How to respond to an unfair or fake review for restaurants
When a review seems inaccurate or isn't from a real customer, a short, polite reply protects your reputation better than an angry one, and you can report it to the platform separately.
Step by step
- 1
Stay polite: other customers are reading, not just the reviewer.
- 2
Say you can't find a record of their visit, without accusing them of lying.
- 3
Invite them to contact you directly so you can look into it.
- 4
Report the review to the platform if it breaks their content rules.
Something specific to restaurants
Food-safety complaints (illness, foreign objects) should move offline immediately. Never debate what the guest ate or how it was cooked in public.
- Common complaints
- slow service, a cold or wrong order, a noisy dining room
- Common praise
- the seafood pasta, the friendly service, the atmosphere
Example reply
Terrible restaurant. Worst experience ever, avoid at all costs.
We're sorry to read this. We take every review seriously, but we weren't able to match your description to a visit in our records. Could you contact us at [phone/email] so we can understand what happened and put it right? We'd appreciate the chance to look into it. - The team at [Your restaurant name]
What to avoid
- ✕Calling the reviewer a liar or a competitor
- ✕Sharing what your records show about them
- ✕Threatening legal action in the reply