Ancoats Deli has issued a tongue-in-cheek response to a scathing one-star review left on Google, replying with the three-word comeback 'it's focaccia babe'.
The reviewer described the deli on Murray Street, which holds a 4.6-star rating overall with dozens of five-star reviews, as the 'most overrated spot' in the area. They claimed the sandwiches sold there were 'thinly filled, unhealthy, bland and absolutely slathered in oil'.
The anonymous user, who rated food, service and atmosphere each as one out of five, said 'there are literally dozens of better sandwich spaces in and around Ancoats'.
Playful response shared on Instagram
The deli and bar shared its lighthearted reply on its Instagram page, where it was met with dozens of comments praising the food and service.
One user wrote: "Actually they're absolutely delicious, beautiful fillings, fresh focaccia and lovely staff to boot." Another said: "WHAT? I visited recently and I died and went to heaven. My sandwich was fabulous."
Owner speaks out
Owner India Morris said it was important to respond because the review was 'so ridiculous'. The 33-year-old told the Manchester Evening News: "I understand that one-star reviews are serious and very detrimental to businesses, but this one was just so ridiculous and the review from this person was just mental.
"I was speaking to my general manager in the Whatsapp chat and we were like 'it's literally just focaccia babe, what's the issue'. I said just reply with that."
India added: "It sounds like this person has never been in. The bread is literally made from oil.
"We got reviewed one-star across the board for service, food, atmosphere. Which is just not true, the person that left the review has also always reviewed everyone else one-star as well."
Impact on hospitality businesses
India said one-star review ratings, when untrue, can lead to damage for hospitality businesses. "We obviously don't like real bad reviews from customers and we reply to those but when you do you get something like that you do have to make a joke out of it", she said.
"What's important to me is making sure the staff don't feel like they've done something wrong. We're very lucky that what we actually have is a good product and everything else hopefully matches up to that so I'm not too worried about it, but my concern across the board for other businesses is that people who have nothing better to do are trying to cause people's businesses harm in a climate that is already difficult for independent hospitality businesses."
She added: "When you get a review like that unless you make light of it it becomes a problem. I think it's if something as ridiculous and damaging as that you should respond. The team are really pleased with how everybody has got behind us and all the positive comments. I think the sad thing is I don't think people understand how much damage a review can do."
The response followed the M.E.N's look into the one-star review problem at Manchester's restaurants earlier this year. Google pointed out they will only act to remove reviews if they violate content policies or local laws.
