In a statement to NBC, Google said its policies state reviews must be based on legitimate experiences, and that it will respond to violations with account suspensions and potentially litigation. Google did not respond to a request for comment from the Observer. “But a trained restaurant critic would be preferable to someone with a chip on their shoulder.” Google has since removed Avant Garden’s reviews for the past two weeks, including genuine posts from customers. “We’ve always understood reviews as a necessary element of marketing,” Littrell said. Review bombing has led websites like movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to make policy changes, such as banning public reviews for movies that have not yet been shown in theaters. The practice is often encouraged by users on social media looking to make a statement against a business or business owner. Review bombing is when a significant number of posts, typically negative, are written to harm a particular product or company. This isn’t the first time businesses have suffered the unintended consequences of public reviews. Other New York restaurants, like Dame in the East Village and Huertas in Greenwich Village, reported the same email messages and barrage of low ratings. “We were actually a bit relieved when we found it was an extortion,” Littrell said. The restaurant eventually received emails taking responsibility for the reviews and threatening to continue unless a gift card was exchanged. “Usually, people are willing to express a couple words about their dissatisfaction,” Littrell said. While the number of negative reviews was unusual in itself, the lack of comments attached was also cause for concern. At least three New York restaurants received numerous one-star Google reviews accompanied by emails requesting $75 gift cards to the Google app store, while restaurants in Chicago and San Fransisco received identical online messages earlier this month, as reported by Eater.Īvant Garden, a vegan restaurant in the East Village, received around eight one-star reviews in the past week or so, according to marketing director Jason Littrell.

Google restaurant reviews