How do I feel about Yelp? Hmmm. If I’m really honest, I would say we have an intense love/hate relationship.Kasa Castro and Kasa Marina are blessed to have excellent Yelp ratings — “people love us on yelp” 
— and many new customers find their way to our doors via Yelp. For this, I am grateful and LOVE Yelp.
— and many new customers find their way to our doors via Yelp. For this, I am grateful and LOVE Yelp.I also LOVE Yelp when we get reviews where people get our concept, appreciate our passion and recognize the food’s authenticity and quality.
And even though one of the hardest things on this planet is to receive negative feedback, we carefully study feedback as it allows us to learn what we are doing well and ways we can improve. We also get to see how my staff is doing in delighting customers.
For all this, I also LOVE Yelp.
However (and you knew there’d be a however)….there are times when I want to tear my hair out, throw my laptop out the window and scream to no one in particular: “Come and say that to my face!” Or “Go get a life!” Or “What in the world are you talking about?” and “Clearly you are a vicious competitor posing as a Yelper!” (Whew, that felt good.)
Those outbursts are aimed at the small minority of Yelpers who have no idea about the topic that they have a strong negative opinion on.
My favourite examples are:
“The naan didn’t taste like naan.” –> That’s because we don’t serve naan. We serve roti.“Why are they serving Mexican black beans?” –> We don’t serve black beans. We serve black lentils (daal). There are dozens of different types of lentils.“Why are there white people serving us Indian food?” —> We live in the United States of America!And my favourite most hated comment: “It’s Americanized Indian food.” –> It’s homestyle Indian food, different to what people may have tried before.
There isn’t much to do during these moments. My first reaction is to fume and feel hurt and disappointed that people don’t realize their flippant remarks affect the hard work and love that we put into our business. Eventually I get over it, read the review again to see if there is useful feedback and remember why I love Yelp.
But I do secretly wish that I could concoct my own 1 to 5 star rating of these handful of ignorant yelpers based on the following criterion:
1 – How cute were they?2 – How funny were they?3 – How cheap (with their tip)?4 – How clean (did they buss their table)?5 – How polite?
But who has time for that? I just get back to trying to delight each and every customer… and the love/hate relationship with Yelp continues…
sometimes I’m amazed at the comments people make about indian food and half the stuff we eat at home is never on the menu at most restaurants so it’s not surprising that people think your food is ‘americanized’ i.e. doesn’t have loads of red powder to make the chicken look bright red and a whole lot of oil dripping from the vegetables.
No one eats that kind of food at home people!!!!
“Why are there white people serving us Indian food?” –This stuff is too funny.
As someone in a professional service business, I hear you on the Yelp as double-edged sword issue.
But here’s an honest question–what is the best way for customers to provide constructive criticism? I absolutely love your food. I tasted my first kati roll on MacDougal street in New York 5 years ago, so I’m not an expert, but I could not be happier with Kasa’s offerings. Your meats, your veggies, your daal, your raita, your chai–I love it all. Being something of a regular, I have a small piece of constructive criticism (about service, not food). What’s the best way to leave it? Yelping feels passive aggressive, but the physical comment box has gone the way of the pay phone.
Keep up the amazing work!
Hey JC
Thanks so much for this thoughtful comment. I would absolutely love the feedback. We have actually been thinking about the comment box, but in the meantime, you can just email me directly at
anamika@kasaindian.com
and I will definitely think about solving any customer issues.
Anamika
What are the yelp sales shakedown that has been reported in the news? Is it true they call you for money and have you seen reviews disappear?
Anamika,
I was directed to your blog from another food writer and haven’t been to your restaurant yet. (can’t wait!) this is a lovely blog post that deserves more attention – I think you really hit the nail on the head, and JC, above, is right that negative yelp reviews are mostly passive aggressive. I’ll add that they are often quite clueless!
We love your Indian food (and I grew up eating home style Indian food for 25 years)! Eff the vicious yelpers. Keep going folks. Your elaichi chai is the best Ive had … including chai had in India.
thx! I’m just having the chai now:)