Post Punk Kitchen Forum

It's cool that you're vegan. Kudos on that for sure. You have no business reviewing restaurants, though. With your limited available selections on any menu, you simply cannot give an informed opinion of a chef's talents.

I probably should've ignored but I responded with -

"Hahaha, are you serious?

Maybe I CAN review whatever restaurants I choose to, as Yelp is a review website for the masses/laymen and there's no need for me to have what YOU view the proper qualifications to review restaurants.

Sorry to break it to you, but vegans exist and god forbid it, they go out and stuff (whoah, freaky sh*t man!) and it's worth noting, at least to other vegans/vegetarians whether an establishment is veggie-friendly.

But thank you for your godly input, it will be respectfully ignored.

Kudos!"

*eye roll*

haha. what the hell? nice response. can you report that person for being a dick?

You know how many times I've heard "I go to such and such restaurant and always get XXXXX". So its not like people that aren't vegan are eating the entire menu.

So true, even people who don't technically limit their diets tend to eat the same things over and over again. Such a jerk thing to say.

Oh my God do I hate the everloving shiitake out of Yelp, and stuff like this is why.

I take your review of the restaurant wasn't steller and this is their way of dismissing it.
Great response, I'm glad you didn't ignore it.

Vegans don't have taste buds.

No kidding, I wish instead of "cool, useful and funny" they had categories like "mean-spirited, pretentious, and overly pedantic"

and the only reason I look at it is to find if a place has vegan options so that message peas me off too.

Everyone knows that chefs can only showcase their "talents" when they are able to provide a dish full of animal protein and little else.

What a dick. I don't have a lot of reviews on Yelp, but I always say i'm posting them from a vegan perspective to help other vegans.

Vegans eat only nuts, sticks and twigs, so they can't review a restaurant unless it's a TWIG RESTAURANT. Leave that to carnivores, all of whom eat a wide variety of foods, and all of whom have highly developed palates for exotic foods.

ETA: apparently, I typed something I wasn't allowed to. I'm not sure what it was. No dirty words, so maybe it was "nut restaurant"

Your response was great. What a complete idiot that person is. Gross.



People take themselves WAY to seriously on yelp. Why does everyone have to write out their dining experience like a novel?

Also, their "talk" section is trash. Meanest group of people. And it doesn't make sense because it's all inside jokes.

What a jerk! I hate how people can't just accept that we ARE here and our opinions DO matter. We're not 2nd class citizens.

This is great!

THERE'S MORE Y'ALL!!!

You can review whatever you want, princess. Your credibility, however, is questionable. Your palate is uneducated, much like your brain...which grew to it's enormous size on a diet of ANIMAL PROTIEN. I've never held a paintbrush in my life, so I don't offer my UNEDUCATED opinion on paintin. Perhaps you can apply the same reasoning to food, moron.

I responded -
"Awww, I bet some vegan somewhere broke your heart/stole your woman/greatly insulted your masculinity. Or you're just simply an ignorant dolt?

Here's a clue - why don't you allocate your time on Yelp actually writing reviews as opposed to trying to endow vegans with your incredibly vast knowledge on "how to be a credible YELP reviewer."

AND . . . I blocked him because as much fun as that exchange was, I have better things to do . . . such as chat about that exchange with PPK! ;)

I have no idea if this was some restaurant owner of a restaurant I wrote a negative review about, the profile of this guy is picture-less and has one review of a place a gave a 3 to and it wasn't really negative at all.

Agreed that Yelp is a bit ridiculous and asinine often. Sometimes I read a review and want to stab my eyes out. But to be honest, I've received at least six or more messages lauding my vegan reviews or from other vegans/vegetarians asking for recommendations, so this one super lame one doesn't make me despise Yelp all that much - YET!

texans hate vegans, everybody knows that :)

Haha I haven't experienced TOO MUCH vegan hate, but it does happen. It's mostly, "How do you manage being vegan in Houston/Austin?!" - usually earnest curiosity, sometimes not-so-cleverly disguised condescending attitude.

Funny thing is that this guy supposedly lived in AUSTIN - which is a pretty vegan/vegetarian conscious place.

I'm a little confused. Were you reviewing meat you didn't eat? If so, I could understand his thinking. "You don't eat meat, so who are you to judge that restaurant's meat?" Or were you discussing food you had, in fact, eaten?

