B.C. restaurant owner unapologetic about lashing out online after bad reviews

A Port Moody restaurateur says he makes no apologies for fighting back after a series of bad social media reviews.

The fury was sparked after a family of four, with a reservation for 5:30 p.m. at Saint St.Grill, wassuddenly asked to leave at 7:30 p.m. to make way for the next group.

Edwards says the restaurant'spolicy is to inform guests when theymake a reservation that they have the table for two hours. After that, it's needed for the next party.

Eventually, the online dispute got so heated the restaurant owner, Ross Edwards, called the former employer of one of the online reviewers to disparage her.

Policy not shared with guests

On the night in question, after talking with staff, Edwards realized the family hadn't been told about the seating policy. He said this was the restaurant's mistake.

"This was a disaster, this did not turn out any way that things should go," said Edwards in an interview. "It was a big night for them, we understand that."

By 8:00 p.m.,an online reviewappearedon Saint St.Grill's Facebook page. The review and the page have since been taken down, but the reviewer wrote that her grandmother and three other family members were kicked out during a birthday celebration, as they drank wine and opened presents.

The CBC reached out to the Facebook user but didn't hear back.

Edwards responded to the post,saying he wanted to make the situation right, and have the family back at his expense.

But he quickly realized that the reviewer was a family member of the guests, and wasnot present at the dinner.

Because of this and the negative review, Edwards posted that he was rescinding his offer to invitethe family back to the restaurant at his expense.

"I no longer want them to return," he said. "If you can't be a decent human being in my restaurant or online posting a review out of hearsay, that's inappropriate, and you didn't give me a chance to fix it," he said.

Situation spiralled

As sometimes happens with online comments and reactions to those comments, things started to spiral.

A friend of the original reviewer learned whathappened at the restaurant, and even though she wasn't there that night either, posted a negative review, telling others to avoid the restaurant.

Shesaidshe did not expectwhat happenednext.

In an interview, she said she received a message from therestaurant owner who asked her to take downher online posts. He also told her he would contact her previous workplace.

Edwards admits he did contact the reviewer's former employer. He said he found it onFacebook and called to tell them he found her behaviour "inappropriate" and "scandalous."

He said he wasn't trying to threaten her, and makes no apologies for contacting the former employer.

"There was no threat, if you are going to troll my restaurant, it's open season. Tit for tat," he said.

Comments reach boiling point

The posts and comments boiled over onto numerous other sites such asImgur and Yelp. The restaurant's Facebook page received 200 negative reviewsfrom Brazil to California and the Philippines and has since been taken down.

Edwards saidhe's more than open to legitimate reviews, even the negative ones, because the feedback is important to him, and his restaurant.

He says the online backlash amounts to cyber-bullying, and because of that, he has no regrets about his own words or actions.

"If the story is about me personally attacking people online because they left troll comments on my place of business, and attacked my livelihood yeah,I'm coming out kicking and screaming."