Tactical clicking to ease the stress

RehobothFoodie.com has a big red button that only I can see. It’s labeled: “Send to Trash.” Just one click brings on the cathartic calm needed to avoid annoyance that could have manifested itself in the form of a nasty return email.

I process about 100 or so review comments every day. In order to maintain as much objectivity as possible, I make it a policy to post every intelligently stated comment – positive or negative - that my kind visitors take the time to write. (By the way, “I was underwhelmed,” “I didn’t like it” and “Don’t go!” – devoid of any commentary - are not intelligently stated. Click. Send to Trash. Ahhh … calm.)

There are two other types of comments that give that pretty red button a workout. The first is the self-righteous note from a person who actually had to wait (horror of horrors!) for a table. Really? You want to eat at a restaurant that everyone likes – but you resent having to wait in line? I am not making this up: People actually email me stuff like, “I’m never going to that restaurant again! I had to wait 35 minutes for a table.” It’s all I can do to not respond with something like, “Oh, I can send you a list of places where you will always find a seat. But you’d better hurry – they probably won’t be around for long.”

The second topic that has no place on a restaurant review website is one that focuses only on price. Commentary on price alone is not relevant to the quality of the food or service. I kid you not: I recently received a note from a site visitor who complained about a restaurant located on the ocean block in Rehoboth – the high-rent district to be sure. “I liked [so-and-so restaurant], but their prices are at least one-and-a-half times higher than a restaurant where I live,” he whined. “I’m not going back!” Nothing else. Just that. Click. You get the idea.

Leaving aside the obvious fact that the restaurant in question – that he liked, by the way - probably pays twice the rent than the “restaurant where he lives”, affordability is nothing more than a personal issue for each individual guest to decide.

To stay competitive, well-run restaurants set their prices somewhere between covering their costs (rent, labor, utilities, more expensive ingredients, etc.) and still being able to attract customers. If those prices are not balanced by quality food and service, the restaurant will probably go out of business after the owner’s bank account runs dry. If the prices are set too low, they will still go out of business because they couldn’t cover their costs. It’s a daily balancing act predicated on simple math and common sense.

The effect of price at a new restaurant in a resort will become obvious after the crowds have settled down and the reality of the off-season sets in. If the proprietors can maintain the quality of food and service, people who appreciate such things will continue to visit. Customers who are concerned only with price may either (1) choose a lower priced restaurant (there are many that are quite good around here), or (2) send an indignant post to RehobothFoodie.com, at which time I get to click “Send to Trash.” It not only calms my nerves, but it also leaves room for the majority of comments that actually impart useful information to my kind and faithful website visitors.