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How Do You Feel About Restaurants Calling Out Their Diners?

Jason Howle
/
Flickr via https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Some restaurateurs use social media to review their diners. Is that all right?

It's not only about shaming. Some restaurant owners and chefs in South Florida use their social media accounts to vent about competitors, try to locate dine-and-dashers and, yes, trash bad reviewers. 

Whether it's a personal profile or the brand's account, commenters seem to stand by the posters putting their guests on blast.

Social media is where lots oflocal restaurants and food trucks grow their customer base, which often results in a strong following of foodie fans for these businesses.

So when Daniel Naumko of Boca Raton's Sybarite Pig posted a negative Yelp review on his restaurant's Facebook page, most of the commenters joined him in disparaging the reviewer.

And when two customers allegedly walked out without paying the bill at one of Midtown Miami's most well loved spots, the Instagrammers must have thought "#smh."

Yelp reviews can add five to nine percent in revenue for a restaurant, especially if it's a small business. So it's understandable that chefs and restaurateurs don't feel hospitable to bad reviewers. But South Floridians also have a rap for being rude.

Boca itself was rated the 12th rudest city in the world based on curse words used in the location-sharing app Foursquare. That's even higher than Miami, which also made the top-20 list (18th).

  If you are the couple in this pic who left without paying your bill please return to pay if you forgot. We have blurred the image here but have clear originals of you at the bar, sitting at the table and walking to the bathroom. 8/3 Sunday brunch 1pm - 2pm A photo posted by Blackbrick (@midtownchinese) on Aug 5, 2014 at 7:01am PDT

"Most responses I've seen favor the restaurant," says Naumko. "There's some really unfair and baseless reviews out there that can only be taken as a source for mockery. Better that than constantly driving yourself crazy trying to please everyone."

Social media shaming is standard practice for some restaurateurs. But do South Floridians tolerate, or even condone it, because we live in a rude climate?

What do you think? Tell us in the comments section.

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