I must give a great deal of credit to Ni Chrome (go ahead and follow @ni_chrome) for the initial inspiration for this post which ultimately led me on a fascinating trail of restaurant review sites, which in turn led me to a curious profile on the dinosaur that is restaurantica.com. I certainly have my opinion regarding the answer to the question asked in the title of this post. But I could be wrong so I will let you make the deductions for yourselves.
Here I am getting carried away though, I've gotten ahead of myself completely. To understand what in the world I'm talking about you must first take a little time and read the reviews posted by one J. Mahoney. The following link will take you to his/her profile.
If I may direct your gaze to some points of interest:
1. First, the dates of the reviews are interesting. They are all done on February 10th/11th. Now if you have any knowledge of the restaurants being reviewed you will know that none of them would have been open for quite a number of months by February of each year.
2. In the first two reviews, after scathingly insulting both The Prune and Bijou, J. Mahoney directs readers to "my favourite spot in town: Rundles"
3. JM became a member of Restaurantica on Feb 10th, promptly reviewed restaurants that were closed for the season in Stratford but has nothing to say about restaurants in his/her supposed 'home town' New York? Because there are certainly no good restaurants in that city, right?
4. If you still have questions regarding J. Mahoney's identity: compare the photos on the Restaurantica profile to those on the Urbanspoon profile; such striking similarities.
I like to think Stratford is a community of food. Many restaurants share suppliers, they share ideals and though there are some less-than-spectacular ones in town I don't think it's nice of one restauranteur to stage a falsified profile to slander his prime competitors. Especially considering how sensitive that person gets when their own restaurant is placed under scrutiny.
Yes, yes, I'm sure someone will comment 'but you're anonymous and you say mean things about some restaurants, isn't that the same thing?'
It isn't. The main difference is, I'm not lying and I'm not over-exaggerating the negative points just to undermine one restaurant in favour of another. I'm being honest!
We recently were quite upset with Breen Bentley for placing an add that slagged a competitor, but at least he had some humour and was willing to put his name on the thing. J. Mahoney, tsk tsk to you, I believe the jig is up!
baloney. & I mean that 'honestly'.
ReplyDeleteRichard Maloney
ReplyDeleteInteresting read. Although I already had a good idea as to who 'J. Mahoney' was, by just looking at the name. Not very original to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few other profiles in Restaurantica that look suspicious: DickR, BobZ, RobertSmithy,
ReplyDeleteJerry, all promoting only Rundles and Sophisto-Bistro.
Nice re-use of the some Joe Vaughn photos from the Rundles site.
I heard the back-story on one of the negative reviews on Rundles from a reliable source. It was shocking. It is off my list.
Ricky Maloney indeed... What a sad guy. Shows how insecure this Restaurant feels. You should also know that the waiting staff doesn't get to keep it's tips. They are paid a better hourly wage than industry minimum and the tips go to the house, no the people who "earn" it. But that may explain some of the indifferent attitudes that some people have seen from the staff. But even crazier is that on Trip Advisor.com Ricky Maloney actively insults anyone that gives Rundles a negative review, under the title of Rundles Public Relations Manager. Wow! But for anyone who is interested Maloney in the paramour of super creepy Rundles owner James Morris. So I'd take anything he says with a grain of salt. Great post!
ReplyDeleteTime for Rundles; including owner Morris, creep Maloney & chef Baxter, to get over themselves!
Deletego to Toronto Life Magazine and search for Richard Maloney, some interesting and somewhat familiar rants appear.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why I love The Chew...one of many reasons. Anyone can decide to eat or not eat somewhere. You don't have to like someone else's hard work/dedication/ blood, sweat and tears. Resorting to bashing in such an underhanded way is cowardly and offensive.
ReplyDelete@anon 7:35 PM. The point of the blog and the comments had nothing to do with the "work/dedication/ blood, sweat and tears" of a restaurant nor its employees - save one. The "cowardly and offensive" thing to do was for you, Richard, to verbally assault other establishments in this community. Cry into your 200 count Irish linen, and the rest of us be done with you.
ReplyDeletewell put anon 11:41!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen a friend put me on to the trail of these phony reviews this winter, I laughed so hard I wet my pants. It's a small town, and wow, nerve.
ReplyDelete