behalf.’
Mathew Wood said: ‘To add insult to injury, the dog has even photographed itself on said sofa mentioned in the review!’
Simône Yeldon said: ‘I think someone needs to check in on the ‘pawrents’. They do not sound okay.’
Source: Food Recipes and News
