> Who is he, Stalin? (I'm giving Hitler the day off.)
On a completely unrelated note, I'm so glad that western public opinion views this guys on the same level of evil.
If only russian public opinion was like that.
How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
21–30 of 129 posts
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#22You know, at the risk of heaping on the negativity, I read their Yelp ratings and while some are excellent, others are genuinely a sign of a restaurant in crisis. Consider the gentleman from New Zealand who made reservations via an email to the owner five weeks in advance, spent the afternoon walking around downtown LA to avoid rush hour traffic, and then showed up only to be told that they were closed for a wine tas…
I've generally been growing to the idea that I want to hear all criticism towards my projects, whether it's good or bad, whether it's constructive or not. People suck at communicating, but when they leave criticism, there is always a reason somewhere at the core. It's the old saying that it is apathy, not hate, that is the opposite of love.
So when people are heaping hate on one of my projects, I am now starting to think of it as a failure of messaging on my behalf. If someone says something like "don't reinvent the wheel", it's because I've failed to explain my constraints that prevent me from using existing systems. Maybe one of those constraints is "I don't like that particular system". But whatever it is, it probably needs to be explained if someone is bitching about it.
I might rather people hated my projects than completely ignored them. Getting ignored sucks a lot. Receiving hate tells me people were actually excited by the idea and I was on to something, but that I didn't do something right. I can't figure anything out from getting ignored. It's just blowing in the breeze at that point.
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#23> Who is he, Stalin? (I'm giving Hitler the day off.) On a completely unrelated note, I'm so glad that western public opinion views this guys on the same level of evil. If only russian public opinion was like that.
Well I should probably be more respectful, in deference to the worldwide audience here.
It's not as if Europeans who settled the American continents hesitated to commit genocide, some even using biological weapons when it suited their purpose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#Biological_warfare).
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#24You know, at the risk of heaping on the negativity, I read their Yelp ratings and while some are excellent, others are genuinely a sign of a restaurant in crisis. Consider the gentleman from New Zealand who made reservations via an email to the owner five weeks in advance, spent the afternoon walking around downtown LA to avoid rush hour traffic, and then showed up only to be told that they were closed for a wine tas…
I've generally been growing to the idea that I want to hear all criticism towards my projects, whether it's good or bad, whether it's constructive or not. People suck at communicating, but when they leave criticism, there is always a reason somewhere at the core. It's the old saying that it is apathy, not hate, that is the opposite of love. So when people are heaping hate on one of my projects, I am now starting to t…
Totally!! People giving you negative feedback are giving you the keys to their heart. They're telling you how to make a product they'd love! If I sell anything on Amazon, I or someone on my staff will be writing responses to every single piece of feedback we get on Amazon. It's obviously important to address the unhappy people, but you should appreciate the positive feedback just as much!
EDIT: Anazon->Amazon. Feedback to Apple: Really? Really?
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#25I think a lot of the commentators here are missing his point. Namely, that he started Alma because he loved cooking, and that before being named the "Best New Restaurant in America," he enjoyed cooking for other people, but afterwards all the wannabe critics ruined his experience. So negative Yelp reviews aren't helpful if he didn't plan on becoming a world-famous restauranteur, but just wanted to run a small, local restaurant. In other words, in a world where Alma never won this accolade, he, his early customers, and all the negative Yelp reviewers would all have been happier (because they wouldn't have known or cared about Alma being overrated).
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#26It is so easy to criticize food. This is not different than writing or cinematography. This is the same attack against George Lucas. The Phantom Menance wasn't written for 34 year olds who act like children playing pretend in costumes, its target audience is 7 year olds. And, the movie is about growing up, leaving the protection of the protective mother (although gender roles have changed so now this includes the pro…
The Phantom Menace is objectively a bad film. You want a good film that teaches this to seven year olds? Try Finding Nemo. The Phantom Menace features offensive racial stereotypes, terrible dialog, A poorly-executed subplot about a trade dispute, and characters that I personally could not and cannot identify with. Is it fair to speculate that you were born in 1992, making you the 7 year old you refer to above? Search…
It's also a historic piece of cinematography with a world that feels vast and immersive to its fans.
(I'm not one, but I am empathetic enough to imagine how they feel.)
Objectively it's not perfect, but every movie means something different to everyone and registers on a different level with each person.
So you're free to criticize it and rate it based on how well or poorly it portrays the things you think it stands for.
But other people have opinions too. And unless you're a filmmaker worth a damn yourself, your opinion doesn't count for anything.
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#27Interesting that they were remarkable when they opened, but when the mainstream media made it remarkable, it was no longer remarkable to a different set of people who were looking for more than what the space was.
This reminds me a little of Clay Shirky's article A Group is it's own worst enemy.
Not faulting in the restaurant owners (all businesses have growing pains), it raises thoughts about branding and how much "this is how we do it here" is as much about the holes in the walls at the restaurant as it is the food, and how that story was known and told.
Was the restaurant's message about who it was clearly known, before outside reviewers came in and interpreted their story and told their story for them? For me, a restaurant bootstrapped on so little money is remarkable and worthy of support, but it might not be for everyone.
Some things aren't meant to appeal to everyone and still be successful.
Link to essay: http://www.shirky.com/writings/herecomeseverybody/group_enem...
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#28HN is usually pretty good about calling out founders who blame everyone but themselves for failings. This is exactly that, just in a restaurant context. The problem is that Ari thought that Alma's humble origins mattered to people coming in for a good meal such that they would somehow obscure some pretty big problems with the restaurant. I can't imagine ever excusing a product's flaws simply because the founder had d…
>could you possibly stop ripping people off with Eastern European wine that didn't pair with any of your tasting menu?.....Good riddance
Perhaps it's my disdain for wine snobs or anyone else that takes ridiculous things seriously, but I find your comment extremely distasteful - especially the quoted part. Unless he is actively misrepresenting the origin or brand of the wine, he isn't "ripping people off". He simply made a menu choice that you vehemently disagree with. If the negative Yelp reviews are similar to your rant here, he absolutely has a point in blaming the positive articles about the restaurant for bringing in the wrong kind of clientele with outlandish expectations and a penchant for publicly deriding others' lifework.
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#29Public restaurant reviews are simply not helpful. There are better ways to solve discovery for consumers, and it's uniformly terrible for venues. Enabling private feedback to the GM/owner would be better.
Re: How Being Named the 'Best New Restaurant in America' Hurt My Business
#30HN is usually pretty good about calling out founders who blame everyone but themselves for failings. This is exactly that, just in a restaurant context. The problem is that Ari thought that Alma's humble origins mattered to people coming in for a good meal such that they would somehow obscure some pretty big problems with the restaurant. I can't imagine ever excusing a product's flaws simply because the founder had d…
Stop ripping people off with Eastern European wine?
Really? That's what they did?