This must be one of the most ridiculous stories I’ve heard today, so thanks to my friends at BlogBaladi for bringing this to our attention.
Most of you know how much I like to review restaurants and sometimes I may even blog about a bad experience. Imagine, getting a comment from the actual restaurant telling me I’m getting sued for simply not liking the food!! Walaw!
Well, that what’s happening to Mark from 2:48AM, a popular blogger in Kuwait, who took his wife to dinner at Benihana’s in Kuwait and gave it an OK review, (although the review irrelative in my opinion) and next thing he knows the folks over at Benihana’s leave this comment on his blog:
Dear Mr. Mark,
We are from Benihana management of Kuwait; my name is Mike Servo the GM of the Company .
Thank You for visiting us in our restaurant and dining in with your wife .I had found your comments and in your web site on Benihana.
I also found it out that our rights and name is being used in a wrong way and broadcasting the video without a proper consent from us is really annoying specially Benihana is just opened up its doors to the public.
We are seeking and consulting our legal dept. on how we can form a type of law suit against your website to be brought up to the Kuwait authorities.
We respect opinion, but we see it in a way that Benihana name have been destroyed and abused on your website.
We are eager to know your name and meet you personally if you don’t have anything to hide.
You mentioned clearly on a detour way on not to go to Benihana and go to Maki or Wasabi or Chocolate Bar and we believe that this is against the law of Kuwait, We respect our rights on not to advertise in your website and if we don’t, this will not mean that we will be hurt by your side and if this done, the court in Kuwait will be in our side to give us our rights. to make this conversation short . We want you to give us your information, your name, your number and your address so our lawyer will take it from there and be sure that you in Kuwait were the jury is
100 % clean and fair.
We also expect that you might be sending people to Benihana to make a play and that is why we have informed the CID about that, In the past we encountered your add in Subway and it is one of our companies franchise, we really didn’t give it any attention, and it very clear now that Subway is an elephant while other competitors are closing down, however this time we will not let it go and we will follow you legally.
This is the last comment from my side and LPRC side; we wish that you will be free to give us your info. BTW are you Lebanese?
Thank for your concern and we have that you are brave to give us your info and we will meet in court soon.
Salute,
Mike Servo
First of all what’s with the “BTW are you Lebanese?” comment. What does that have to do with anything BTW? Do I sense some attempt to single out Lebanese? Pretty random eh?
This Mike guy wasn’t kidding, Marc indeed got served with a court order and has to appear in court in March. They are seeking just under $18,000 dollars from him!!!
So what did we learn today kids? We learned that the next time you go to eat out and blog about it you may just get sued. So you better put a big smile on your face and tell the manager how much you loved the food when he passes by your table. Or Else!!!
This is a big blow to the blogging community because today it’s about food and the next thing you know, we’ll be getting sued for blogging about our feelings.
Restaurants here have two choices: they can either follow suit and basically commit business suicide or do what others have done, and embrace social media as the new interactive tool, where businesses will now have to listen to feedback. Like it or not.
I urge restaurants to take notes from Classic Burger Joint who gracefully placed both my review and Gino’s Blog review up on their website even though they weren’t A++ reviews . So Way To Go Classic Burger Joint. Set the precedent!
Please show your support for Mark by posting the banner I posted from Blog Baladi. We too shall not be silenced! Bisoux
Outfit Du Jour
And The Best Photoshop Award Goes To…
Thanks for your post. Just a correction, they’re seeking $18,000+ in damages and not specifically 18,000. yes that means they can be suing me for $100,000 or more
Subway is an elephant while other competitors are closing down — > WTF?!
Great! The more the merrier. Have added Ivy Says and Blog Baladi to the list of blogs that I know that have written about this at Mich Cafe and will also add the banner 🙂
You’re absolutely right Ivy. I was very surprised to see CBJ post my very mediocre, and somewhat negative first review, on their own website! That proves how a good restaurant ought to treat its customers, and CBJ’s status in Beirut as a friendly, down-to-earth restaurant where the staff become your friends and the manager pulls out your chair.
This is outrageous, and as a person who lived in Kuwait for the better part of my childhood, I sincerely hope the Kuwaiti people who I learned to love and enjoy their company, make sure this doesn’t stick.
Good luck Mark!
This is insane, it’s a review. Would they have sued had it been published in a magazine. Way to go B, I won’t be stepping there anymore
Regarding the “are you Lebanese?” bit …
Perhaps they’re trying to find out in advance if they’ll be able to get him kicked out the country, or more likely, be able to threaten to go down that route.
First: Are you sure that the actual restaurant sent that letter? Because if it did, it’s written in a very sad english which really is demeaning to the restaurant. I haven’t been to Benihana but isn’t it a “respectable” place, shouldn’t they know better? There is a certain etiquette that letters like this need to follow and “btw are you lebanese” is not part of it.
Second: It’s a blog, as in “I say whatever I want”? It’s like diary but you know..not so private? The intention of the post wasn’t to bash the restaurant, it was just to document the person’s (Mark) experience and what HE thought of the place. Last time I checked, a person is entitled to their opinion.
Third: If you’re at a restaurant and they ask you how the food is, you tell them “x,y was good, but z need more/less salt” or something like that, and that’s called FEEDBACK which is a GOOD thing for the restaurant because they know what to improve on. The post is similar to the comment card, but you elaborate more and share it with people.
Fourth: In my opinion, the blog post itself is not damaging to the Benihana name. Rather the reaction to the post, this is VERY bad PR. As a potential visitor of your restaurant, I’m going to think twice before going there because if this is what you’re going to do if someone doesn’t like your food.. then hmm I think we have a wee little problem.
PS. Keep the reviews coming Ivy and Gino 🙂
uh btw are you retarded? (@ “Mike”
badservo)Absolute insanity. I have written a few not so good reviews myself. The outcome of this will set a precedent for us all..either a good or bad one. We are with you Mark..all the way.
Is this dude Mike Servo for real?
If you can’t handle a negative review, then close your fuckin restaurant!
Uhh… “are you a total DORK ?”@ Mike
and … euh… couldn’t BeniHana have hired someone with decent writing skills? or who is smart enough to spell check such a letter on MS Word?!
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