MEI

'‘K.SMSZEMEM4AAN.:W.nr,'"

)••

The restaurant's owner of 35 years,
she reported, had 186 reservations for
that night and only 80 showed up ...
None of the no-shows even bothered
to call ... Patronage through the fol-
lowing weeks fell about 50 percent ...
His business bounced back, but she
believes the review was inaccurate and
is upset about the power of food crit-
ics.
The owner stated, "If the people
follow and believe what they read, we
are in trouble. Is the food critic more
important than the chef? More impor-
tant than the owner? The answer,
because of the mentality of many peo-
ple, is yes."
A letter came to Nation's Restaurant
News from a West Coast writer ...
have been the restaurant and night
editor of the Sacramento Union for the
past 24 years. .I dine out about five
nights a week and then give my
impressions in `Nice Life,' which is a
feature that appears in the paper every
Friday morning.
"What prompts me to write this
letter is an item that appeared in a
recent issue of Nation's Restaurant
News concerning the Coach House
restaurant. According to the owner,
the New York Times critic all but
caused the restaurant to fold because
of her critique.
"I'm getting a little sick and tired of
these so-called food critics trying to
play God. I would wager that many of
them couldn't even fry an egg.
"These self-appointed, holier-than-
thou characters visit a restaurant and
order a meal. If it isn't to their liking,
they break their asses getting back to
the typewriter and proceed to crucify
the restaurant.
"It would be interesting to know
whether it ever occurred to them to
talk to the owner and/or the manag-
er and give them an opportunity to
rectify whatever may have been
wrong.
"Of course, I have been served
meals that were not to my liking, but
I have the guts to send the meal back
to the kitchen. Nine times out of 10,
whatever was wrong is corrected. I do
not hesitate to talk to the owner, espe-
cially when I receive letters complain-
ing about food or service.
"One of these days, restaurateurs
and their associations will get their act
together and start suing some of these
so-called experts.
"One final thought. It is just too
bad that food critics do not realize
that we all have different palates
which are affected by emotions, alco-

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•

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HOMEMADE DESSERTS

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Open 7 Days Lunch & Dinner

29649 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, MI 48034

(248) 358-1700 • FAX (248) 358-1874

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