Bad restaurant reviews can be costly

Every wonder why you see so few bad reviews of Dallas-area restaurants? It's because the restaurants can be quite vindictive. Consider this, from the current issue of the Observer:

"Guess we pissed off N9NE Group, progenitors of Ghostbar, N9NE Steak House and Nove Italiano plus the upcoming lounge Liquid Sky. Nove's chef refused to give us details on some of the preparations for the Nove review in this issue. They won't let us take pictures of the Nove salami. Seems it's all because of the cover story detailing the great beneficence of Ghostbar atop the W Hotel by Andrea Grimes ("What a VIP Off," March 22) plus "additional remarks and mentions throughout the course of a year by various writers" at the Dallas Observer. More succinctly: "In response to the negative coverage published by [the] Dallas Observer, The N9NE Group has decided not to advertise in or assist [the] Observer in additional reporting of its venues."

Wish I knew how to be that snotty. But then again, I don't charge $25 for a hamburger.

Comments

[Rick Casner]

I guess they could have done what Phil Romano of Il Mulino did to the DMN when they did not like the review they got - they sued.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-settlement_17met.ART.North.Edition2.22c595ec.html

[Scott Parks]

Looks like N9NE Group's vindictive behavior has finally gotten the best of them. Get this: one of their chefs assaulted a corporate officer in the kitchen presumably without provocation (it was rumored to be one of those "hate crime" thingies...). The chef got a bonus and kept his job. The guy who was assaulted was terminated and, last I heard, had brought legal action against N9NE Group for wrongful termination. And on top of all that, if you take a gander at the Secretary of State website, you will find that most of N9NE Group's operating entities are not in good standing. If they can't even afford the right to do business in Texas (one of the least costly places to operate in the whole country), what else can they not afford? Looks like they cannot afford to lose any more customers or mistreat any more employees, but they probably should have thought about that sooner. "Another one bites the dust..."