Feeling bad for hurting someone

[Parnate]

So , more than a month ago I went to a hotel near my home, not exactly like a hotel but a cafe. It had newly opened . The owner wasn't there at the hotel, instead there was this rude waiter. I ordered the food and waited , he gave me stale food. I realised this later, after I had finished half the food. When I told him about this he was rude . We had an argument.
I paid the amount and came home. I immediately went on the subReddit of my city and posted about this experience.
Today the owner messaged me on Reddit and apologised and requested to delete the post. I deleted the post but it is still showing on second suggestion when you search for the cafe name on the internet.
I am feeling sad for the owner and also guilty about doing this.
It is a new business and my post might have damaged the name if his cafe. I wish I hadn't done this.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

You're allowed to talk about a negative experience you had.

One bad review isn't going to sink a food establishment.

 

[whywere]

Hate always starting this way, NOWEVER being 69 and so much life experience, I have never written something on the net, BUT I have made my frustrations very evident.

Now after having it come back and bite me when I said something nasty, I take care of it with the source.

If this would have been me, I would have either waited for the owner to come back or I would have called him and discussed it in private. If he/she was NOT going to at least meet me halfway then I would write it off and never go back, there again.

From most, but not all, situations like this one, in the long run, key here is long run, if the owner would NOT meet me halfway and was a jerk, then usually the business is running on empty and will go under (close) of its own accord.

In all my decades, I have had situations where I walked away and most, from what I can remember, did NOT make it in the long run, so I guess like Karma?

You did NOTHING wrong; it was a learning experience for you and PLEASE do NOT beat yourself up over It. It was a valuable lesson for you and now it is water over the dam and move on with your new knowledge on how to deal with crappy service and the like.

This is just my thoughts, and I am NEVER EVER snotty, just trying to help a great friend is all.

Walter

 

[Dejected 55]

Leaving an honest bad review over a bad experience, and especially bad food in a restaurant, is perfectly warranted. You're telling others to be careful and you're giving the owner a chance to correct their issues before they become habits.

I wouldn't remove a bad review just because an owner asked me to do it or apologized after the fact. As long as everything you said was true, it is fair for you to say it.

I had an experience once in a restaurant where there was almost nobody there eating but service was glacially slow anyway... and they brought my meal long before bringing my appetizer... and I complained about that because the point of the appetizer was to have something to snack on while waiting for food. Worse, my appetizer was soup and they didn't bring me a spoon. The manager brought me a spoon finally but it was super dirty, I mean like chunks hanging off it dirty... and I had to complain about that... and the waitress asked if I wanted to speak to the manager, and I said HE is the one who brought me the dirty spoon!

They offered to comp my meal. I explained to them that I wasn't after free food, especially food I did not enjoy. I accepted comp on the appetizer that I wasn't able to eat but I paid fully for everything else. I explained to them that nothing about the experience I had told me that was a place I could trust to return to, since it was top down problems with the manager bringing out dirty spoons to customers showing he didn't care enough to even look before bringing it to me.

I told them I didn't want to eat there again... and I didn't. This was before reviews online were a thing or I would have posted about that... and I wouldn't have felt any guilt nor taken it down.

Owners try and bully or convince people to take down negative reviews so their scores don't suffer... but they don't actually improve anything so people keep having bad experiences.