Toronto restaurant gets one-star review for food being late and cold during snowstorm
A Toronto restaurant that's not shy to post their bad online reviews showed everyone a real doozy the other day: someone had the audacity to complain their food was cold and late during the recent snowstorm.
Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant has fun with their social media presence, regularly posting reviews ranging from a three-star one that called them "fancy schmancy" to bad Uber Eats reviews saying their lasagna tasted like McDonald's... if McDonald's made lasagna.
They're an Italian restaurant that's been in business since 1989 in Toronto, serving red sauce classics with a side of sass.
"We post certain reviews mainly to poke fun at ourselves," Margio Rana of Gio Rana's tells blogTO. "We are trying to find the humour in the harsh negativity that social media tends to garner like we try to find the humour in many aspects of life."
We all know bad reviews online can range from hysterical to savage to utterly absurd, but this one-star snowstorm review took the cake.
"Ordered through Uber Eats," the review starts off. "Multiple issues."
The review goes on to say the "food was late, so quite cold," that utensils weren't provided and that their "risotto balls had half-cooked rice in them," concluding with, "Not really nice :)"
The restaurant posted the review to social media with the caption "Wonder why our bad food was colder and later than usual tonight?" A second slide shows a video of the atrocious weather outside.
"Ultimately, with this particular post, we want to give major respect to the people who are delivering for Uber Eats, and other companies, in all kinds of weather, snowmeggadons, traffic etc.," says Rana.
"Just like there are many things that are out of our control once an Uber bag leaves the restaurant, there are many things that are out of the delivery person's control as well. Delivery for restaurants like ours is a very new territory that we are still trying to navigate as it was a response to a pandemic that left our industry in shambles."
People are commenting on the post on Instagram, saying things like "If you respect food, you pick it up."
"Every time I've ordered delivery from you, it's been very good," someone else commented. "I don't order delivery during a snow storm because it's obviously going to take forever to drive in bad weather."
"This review is basically 'I don't understand how snow storms work,'" another person wrote.
"We recently moved out of area," one person commented. "We'd die for some of those half cooked risotto balls and other 'not really good' food."
One person simply said, "WHO TF IS ORDERING DELIVERY TONIGHT."
There was one person who felt a little differently, but the majority of comments were in support of Gio Rana's.
"I understand loyalty but I've seen a number of bad reviews for their delivery items. Seems the quality is overlooked," they wrote. "If you don't want to do delivery then don't. I used to [love] this restaurant but the denial and satirical reply to every bad review is pathetic."
One of the restaurant's supporters clapped back for them: "Ah dude - tell me about it. This one time during a heat wave I ordered my ice cream desert from Uber Eats. Was totally melted by the time it got to me. Terrible service."
"We stayed open during the storm because many of our wonderful patrons who had bookings for big birthday parties, anniversaries, or just wanted to have a night out didn't cancel their reservations on us, so we wouldn't cancel on them," says Rana.
"Everyone is trying their best to adjust and we hope to have a few laughs along the way. Humour has always been a major factor in helping us get through difficult times."
Ultimately, people are going to keep writing bad reviews of restaurants, and restaurants are going to keep choosing how they respond. But a little common sense can go a long way, especially when it comes to food delivery during extreme weather events.
Fareen Karim
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