Restaurant Slammed With Bad Reviews After Employee Posts Anti-Trump Message
BOSTON (CBS) - The owners of a local restaurant say their business was targeted by Internet trolls with a political agenda who slammed them with negative reviews on Yelp and Facebook.
"Some really I mean disturbing, gross allegations in there," said owner Keith Harmon.
This week, he noticed something unusual. A one-star review, which was followed by many more in just a few hours. "Your employee offered me a (#@%&*) in the bathroom," said one review. Another accused a server of making a racist statement.
"He said, 'Our cooks are working like (slur) in the back on a hot sunny day.'"
The posts specifically name an employee who had put a political post on his personal Facebook page.
"He had posted a video from a Make America Great Again Trump truck rally," explained Harmon. "He had called it out as having some hate language and slurs."
Before long, responses defending the Trump rally jumped from the employee's personal page to that of the restaurant he'd listed as his place of employment.
There's a silver lining. What seemed like a case of cyberbullying, gave way to a show of support from the Jamaica Plain community responding with more than 150 five-star ratings and glowing comments. Friend and customer Sarah Kristeller said the restaurant is nothing short of superb. "It's so obvious when someone has a negative agenda that they're trying to promote, and in this case, it's just out of this world," she said.
In a business that lives and dies by reviews, Harmon hopes the support will undo the damage done. "Someday we'll be in the news for the food. We have great pasta!"