You should have told him to refrain from reviewing dishes that contained vegetables, as his tainted pallet is ruined by all his meat eating and he'd never be able to appreciate the subtle flavors of vegetables.

Also...probably just a troll since he only has one review and no pictures.

I received a similar message from the manager of a non-vegan restaurant that has several vegan items on their menu, clearly marked as such. In my review, I mentioned that their brunch had limited vegan options compared to their regular menu and she was angry because, "We're not a vegan restaurant." I told her I gave them a low review for giving me moldy cake from their display case, not for not being vegan enough.

I have a love-hate relationship with Yelp. It can be a good resource, but the behind the scenes stuff seems really sketchy, and it also gives a soap box to entitled idiots who don't understand when they're being jerks, which can hurt small businesses. I make a point of putting "vegan" in all relevant reviews, because when I look up restaurants, the first thing I do is run a search for "vegan" in the results.

"Princess" Oh I'm raging over that one! Is he for real?

I suppose he considers himself to be a "Foodie". He must spend thousands of dollars taste testing the entire menu of all the chefs in his area. I mean with his degree from the French Culinary Institute and all of his vast cooking experience, why would you ever argue his statement?

Please tell me this was a five star restaurant!

He's a wonderful example of what can happen to an enormous brain. My guess: ANIMAL PROTIEN poisoning.

Its a better test of a chef's actual talent as a chef to see what they do when they have to go outside of their boundaries a little, much better a test than tasting what they cook all the time. Just sayin' yo.

Edit: A chef that can't make a good soup without butter for the onions isn't much of a chef in my opinion.

I review whether vegan/vegetarian options are available, if not - whether the chef accommodates or there's stuff that can be veganized. Then of course whether it's good or not and all the others - the service, how crowded, type of crowd, etc. And if my omnivore friends (hence how I end up at not-so-vegetarian-friendly places, I sometimes just tag along with my hungry friends because I want their company, but I'm not particularly famished so I don't input on where we should go but you're darn right I'll review it anyway because I like to review from my iPhone at night when I can't sleep - it's my sad bedtime hobby, hah!) make comments about their non-vegan food, I will occasionally mention it. My profile does mention I'm vegan, as do my reviews when food is involved.

I interpret that this guy thinks I shouldn't be allowed to review not-explicitly-vegan friendly places.

And like holy geeze, last I checked, Yelp was a review site for amateur everyday regular people and there's no qualifications you have to meet to have the "honor" of reviewing a business. It's not like I'm getting paid so I have an obligation to be super duper thoughtful and consider a restaurant's "vision" and commitment to non-vegan objectives. Because Yelp wants people to be all up on their website, reviewing up a storm in order to generate revenue for Yelp. I can not like a restaurant just because I don't like the color it's painted as far as I'm concerned. So heck yeah I can deduct a star or two if a place has absolutely no vegan options. However to be honest - if a place has supremely good service and/or my friends really like their food, I will actually rate it 3 or 4 stars even if everything happens to be lard-ladened.

Anyway, whoah rant . . . moving along! :)

This is his one review:
A little too-cool-for-school, but I giive props to the creativity of the design and the quality of the food. The staff really does turn me off. Nobody smiles and people without mustaches or visible tattoos can be lost in the shuffle. I used to live in Brooklyn and I'd run into the same crepe there. Everyone is too cool or important for thier job and they're all doing you a favor by serving you until thier band takes off. I'm still looking for a single redeemable quality in these east-side hipsters....

About East Side Show Room in Austin, Texas. So I think he probably stumbled across my review (that was about the drinks, the bartender, service, appearance of the venue, the music, etc.) that mentioned that I hadn't eaten the food there, but I did spy vegetarian, possibly vegan options on the menu so interested parties should note that. That probably bothered this guy somehow? Although many people have reviewed that venue without sampling the food.

I would post his profile, but it has like no information and I don't actually encourage harassment of this dolt. I just found the whole exchange with him rather curious and offensive. I'm sure he hates vegans all the more now!

Ha! What a douche. I can't even wrap my mind around his logic. For the record, almost nothing bothers me as much as people using the word "princess" in that way. It makes me stabby.