Employee Of Japanese Eatery Resigns After Leaving Negative Reviews On Other Stalls
When we’re looking for a place to have a foodie outing, sometimes we might consult reviews online to gauge its quality.
However, we have to be mindful that the reviews may not all be authentic, especially if they’re on a platform like Google Reviews.
Such was the case when a Japanese eatery, Mentai-Ya, saw a slew of negative reviews left on their restaurants, leaving them befuddled.
Tracking down the reviewers’ accounts led them to employees at Ishiro, a fusion Japanese eatery with stalls in Bedok, Punggol, and Timbre+.
Ishiro has since acknowledged that one of their employees did leave negative reviews and said they would not tolerate such actions in the future.
Apparently, the employee responsible has resigned.
Japanese eatery employee leaves negative Google reviews on other stalls
Mentai-Ya first posted about the harassment that they’d received on 30 Jun in a video.
They compiled various bad Google reviews left on multiple restaurants.
But the post seemed to do nothing to stop the negative reviews, as shown in a follow-up post on 5 Sep.
Various other stalls like Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap, The Burning Oak and Mad Charcoal have apparently also received negative reviews from a group of people.
On the other hand, Ishiro’s new stall in Punggol has many 5-star reviews on Google, which Mentai-Ya compiled in a video.
It would seem that many of these 5-star reviewers are simultaneously giving 1-star ones to others.
Ishiro associates allegedly responsible for negative reviews
A subsequent post on 7 Sep alleged that 3 people associated with Ishiro are likely behind the negative reviews.
Mentai-Ya found that one of them is someone who posts job advertisements for stalls in Punggol/Bedok on social media.
Ishiro also has stores in both Punggol and Bedok.
The same number is used for Gumtree advertisements, with the person’s full name in them.
Other evidence they dug up allege that the reviews they left didn’t correspond with their visit to Mentai-Ya on 25 Jul.
According to CCTV evidence, what they described was not what happened at all.
Ishiro apologises
Following the allegations, Ishiro released a statement on 8 Sep apologising for the incident.
However, netizens were dissatisfied with the tone of the statement.
In screenshots captured by Mentai-Ya, the statement defended its actions of leaving positive reviews on its own stalls.
The statement was subsequently deleted and replaced with a second one on 9 Sep.
This second statement admitted that one of their employees had left the negative reviews, and he has apparently resigned.
However, it did not address the other associates that Mentai-Ya pinpointed as being behind the bad reviews.
The employee had posted the reviews of their own accord, but Ishiro will take full responsibility for his actions.
Apparently, Ishiro has also apologised to the affected businesses.
Users are unable to leave comments on the statement, which has resulted in them commenting on Ishiro’s other posts instead.
Negative reviews allegedly still ongoing
Despite the statement, it seems the matter is far from over, as Mentai-Ya has further questions to ask of Ishiro.
According to them, only a Mr Chua had apologised to the businesses.
That person, who said he was an employee, mentioned that he was in charge of social media postings with Ishiro.
His PayLah number is also used for the stall, however.
He also said that he is no longer with Ishiro. However, Mentai-Ya wants to know if he is an employee or business partner.
Additionally, The Social Outcast, another stall, also received a negative review that appears of the same ilk as recently as yesterday (11 Sep).
The problem is that The Social Outcast hasn’t been open since May this year.
Mint, the chef at The Social Outcast, gave a humourous reply in response.
The Social Outcast addressed the bad review, noting that the stall wasn’t open when the person left the review.
They also invited the reviewer to come back and try the food before leaving another bad review.
However, it’s unclear at the moment if the reviewer is associated with Ishiro.
Leave honest reviews
Restaurants and stalls check up on Google reviews and answer sincerely even if the reviews are bad as they wish to improve.
However, if there are fake reviews or if they’re done maliciously, that poses a problem for everyone.
It will become difficult to take real feedback honestly after. While it’s not illegal to leave reviews of this ilk, it’s not very ethical either.
We hope that those involved in leaving the negative reviews have learned their lesson and that all parties can resolve the issue amicably.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.Â
