Sophie Nathal (@la_frenchstylist), the French-born founder of Austin Rôtisserie, which is located in the Fareground Food Hall in downtown Austin, Texas, posted an emotional TikTok after two one-star Google reviews. She says they’ve significantly impacted her restaurant’s ratings.
“Those two people just brought our ratings down by so much, and it’s discouraging,” she said.
Neither review addressed food quality: one complained the restaurant “does not validate parking,” and the other criticized DoorDash delivery times during SXSW, one of the busiest weekends in downtown Austin.
The Breakdown
In her description of the scenarios, there were two notes worth considering. For one, the cultural difference she’s navigating in America versus her home country. “In France, and I don’t mean to compare, but nobody cares about this,” Nathal said. “Like, you go, you make your own opinion. But here, we are in a culture where it matters.”
Then, there is the accountability factor. Nathal, who has posted multiple videos on both Instagram and TikTok specifically showing customers how to park and get their 90-minute validation, was visibly shaken that a one-star review could stem from something she’d already gone out of her way to address.
“Call me, email me, DM me,” she said. “I’m everywhere all day—morning to night, from 6 a.m. in the morning ’til midnight, sometimes, at night—answering emails. I’m everywhere because I care so much.”
As far as the customer saying DoorDash was late, she read the Google complaint: “Do not order delivery from this place. I ordered twice now, and the DoorDasher ended up waiting 20 min or more, making the total order take 90+ min to deliver. It’s not a DoorDash issue. It’s the restaurant.”
She wondered, “Have you called me, my friend?”
The order came during SXSW, arguably the busiest time of year in Austin.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I need to calm down, but I just find that so discouraging for small businesses who are trying their best.”
Let’s see what the people had to say.
The Peanut Gallery Weighs in on Restaurant Owner’s Vent
There was a lot of encouragement. “I live [in Downtown Austin] and loveeeee your food and business, always phenomenal, going to leave a well-deserved review now!! keep your head up,” wrote one person. “We order Austin Rotisserie for delivery ALL the time. It is so so good,” said another patron. “Thanks for the reminder to add a review.”
Another commenter had a recommendation for Nathal. “I’m sorry. I would definitely stop those third-party deliveries,” they wrote. “Maybe we need to go back to our roots, where we actually step foot out of our doors and get our own things, and convenience is taken away because it’s making us all spoiled. I’m definitely guilty of ordering because it’s convenient and using [third] party deliveries.”
In the comments section, a downcast Nathal wrote, “We’re trying our best you guys … If y’all have in your hearts to help us out please do … We need to bring those ratings up on Google or at least have reviews regarding the food. Also feel free to reach out to me directly, I’m always happy to make everyone happy with the best of my abilities … we’re a very small business and we’re learning more and more everyday and we’re far from being perfect nor claiming to be. In a world that is falling apart, let’s try to be more human and support each other if we can.”
The Reality of Restaurant Reviews
Research shows that those reviews and accompanying stars matter a great deal.
Per a Harvard Business School study, “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com,” a one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5–9% increase in revenue, and this effect is driven by independent restaurants (not chains), and chain restaurants have declined in market share as Yelp penetration has increased.
However, there is a major issue with using stars alone as the measure: People are most likely to leave reviews if the experience was extremely positive or extremely negative.
Research has documented that online reviews follow a “J-shaped” distribution. Most businesses get 5-star ratings, some 1-star ratings, and hardly any ratings in between. Simply put, customers who strongly liked or disliked a purchase are more likely to leave reviews than others (which creates an under-reporting bias).
Also, customers tend to purchase what they already want, which skews reviews toward positivity (due to a purchasing bias). The main implication is that the average product rating (stars) is a poor proxy for product quality, as the distribution is almost always asymmetric and bimodal.
AllHipHop has reached out to Nathal for more information. This article will be updated if she responds.
@la_frenchstylist Maybe we should stop third party deliveries because the worst reviews we get are from those 😔 anyways love you guys ❤️ #bemindful #smallbusiness #austinrestaurant #help #austinrotisserie ♬ original sound – Sophie ♡